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The 10 commandments for happiness and success

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Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#81

Post by Dewie »

giulivo wrote: post #35

I enjoyed the post but there is one sentence I can't understand: > 2/ Only surround yourself with brilliant and positive people. Negative and mediocre people are everywhere and their influence on you can be devastating. The thing is that I'm potentially one of those "mediocre" people and I don't see why my influence should be devastating. For instance, what is wrong about being negative? Not that my days are about it…

The human mind is so great that it came up with all modern society, and so irrational that it chooses to be miserable about people dying of famine and in wars on the other side of the world when there is nothing that the person can do about it and his life is devoid of any remotely immediate tragedies. What is wrong about ignoring (really, not so much ignore as simply not watching the news) things that you will do nothing about (most people will only help the proverbial children in Africa for the odd fundraiser) anyway, and instead focus on the fact that you are living a life that is much more pleasant and prosperous than what the news chooses to focus on? Ignorance truly is bliss.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#82

Post by gsk »

namenotrequired wrote: post #79
gsk wrote: post #73

Graham Greene said: "Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil - or else an absolute ignorance." This world isn't built for maximising happiness of humans, this is true whether you follow scientific rationale or religious faith. When you pursue happiness, you are working against the system. There in nothing wrong with it, however it does tell you why Graham Greene concluded…

What do you think the world is built to maximise? Edit: clarity

Life is built to maximise survival, I suppose. Note that Life is not the World (I refer to the physical non-biological things as world). I would say, as far as science can probe, world isn't there to maximise anything.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#83

Post by dasil003 »

MartinCron wrote: post #44
CrankyPants wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this is HN and we're all expected to apologize for being anything but categorically dismissive of religion.

I have one place, just one, where being a nonbeliever doesn't make me feel like a deviant distrusted outsider. I don't approve of disrespectful dismissals, but I understand why some people are seduced by it.

Wow, time to move.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#85

Post by InclinedPlane »

lotharbot wrote: post #23

2/ Only surround yourself with brilliant and positive people. I partly agree with this rule. People who are negative drama-creators who regularly make bad decisions can really drag you down. They can cause you to spend an excessive amount of time worrying about pointless problems that only exist because of someone else's immaturity. But I'm also a teacher. I work with at-risk children who are immature and sometimes m…

I too think this guideline is far too simplistic.

In a sense it almost puts relationships in a transactional context. And people who do that are often assholes.

I think it's important to seek out people with whom you value spending time with, as well as to distance yourself from people who are not good friends and aren't deserving of your time or energy, but that's a much more complicated topic than can be summed up in a handful of words.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#86

Post by T-A »

namenotrequired wrote: post #79
gsk wrote: post #73

Graham Greene said: "Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil - or else an absolute ignorance." This world isn't built for maximising happiness of humans, this is true whether you follow scientific rationale or religious faith. When you pursue happiness, you are working against the system. There in nothing wrong with it, however it does tell you why Graham Greene concluded…

What do you think the world is built to maximise? Edit: clarity

Entropy? ;)

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#87

Post by johnchristopher »

runn1ng wrote: post #64
jjb123 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why did you choose the words "still kind of atheist"?

Because I cannot really believe in a higher power. I don't believe in ghosts and try not to ve superstitious. I think most of the religious texts (even in buddhism) is bullshit. I constantly try to question everything. And yet I ended up in a zen group, basically a religious organization. (A little like Ivan Karamazov.)

> I think most of the religious texts (even in buddhism) is bullshit. I constantly try to question everything.

Doubt is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.

Most of the religious texts aren't bullshit. Especially the bible, which is anchored in a very old tradition and way of thinking.

Theology is really an interesting body of knowledge. Out-of-context quotes of the bible, it is almost always cited like that, aren't relevant and detrimental.

Running from judeo-christian tenets to a softened-up "occidentalised" Buddhism isn't more enlightening.

Context: I am an atheist, my mother is a protestant pastor, her husband is a die-hard science chemist and that make for some interesting and heated winter evening discussions :)

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#88

Post by crassus »

vukmir wrote: post #75
crassus wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are the peaceable, prosperous, and happy atheist nations hiding?

>"Where are the peaceable, prosperous, and happy atheist nations hiding?" In Scandinavia, perhaps?

In modern times perhaps. But they were Christian for a thousand years before that. Majority atheist nations have existed for only a fraction of an instant in historical terms (unless you count the Buddhists as atheists). The first was probably the USSR.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#89

Post by nbouscal »

crassus wrote: post #46
ams6110 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get the anti-religion sentiment here. If you find in religious teachings a way to live happily, productively, in a socially positive way, why is that a problem or anything to apologize for?

Indeed, religion makes you happier[1], so its strange the author left it out of his ten points ""[9] and a review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals concluded that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.[12] A meta-analysis of 34…

> religion makes you happier

In this case the distinction between correlation and causation is actually very important. The alternative causal chain, that happy people are more likely to become religious, is highly plausible. Further, there are myriad plausible confounding variables. In many cases correlation can be taken as evidence of causation, but in this particular case it really should not be.

Re: The 10 commandments for happiness and success

#90

Post by stevewillows »

bradleysmith wrote: post #43
stevewillows wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be based on Law 10 of the 48 Laws of Power. "You can die from someone else’s misery. Emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead." – Robert Greene / 48 Laws of Power http://cgt…

I thought the same thing. Great read.

I listened to the audio book version - - the man sounds like the Devil himself. Great book though - - I recommend it to everyone I know.
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