when will you reach complete happiness in your life?

JLNobody wrote:

I think you'll agree, extramedium, that any talk of "complete" happiness refers to a context of timelessness (Eternity), not foreverness.

hmmm. See your point.

Duality.

Now we get back into semantics.

Perhaps "complete" is at the same time inclusive and exclusive of both eternity and forever?

And that gets to the rub: I have this feeling that "I" may never achieve complete happiness.

When I am able to remove the "I" from the question, complete happiness and contentment is there, already. Always has been.

It is only when "I" want it for "myself" and go chasing it that problems start to arise.

It is already there.

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Gassho (bowing to you)

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Quote:

When I am able to remove the "I" from the question, complete happiness and contentment is there, already. Always has been.

Whereas contentment and happiness are two different
entities. I can say that I feel utter contentment in my life,
however happiness comes in strides, and that's a good
thing. Eternal happiness would not make us appreciate
the true happy moments when they arrive.

In the search of happiness, many people overlook the
smaller things in life that add up to happiness Wink

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extra medium wrote:

hmmm...what do you mean by "absolute" happiness? In my mind, absolute happiness means it would not be temporary. If it goes away after awhile (ie when you come down from the heroin high); then it is not absolute.

Thus, if you are saying that heroin might give you a feeling of drug induced temporary pseudo happiness, I might agree with that.

But if you are saying heroin would give you true absolute eternal happiness, I disagree. In fact it would take you in the opposite direction.

Not to be a prude. If one wants to take heroin, so be it. Its just that with every heroin-taker I've come in contact with; the last thing I would call them is: happy.

It is only possible for us to achieve temporary happiness, since our lives are temporary. Therefore, either absolute/complete happiness is temporary, or it is impossible.

Happiness, I believe, is a brain-state (I can't see what else it could be). If heroin, or another drug, causes the brain-state for absolute/complete happiness, then the effect would not be psudo-happiness, it would be true happiness, if happiness is just a brains-state as I think it is.

So if absolute/complete happiness is possible, then I think that heroin might be a way of reaching it. The effect simply needs to be a brain-state matching that of absolute/complete happiness, and it must be temporary (otherwise it wouldn't be possible, and I am hypothesising that it is).

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To consider happiness a brain-state that attainable by drugs may reflect a confusion of pleasure with joy.

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I'm feeling cheeky.
I predict that I'll reach complete happiness in my life at precisely 4:35 this Friday afternoon! Hooray at last! Very Happy

...alright, that was frivolous! Yes, I know .... Twisted Evil

Sorry. I won't do it again, I promise .... <creeping away> Embarrassed

OK, disregard that, folks. Back to the discussion:

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CalamityJane

I agree with you.
Happiness is not a goal, something we search during life. Happiness is in every moment of life. The fresh air of early morning, the first coffee of the day, a professional problem well decided, little things like that ... the search of complete happiness makes no sense. Happiness happens all the time.

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JLNobody wrote:

To consider happiness a brain-state that attainable by drugs may reflect a confusion of pleasure with joy.

What would joy be then?

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Agrote, joy is undefinable (by me at least). I can feel JOY when I am aware of my experience whole-heartedly. This may even be when feeling pain or the misery of the loss of a loved one. I can feel joy while crying as well as laughing. It is a kind of fulfillment in the moment. But it is much more than the pleasure of, say, the taste of sugar; at the same time it is the whole-hearted tasting of anything, including sugar, but without "attachment" to sweetness. Understand?

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JLNobody wrote:

Agrote, joy is undefinable (by me at least). I can feel JOY when I am aware of my experience whole-heartedly. This may even be when feeling pain or the misery of the loss of a loved one. I can feel joy while crying as well as laughing. It is a kind of fulfillment in the moment. But it is much more than the pleasure of, say, the taste of sugar; at the same time it is the whole-hearted tasting of anything, including sugar, but without "attachment" to sweetness. Understand?

So do you mean that joy can be lots of different feelings - pain, misery, pleasure, etc.? Or that it can be caused by lots of different feelings?

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I guess I use the term, joy, in reference to the quality of one's immersion in the life experience. It is when we are unblocked, uninhibited, undiscriminating in our devouring of each moment and sensation. To be wholehearted is to be fulfilled, at that moment. To live joyfully is to live wholeheartedly, without reservation and unnecessary caution. We can get that impression when seeing a zen monk completely focused on the moment or Zorba the Greek's passion when drinking and dancing.

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JLNobody wrote:

I guess I use the term, joy, in reference to the quality of one's immersion in the life experience. It is when we are unblocked, uninhibited, undiscriminating in our devouring of each moment and sensation. To be wholehearted is to be fulfilled, at that moment. To live joyfully is to live wholeheartedly, without reservation and unnecessary caution. We can get that impression when seeing a zen monk completely focused on the moment or Zorba the Greek's passion when drinking and dancing.

So joy is more of a way of thinking or behaving then, rather than an actual specific throught or behaviour? Sorry I keep trying to simplify what you say, I just want to work towards a sort of concrete definition of joy, or absolute/complete happiness.

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Agrote, I know I'm being obscure on this topic. Let me agree that joy, as I understand it, IS, as you suggest, something like a "way" of being, as opposed to a particular emotion or sensation. You might do well to search your memory for occasions when you felt so much more than pleasure or mere "happiness." How about times when you were standing in a place (outdoors or indoors) that, because of aromas, colors, sounds, triggered recollections--feelings of profound belonging or love regarding past places and peoples. Nobody else could understand the particular value of that moment but you. It is deeply subjective and particular to you. The memory opened you to a joyful state of mind.
If joy has a synonym, it is not pleasure, it is love.

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JLNobody wrote:

Agrote, I know I'm being obscure on this topic. Let me agree that joy, as I understand it, IS, as you suggest, something like a "way" of being, as opposed to a particular emotion or sensation. You might do well to search your memory for occasions when you felt so much more than pleasure or mere "happiness." How about times when you were standing in a place (outdoors or indoors) that, because of aromas, colors, sounds, triggered recollections--feelings of profound belonging or love regarding past places and peoples. Nobody else could understand the particular value of that moment but you. It is deeply subjective and particular to you. The memory opened you to a joyful state of mind.
If joy has a synonym, it is not pleasure, it is love.

Unfortunately I can't remember a tiem when I have felt joy as you describe it. But I understand your definition, and probably agree with it.

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when will you reach complete happiness in your life?

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