Some completely philosophical questions around happiness:

What is it to you?

How do we come to define it?

Is it a 'natural' condition/feeling, or is it something that is a product of conditioning which tells us what to value and therefore, what makes us 'happy'?

how much of happiness is conditional upon the feedback and treatment we receive from others, even if its just those we actually care about?

How much of our 'happiness' is triggered by the external, rather than the 'natural'? is Happy even something 'natural' or is it mostly conditioned?

Is happy better than healthy, or are they both just constructed ideals? Cant the unhealthy be happy? Can the healthy be unhappy? Is anyone truly happy? is anyone completely healthy?

sigh ...




In the nature of 'questioning everything' that often arises in the religion threads. I wanted to take a stab at 'questioning' why we believe we are 'happy' or not.

I think it is mostly perception.
If we have more than we need we are happy.
If things turn out the way we want we are pleased.

If it goes the other way..bummer.

lol .. yeah, bummer for sure.


okay. so is the key to happiness, to not 'want' or 'need'? Is that kind of a buddha type center .... ( i am totally in a zone with these thoughts at the moment, they may not follow the usual logic I try to use in these forums ...lol)

Some people seem happy, with very little.
Others want to slit their throats over having the same amount.
Perception and expectations.
When one exceeds the other, they are happy.
The way I see it ;-)

Happiness isn't just one or two things but a compilation of things we each find pleasurable. That would indicate that what makes someone happy is different than what makes someone else happy.

Health: we need to be healthy enough to do the physical activities that give us pleasure without the fear we will die from it.

Physical activity: doing those activities that give us pleasure. It could be dancing, it could be riding a bicycle, could be a walk, or any number of other things.

Non-human interaction: those interactions that again give us pleasure. Smelling the roses, feeling the breeze, a kiss or cuddle from a pet. It could be something as simple as picking a flower or finding a seashell.

Our interaction with other people: How we are treated, our close friends, our children or parents, maybe a lover. Those positive interactions with others bring us pleasure. Just a smile and greeting from a stranger at the store can bring those feelings of pleasure.

I think these are the parts that make us happy with ourselves and our lives.....

That last one, our interaction with other people, seems to be the hardest to accomplish. There are way too many negative experiences in the lives of some people. They tend to be picked on, belittled, ignored, and pushed aside from living. These also seem to be the ones who resort to violence; lashing out in retaliation for their mistreatment and unhappiness.

What is it to you? How do we(I) come to define it?
Happiness is an emotional state I experience that allows me to express joy.
It comes and goes as conditions change.
I don't believe I am supposed to be happy all the time anymore than thinking I am supposed to be angry or sad all the time.

Is it a 'natural' condition/feeling, or is it something that is a product of conditioning which tells us what to value and therefore, what makes us 'happy'?
In my younger days I was very much trying to experience happiness by conditioning. I often thought there was something wrong with me when I did or didn't feel happy when I was supposed to.
I struggled with those conflicts most of my life.
Then I decided to just experience my emotions as I feel them and everything got a lot easier. I am the only one that lives behind my eyes and nobody in the world can tell me when I should feel one way or another. Anyone that can't accept that, can kiss my grits.

how much of happiness is conditional upon the feedback and treatment we receive from others, even if its just those we actually care about?
All my happiness is entirely conditional on how I feel at the time.
Others can do things that lighten my mood sometimes but any happiness I feel inside is completely of my own creation.

Is happy better than healthy, or are they both just constructed ideals? Cant the unhealthy be happy? Can the healthy be unhappy? Is anyone truly happy? is anyone completely healthy?
Right now, my health is such that if this were the case, I couldn't be happy ever again, yet I do experience happiness quite frequently.
For the people that don't quite understand themselves, they might think happiness is nothing but constructed ideals. They get hooked on 'true' and ignore the fact that happiness is happiness or it isn't happiness at all but something else.

is anyone completely healthy?
Life is a sexually-transmitted disease that is 100% fatal.

^^ this, especially that last part.. so true.

Happiness is a state of mind that can be brought on by the simplest thing and taken away in one fell swoop by many things.

Happiness is temporary.
Contentment lasts a lifetime.

In my experience, happiness occurs whenever someone gets the sense that they are who, and what and where they expect to be, doing and experiencing what most confirms their sense of how the world and existence works.

That's how some people are happy when some unpleasant things happen: because they believe that that's what was "supposed to" happen. NOT because it was unpleasant.

It's also why some people are UNHAPPY about some very positive experiences: they feel strongly that those things were NOT "supposed to happen."

HARMONY - what a great question. I have to mill that around in my mind and will answer later.

I appreciate the thoughtful responses.

Happiness is simply an emotion, nothing more, nothing less. We want it to be more because have a hard time accepting simple ideas and things. We have the need to over complicate things because we are an arrogant creature.

Happiness MAY simply be an emotion but as with most emotions it is not simple.We may have a need to "complicate" things but it is more to do with intelligence and a quest for understanding than arrogance.The answer to the question is both philosophical and physiological.Some of the above answers refer to conditioning yet in my opinion an emotion is a gut reaction to a situation.Something makes us happy or sad,we don't deliberately analyse the situation and come to a conclusion based on that analysis.I like nature lady's response.For all we talk about happiness and its' significance in our lives,we still have to think about what it means to us individually.

Happiness is also the warm glow of radio tubes.

Right, where as say a cat or dog has happiness in simply hunting or socializing, they don't have to figure out what makes them happy or struggle to find it, they just know.

People on the other hand like to make things seem more difficult, especially in todays world where we are constantly bombarded by what others want us to think and feel. Take the "American Dream" for example.

Happiness, like love, is convoluted in how many people understand it.
Many feel they should be happy all the time.
Many feel they should feel love all the time.
The problem is, we don't.
Happiness and love come and go, just like any other emotional state we have.
They are subject to relativity as well.
What made you happy when you were 15 may not make you happy now.
what made you feel love when you were 22 may not make you feel love now.
Its relative to YOU.

The person that claims they just want to be happy are looking for an internal experience externally.
The just don't understand what it is they seek.
So, they seek it in other things or people and it never lasts.
It makes them sad.
They abandon those other things searching for another fix of happiness (or love) in something or someone else and when they find it the result is just as fleeting.

However, if they find the happiness (or love) within themselves, it stays with them. They are more content and focused on interacting with those they care about. Their contentment and joy is from within, where it's supposed to be.

Personality plays a part, glass half full or half empty, you meet people from both camps in life, everyone is an individual. Politicians believe in tax cuts, makes nearly everyone happy, and usually introduced just before the general election. What else makes each of us happy is more subjective, and where we are in our life in my opinion.

Happiness is in the eyes of the beholder.

Happiness for many comes from a person's circumstances in Life.

Happiness is a warm gun