Do you know anyone...

[punkgrrrlie10]

that consistently says "life is great"? Are humans really incapable of perceiving only the good things in life or are we married to complaining about whatever may go wrong?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

I'm tired and really just taking a swing at this, but maybe it's a Western Society kind of thing....? I dunno, the grass is always greener is what they say, and I'm willing to bet that someone in Uganda or Argentina might gladly trade with us for one of our "bad days."

And I'm spent.

[Sethomas]

Many of my acquaintances who have done missionary work in Haiti tell me that as a people, they cherish life itself more than most Americans can realize. While not everyone can drive the vehicle of his choice, we are all fully capable of satisfying our material needs. We are programmed to associate contentment with materialism, and when all of our needs are met we are reminded how far we are from happiness. I think that would make us cynical as a people, at least in that regard. We have a completely wrong notion of happiness, and so we feel all the more empty when we fail to achieve it.

But then again, the chemicals in my brain are fucked up to the point that I'll bless the day when God removes me from this world.

[ScruU2wice]

I dont understand what your trying to say punkgirrl, are you for or against people who say "life is great"

Anyways, as alotta you might guess i have a horrible self-esteem problem. There are times i feel like everyones life is way better than mine, i envy people on tv who have succesful careers and lives. Most of the jokes i make are directed to myself. However, there are still times i stop and reflect, adn see that compared to alotta people im having a great life and i have great potential to live it out. I despise when people say life is not worth living (other than jokingly) and talk about how misreable they are for losing their b/f or g/f. Then again i guess there is no way to achieve total happiness, because when you look through your own eyes you see all the things that are just barely out of reach. Or the human tendency to always want more. I guess you should keep in a happy medium and just live your life...

[Immortal Goat]

ScrewU2wice, you do not have a crappy life. I may not know you personally, but from what I have seen on this site, you are a good person (albeit with a screwed-up sense of humor, but hey, that is 99.9% of the mockers here). Don't wallow in self-pity, because life IS great, and if you feel that it isn't, then it is YOUR job to change it. Do what you want, think how you want, be yourself. These are the keys to happiness (at least, they are for me).

[Perndog]

Life is better with each succeeding day, and if you don't think so, like Goat says, it's your own damn fault. You control your life, not other people and not circumstances.

[Sethomas]

My chemical disposition is my own damn fault? Makes lovely sense there, dude. Before you retort that I can take happy pills, I already do. All they do is dull the edge.

Don't wallow in self-pity, because life IS great

Some people can't choose to ignore the attrocities the world bears. I understand what you're trying to say, that life can potentially be wonderful, but I think that attitude tends to lead to complacency. There's too much work to be done in this life to be blind. I guess ignorance is bliss.

[Big McLargehuge]

I always say life is great, I have no personal deities but i still look at every day as a gift. Even when i feel bad i know that i should be happy just to be alive. I don't understand people who think that life is just pain and sorrow. I don't want to play point the finger but... Every religion i know treats this life as an inferior state of existance. They all hold that we are alive only to get to the next (better) state of existance. This could be why many people think that life sucks. because they feel that it is one of the inferior states of existance, I personally see life as a celebration of itself.






Bullshit.

[Perndog]

My religion is all about this life, which is my reason for feeling so good about things. I am already in the good state of existence, and I'm glad to be here.

Seth, why do the "atrocities" of the world concern you? You have a god, right? Aren't those things his problem? Or aren't they the problem of the people who are experiencing them or causing them? Basically, shouldn't you be more concerned with your own problems than everyone else's?

[The_Rorschach]

"Life is better with each succeeding day, and if you don't think so, like Goat says, it's your own damn fault. You control your life, not other people and not circumstances."

Ditto.

[Big McLargehuge]

Originally Posted by Sethomas

Some people can't choose to ignore the attrocities the world bears. I understand what you're trying to say, that life can potentially be wonderful, but I think that attitude tends to lead to complacency. There's too much work to be done in this life to be blind. I guess ignorance is bliss.

You won't want to change a place you hate. Some of us are able to love life and still want to make it better. Just because I enjoy being alive doesn't mean I don't want to make teh world a better place.

[FS]

I don't know any people who are overly optimistic about the world and prance around going "yay life", but I guess it's mostly a matter of your perception of the world.

During the attacks on Iraq, my sister and her boyfriend came over, and he was glued to the TV set, cheering and laughing at missile explosions that wiped out parts of Baghdad. Granted, he's dumb as dirt and I wanted to strangle him for it, but there's another perception of the world. Some people see misery in other places and think "fuck, what a dreary world". Others see misery in other places and think "wow, I'm lucky".

[Helm]

If that's what it takes to see life as great, I think I'll pass.


Besides, to quote (or rather paraphrase) a great somebody:

"There's noone more miserable than the philosopher."

[VinceZeb]

Get your wrist straightned out, and you will cheer at explosions, FS.

[Helm]

'exposions'?

[Blue]

Life is what you make of it.

[mburbank]

Wow. Vinth climbs out of his depression pit for that? To state that unless you're gay you like people getting killed?

In any case, depending on what you mean, Pgirl, I think life is great, in the larger sense. Do you mean life at all (great) Human existance (brief, painful, but still great) the speciffic lives of individuals as percieved by themselves ( a question with as many different answers as there are people) or the life of speciifc individuals, say for the sake of argument Vinth (awful)?

[FS]

'straightned'?

[Anonymous]

I agree with Perndog, in that true happiness can be obtained simply by ignoring the plights of others.

[mburbank]

What about enjoying the plight of others? Don't rule that out.

[Anonymous]

Bah, then you gotta mix the good plight with the bad plight, and in the end, you'll wind up with inferior plightitude.

[Big McLargehuge]

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

I agree with Perndog, in that true happiness can be obtained simply by ignoring the plights of others.

What about those people who attain happiness by helping the plights of others?

And why hasn't anybody made a comment like "religion gives people hope" or some shit like that in response to my first post in this thread

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by Big McLargehuge

What about those people who attain happiness by helping the plights of others?

Are you suggesting that people who need people are the happiest people in the woooooooooooooorld?

And why hasn't anybody made a comment like "religion gives people hope" or some shit like that in response to my first post in this thread

Because that privilege is reserved for you.

[Big McLargehuge]

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

Are you suggesting that people who need people are the happiest people in the woooooooooooooorld

Nobody's the happiest people in the world. Awesome fucking grammer

[Perndog]

Religion gives people hope.

There. I said it.