Philosophy Now Forum

I am a new member. I have been thinking about life and happiness for quite sometime, read a lot of philosophers, introspected and finally I have come to some conclusions which I would like to state here, in hope that some of you esteemed members will critique me with sound analysis and objective approach.

Why do we do anything in life from the moment we are born to our death? We do everything because of one of the following two reasons:

1. We do anything that is essential for our existence , like eating food and drinking water etc.

2. Or we do something because we believe that its supposed to be done for our well-being ,that we need to do it, that it will bring us happiness, that it will make us feel fulfilled , that it will promote our survival. When we believe that something will bring us happiness, like a relationship, or a thing or some place, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and it makes it seem that the thing we are doing or that we possess is giving us happiness whereas in reality its just a make-believe delusion. Happiness comes from that particular belief, that point of view , not from any relationship , thing or place.

Life that we all are living is just a game, a game that we have developed to avoid knowing the reality that there is nothing attractive about life and everything there is in it, that life and death are equally valid options for us to choose from, that all the attraction and happiness that is there in the world is because we believe that it is attractive, we belive it gives us happiness , its all delusion. There is nothing intrinsically important or attractive, its all made-up.

If I ask anyone why do they want to live life, answer always is to experience happiness, maybe in the form of an experience or a relationship or a random thing.The reality is that we dont have to do anything to experience happiness. A person with no friend sitting in one room all his life can be as happy as another person who has all the riches and good relationships which one can imagine, if he just believes that that is all he's supposed to do, thats all he needs to feel fulfilled and to be happy.

Very eager to hear your views.

Eclecticis wrote:I am a new member.

How do you do?

Eclecticis wrote:We do everything because of one of the following two reasons:

1. We do anything that is essential for our existence , like eating food and drinking water etc.

2. Or we do something because we believe that its supposed to be done for our well-being ,that we need to do it, that it will bring us happiness, that it will make us feel fulfilled , that it will promote our survival. When we believe that something will bring us happiness, like a relationship, or a thing or some place, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and it makes it seem that the thing we are doing or that we possess is giving us happiness whereas in reality its just a make-believe delusion. Happiness comes from that particular belief, that point of view , not from any relationship , thing or place.

I think you could be a bit more concise. It looks like what you are saying is that we do things because: 1. we have to. 2. we want to. Do you think there is any qualitative difference between 'make-believe happiness' and real happiness?

Eclecticis wrote:There is nothing intrinsically important or attractive, its all made-up.

Well, in the grand scheme of things, there probably isn't a grand scheme of things, so that ultimately nothing is important. With regard to life being attractive, I think the safest ground to hold is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Existence, as far as we can tell, is completely indifferent as to whether we like it or not, but it's there, you might as well enjoy the trip. I think you are right, we are not compelled to adhere to anyone else's idea of happiness, but I would recommend getting out from time to time.

The opposite experience does also occur:

we think that only if we achieve X we will be happy ever after, or make a huge step forward.

But we achieve X and realize that we do not care very much about it. The achieved goal sinks into insignificance.

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Someone can sit in a room and be happy.

Someone else can sit in a room and die of boredom.

Most people need constant entertainment and distraction. That is why they need constant company of other people, preferable some who they get along well with.

I think fundamentally life is a permanent condition, and that we are all different perspectives of one conscious existence, so the goal is to exist in a stable reality, in which we can endure for an infinite eternity. I think it's this aspect of existence that gives rise to its negative aspect, so the devil is an end to endurance, so to speak.

take these replies and comments, Eclecticis, and you should be able to put together the primary reason we are where we are and what we are... talkers. that's what we do. we can't keep our mouths shut for any length of time until we bust open talking, even if it's with ourselves in silence communications with ourselves.