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Meaning or happiness

Alyssa

Alyssa

¡Selah!
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Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
 
I have tried to live totally one or the other at times and it never worked for me.

So my answer is, yes. Equal doses of both.
 
If forced to choose, I would almost certainly choose meaning. It's more important for me to offer something to the world than to simply be happy without doing much for it. However, I'm grateful that, outside of abstract thought, the choice between happiness and meaning is a false one.
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
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Well, I'm not sure the choices you present us with are exactly right....;) Still, I would choose happiness. Brooding and dwelling on the past is mental masturbation, in my opinion. Although I would slap someone who said, in a whiney voice, "Can't we just move ON???" it's really what we ought to do most of the time. Learn the lesson. Put it behind us. (But not, in some cases, before we rip someone a new one.)
 
One thing to consider is that a sense of meaning makes many people very happy.

For some, that is the entire source of their happiness.
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

Part of the secret to happiness is to try and leave the world a little better place than when you arrived. If you're having a good life and spreading that joy it's contagious.
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

No offense but I reject your entire OP as presenting a false choice along with false definitions of happiness vs meaning. Personally I don't think you can be happy in a meaningless life and I don't think you can have a meaningful life without it making you happy. Then again what is happiness anyway? If I won the lotto I would be extremely happy but after the initial thrill of being rich wore off it would not make me permanently happy. When all is said and done I guess I am pretty happy about every day I get with good health and nobody I love getting some dread disease or dying in a bloody car wreck. One day at a time, live in the now, carpe diem.
 
A life with meaning is happiness. Not sure why you believe that the two must exist separately. Seems kind of a pointless thing to think about. Its like asking if one would rather be secure or safe.
 
Why do people come into philosophical threads and complain about or criticize the nature of philosophical questions?
 
ThePlayDrive said:
Why do people come into philosophical threads and complain about or criticize the nature of philosophical questions?
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Because not doing so would make our lives too easy.
 
I guess meaning, mainly because I could contribute to humanity.
 
I am not sure most people know if they are happy or not.
The whole notion of keeping up with the joneses, seems to validate this.
Perceived happiness and real happiness may well be very different and subjective things.
As to meaning, I think I group people as Givers and Takers.
For the Givers, The meaning derived from helping others is a source of happiness.
For the Takers, They may help others, but only because it somehow advances themselves.
The act of helping someone is not it's own reward, therefore they assign it less value.
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

Good question.

All we have is NOW. Life only exists in the present. Happiness is living life in the present by "being the change you wish to see in the world". No one is insignificant and no act is insignificant.
 
Evenstar said:
If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

Meaning, and it doesn't require even the least bit of thought on my part to make that answer. Though I would suggest that your definition of a Life of Meaning is slightly different than mine. To me it is a life which is based on certain universal truths. A life which has a purpose and a goal. One which is devoted to a particular philosophy or belief system and which will be graded at the end of the line.
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

I choose both and walk with the Spirit.
 
boobies
 
Evenstar said:
Which would you choose? a life of happiness or a life of meaning?
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.

If choosing between happiness and meaning, what would you choose and why?
Click to expand...

Clearly both are important, but if we had to choose one I'd say happiness for sure. I'm very obsessive about my work so I focus on the future and my goals and providing meaning to life. I find it hard to just be happy in the moment. I'd give anything for that.

Meaning ultimately only means something to you. The only important thing in life is that you're happy.
 
ecofarm said:
To care only about oneself?
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To live an appropriate and proper life, and as necessary to separate oneself from those who choose not to. It's about that simple.
 
Tigger said:
To live an appropriate and proper life, and as necessary to separate oneself from those who choose not to. It's about that simple.
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I don't think so.
 
“Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day.” Francis Gray

So, don't obsess over either yesterday or tomorrow, but live today the best way you can. That is one of the keys to happiness and meaning as well.

How can a life devoid of meaning be a happy life anyway?
 
Evenstar said:
Consider this: to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. And with no thought of what's gone before, and no thought of what lies ahead. But if one chooses a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. A life of meaning, that is when one's life influences the universe around it for the greater good, cannot be obtained if one lives for himself in the present. But one must consider the past and the future if living for the good of others.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I have my philsophy that I live by, and it makes me happy. It doesn't require wallowing in the past or expectations of the future. I know what's right, for me, and that's how I live. What happened happened and what will be will be - that's no matter to me. The past and future cannot change who I am, and they surely will not dictate such.

I'm free of worldly concerns, I walk in the Spirit, revel in Its fruit and I will live forever.
 
Risky Thicket said:
Good question.

All we have is NOW. Life only exists in the present. Happiness is living life in the present by "being the change you wish to see in the world". No one is insignificant and no act is insignificant.
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Yes, even while living in obscurity, a life influences other lives in some way which has the whole "ripple effect" on the world around it. Even the tiniest change can cause larger effects, and over time, small events accumulate into a large event. And without any particular 'small event,' the larger outcome would be different. Like a missing piece of a puzzle or a distant direct ancestor being removed from the family tree. And yet people in general seem to fight insignificance as if it's a negative. Personally, I would choose happiness and not worry about meaning. Very few organisms evolve far enough into consciousness to be plagued with such meaningless quandaries. :2razz:
 
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