Philosophy Now Forum

Is it the kind of life that people with a lot of money are able to have and as they toast each other with a glass of champagne, someone says....
"I wonder what the poor people are doing this evening? muffled laughter.

Is it the modest timber house on acreage in a remote bush location with your dogs?

Is it good health?

Is it a happy relationship? or

Is it none of the above.....does it even exist?

reasonvemotion wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 4:11 am Is it the kind of life that people with a lot of money are able to have and as they toast each other with a glass of champagne, someone says....
"I wonder what the poor people are doing this evening? muffled laughter.

Is it the modest timber house on acreage in a remote bush location with your dogs?

Is it good health?

Is it a happy relationship? or

Is it none of the above.....does it even exist?

'It' is whatever you want it to be.

See, anyone could tell you what 'it' is, to them, but then anyone else, including you, could say, "No 'it' is not". So, how then do you decide who is right?

It is the walking a stretch of road.

You start at one point and go a little further.

A bad life, on the other hand, is not having even taken a step forward, or even having gone back.

It doesn't matter where you start from, what matters is whether you move forward anyway.

Your talents, whether they are few or many, must grow and improve. To make yours a good life.

bobmax wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 6:36 am It is the walking a stretch of road.

You start at one point and go a little further.

A bad life, on the other hand, is not having even taken a step forward, or even having gone back.

It doesn't matter where you start from, what matters is whether you move forward anyway.

Your talents, whether they are few or many, must grow and improve. To make yours a good life.

So, as long as the "drug dealer" is taking steps, moving forward, growing, and improving "their business" or "them" 'self', then, to you, that is a 'good life', correct?

reasonvemotion wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 4:11 am Is it the kind of life that people with a lot of money are able to have and as they toast each other with a glass of champagne, someone says....
"I wonder what the poor people are doing this evening? muffled laughter.

Is it the modest timber house on acreage in a remote bush location with your dogs?

Is it good health?

Is it a happy relationship? or

Is it none of the above.....does it even exist?

Dear reasonvemotion,

A person will often feel that a “good life” is one without the presence of what at some point has felt “bad” to them.

Chances are that if you have always had champagne, champagne will not be on your list of criteria for a “good life”. For champagne to be on such a list, you would at some point not have had champagne and experienced that as somehow …problematic.

Of course, champagne may be a somewhat trivial example, but the same can be said for fundamentals too: if you have never gone hungry, access to food will not be part of what you think about when you envision what a “good life” is; if you’ve always been able to walk without pain, lack of pain when walking will not be something you include in your idea of a “good life”, etc.

As with most things of this sort, different accounts can be given for this tendency; each with different conclusions about human nature - all of them interesting and most of them, plausible.

Humbly,
Hermit

the grass is always greener...

-Imp

Being happy and content.

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!" - B. Conan

reasonvemotion wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 4:11 am Is it the kind of life that people with a lot of money are able to have and as they toast each other with a glass of champagne, someone says....
"I wonder what the poor people are doing this evening? muffled laughter.

Is it the modest timber house on acreage in a remote bush location with your dogs?

Is it good health?

Is it a happy relationship? or

Is it none of the above.....does it even exist?

Good health. A good relationship with others. Enough money.

It's like all the bumper stickers came to life and got together for a party in here.

FlashDangerpants wrote: ↑Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:53 pm It's like all the bumper stickers came to life and got together for a party in here.

It occurred to me just the other day, that you very rarely see a bumper sticker anymore..

On another thing, and I know you don't believe stuff about my experiences, but this is what happened about 15 years ago. I was VERY angry with God (while in its hell), so fucking angry that I smashed the glass of a sliding door in my lounge room.
I went up the shops and on the way I told God to fix the mess that was in my house! - (IT didn't.) But in the car park of the shopping centre, almost every car had large stickers across the back windscreens that stated "ANGER MANAGEMENT"!!

Reality is a convoluted apparition of the truth.

I had a great bumper sticker on my car in the late 80's...

it said "Nuke a gay whale for Jesus"

-Imp

Some ancient Greek views of the 'good life' agree that justice is a necessary part of a good life.  
Aristotle wrote justice is necessary (but only a part) for the good life.  
Acting justly is a vital part of the good life, "we are just so that we will not suffer from injustices or injuries from others".
Perhaps with the absence of desires, true happiness means being satisfied to the point one does not have desires.

In today's society one could call this blasphemy against life itself!

Is this comedy blasphemy? Maybe.
Part of the comedy is about the attitude.

It's a 7 minute monologue.

Paw Paw for Jesus
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/102/ro ... ct-four-13

reasonvemotion wrote: ↑Sun Aug 28, 2022 8:24 am Perhaps with the absence of desires, true happiness means being satisfied to the point one does not have desires.

Folks only think that to disparage.

True happiness means one is not attached to desires. Attached. Attachment is the key concept, and folks often detach from that key concept, for one reason or another, and don't mention it when speaking of desires.