Yep I'm happy, but I still strive to to be better overall.. I think it's a normal function in life to want/be more/better, but when you let it consume you that's when you can run into problems.. It's easy sometimes to lose track of what's important with the superficial society we live in, but having great people around me keeps my head grounded..
There was thread just like this a while back. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=130100 I'm philosophically buddhist so I believe that the origins of all suffering is our own desires. You can not be trully happy unless you control those desires. In other words, be happy with what you got because its the wanting that makes life suck.
I don't if there's happiness. More like finding moments of happiness during your day-to-day routine. Finishing a successful project, waking up in the morning and listening to a song I worked on last night and finding that I still like it, sipping on some iced coffee, sitting w/ good friends at a bar hanging out, making Family Guy references w/ my girlfriend, watching the Rockets win, etc.
Even a desire to become a better human being, a better friend, a better lover, etc. I agree with a lot of eastern philosophy but what's wrong with wanting more out of life. Would buddhists reach enlightenment without desire?
that's called being content.. finding life to be quote.. satisfactory... IMO.. Which is probably why you don't know if there's happiness.. me personally.. I know I'm not truly happy.. or even content.. but i do have moments of fun and short lived enjoyment..
Buddhist don't think desire is "wrong". They just believe that its the cause of all suffering. Also, just because you don't suffer, doesn't mean you are going to be happy. I just believe the less you want, the less things to get in the way of your happiness. Here's how I see the relationship desire and enlightment. I believe that you can't see anything trully objectively if you have a vested interest in the situation. For example, many people don't notice a person liking or disliking them even when its obvious to everyone around them. Its only when you can totally remove yourself from a situation that you can trully understand it.
Yankee? I fell in love with the stuff while living in Boston. They drink the stuff like Texans drink iced tea.
Desire in this case means "lust" or selfish desires. It's not the same thing. And the Buddha said suffering arises from the attachment to desires, not from the desires themselves.
You know, it's funny. I used to live and die by whether "my team" won or lost. But it's getting to the point where it's really no big deal to me anymore. This is a very recent phenomenon with me. Like within the last year or so. I can't figure out when or why it happened, but it did. If the Rockets don't make the playoffs, life goes on. I've NEVER been at a point in my life where I can say something like that. It's really weird.
isn't every human desire inherently selfish? to be a better person, to help someone, to love (be it one person, or an entire people), to be loved, to reach enlightenment etc? all these things make us feel good one form or another, and have just as a direct postive effect and gain for the person wanting to obtain ostensibly unselfish things to give, as the person or people they wish to give them to. how forgiving is most often seen as the best thing you can do for yourself, than the person you're actually forgiving..
Someone else has already said it but it is all about perspective. Are there things in my life that I wish were better (like my job, income, etc.)? Yes but then I look at the alternative and it makes me damn grateful that I do have the things I do have. It is in our very nature to always want more or want the things we don't have. Man is a very restless creature by nature. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be settled and enjoy the things you do have. It is just hard to actually follow through on that philosophy.
