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Importance of happiness importance of happiness essay on 250 words
The importance of happiness
The importance of happiness
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Vaclev Havel (1988) wrote, "The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less" (p. 237). I agree with Havel to a point on this matter. Do I attribute it to ALL of modern man? No, but I believe that a large majority can be lumped into this category. And I hate to say it, but I believe a lot of Christians fit into this grouping as well. I think we are ever increasingly reverting or converting into a Babylonian-like society. Our country and the people in it have become very self-focused (I am), into beauty, youth, intelligence, overindulgence, power, and pleasure.
I truly believe what this boils down to is human beings base most of their decisions on a pleasure principle. I believe Sigmund Freud coined this phrase. What it means is that a person will, by instinct, seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs. It is a psychological thing, but I also think it might play into a survivalist mentality as well. Most people want to choose the easy way or easy route instead of putting in the effort t...
Tennessee Williams described Sothern Gothic literature as a style that captured “the underlying dreadfulness in modern experience” (Hemmerling). The literature intended to reveal the social issues surrounding the time period. Features of this literature, “includes situations and places as well as unsavory characters that are often racist, religious fanatic, egotistical or self-righteous” (Kullmer). This description of Southern Gothic literature also fits other genres of post Civil War American literature. Works by authors such as Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt, Sui Sin Far, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston and Earnest Hemingway also contain characters, situation, and places revealing similar social controversies displaying racism, sexism, and egotistical behavior.
Given my first argument about the good, pleasurable feeling that comes from acting responsibly, this statement probably seems pretty contradictory. However, feel-good experiences serve large purposes than just increasing dopamine levels; they also encourage responsible behavior. In his article Evil and Soul-Making, John Hick uses the metaphor of parenting to show how God is leading humanity to act responsibly. “A parent who loves his children and wants them to become the best human beings they are capable of becoming does not treat pleasure as the sole and supreme value,” he says, “. . . a child brought up on [this principle] would not likely become an ethically mature adult or an attractive or happy personality” (Hick 3). Similarly, Hicks suggests that as the “children of God,” we are given the opportunity to act irresponsibly and have to endure suffering in order to learn responsibility, which God encourages through feel-good experiences (Hick
al (2007), “In other words, individuals were guided by a pain-and pleasure principle by which they calculated the risks and rewards involved in their actions” (p. 15).
Everyone has heard the expression "curiosity killed the cat." That is to say, the search for new wisdom can often have unpleasant consequences; a child curious about the kitchen stove is bound to get burned. This is exactly what Kurt Vonnegut demonstrates in Cat's Cradle with the example of ice-nine, which is developed by the fictional creator of the atom bomb, Felix Hoenikker. It is symbolic of the atom bomb in that it has the power to end human life. Hoenikker is obviously an exceedingly smart man; however, it can be inferred from his inventions that he does not always consider the negative consequences of his new discoveries. He is merely on a quest for further knowledge, not a quest to better our society. The game of cat's cradle, which Hoenikker was playing on the day of Hiroshima, can be understood to represent both the naîve, infantile nature of Hoenikker as well as the great destruction caused by his invention. Vonnegut counters the scientific aspects of the novel with the bizarre religion of Bokononism. Overall, Cat's Cradle is used by Vonnegut to point out the flaws in modern society. Through the analogous ice-nine, Vonnegut shows that humankind's search for knowledge is prone to end up in destruction.
Young and old. Rich and poor. Black and white. When one person thinks about those comparisons, they are thought of as opposites. Most often, one is classified as being superior over the other category. These are the differences that people face in everyday life. It is challenging to overcome any one of these classifications, and it takes a great deal of effort. Often times, people are found struggling in the minority that is not commonly liked, creating a problem in their life and in society. In the books Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the main characters face multiple problems in society; Pip encounters the challenge of social classes and Huck deals with the segregation in the South.
Rosin, Hanna. “The End of Men.” Minding the Body, edited by Katherine McAlvage and Martina Miles. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon Composition Program, 2015.
“A refreshed mind is a creative and productive one,” is a quote written by Kathy Bell, in her book Regression (Bell). In a society that is continuing to regress to the ways of previous historical times, does it make you think that maybe no one is working to keep their mind refreshed and allow our society to grow as opposed to it going backwards? Particular aspects of our society are regressing to ways that can be compared to those of the Paleolithic period, including the way our society's gender roles are portrayed, our ideology and how we treat people, and being civilized. We are reverting to women being the homebodies and taking care of their children and given high expectations, and men being the one in charge. Today's society, like the Paleolithic culture, has a monotheistic religion, and have put people back into groups similar to the groups the Paleolithic people traveled in. Our society today is also turning back and losing its civility, and becoming a selfish, uncaring group of people as a whole.
The pain in which people are avoiding can be psychological/ emotional, or physical. Hedonism can be acknowledged in two ways; the way the constitution stresses it is the ‘pursuit of happiness’, but some people do not use this as a way to better themselves. It is meant to be used as a means to better one’s self and strive for excellence. Whereas people use this as a reason to use substances to alleviate pain and discomfort stemming from a physical sensation, or from
Jared Diamond makes the argument that when humans decided 10,000 years ago to no longer be hunter-gatherers and made the decision to become sedentary and start domesticating their animals and crops, the result is that the human race has experienced a steady downfall. Diamond makes the point that “with agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence,” (Diamond). While the present system certainly is far from being perfected, Diamond’s various complaints and solutions certainly would not be of much use in the present time either.
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Herman Melville's Moby Dick, two separate and radically different compositions that both explore the self-destructive potential of humanity. Moby Dick, set in the New England region of North America during the mid to late 1800s, tells the story of Captain Ahab's quest on the whaling ship, The Pequod, to slay the white whale that crippled him on his last voyage. Throughout their trek the crew are faced with many warnings to turn back, ultimately Ahab must make the decision between saving multiple lives, and exacting his revenge. Ishamel, a well educated traveler and crew member of the Pequod, narrates the story several years after these events have transpired. 2001: A Space Odyssey, is the story of humanity's actions following first extraterrestrial contact. Dr. Dave Bowman sets out on a journey to Jupiter to discover the source of a signal emanating from an obelisk buried beneath the surface of the moon. By the end of his trip, Bowman is the sole survivor of his ship's crew, and must destroy the computer that guided them, HAL, in order to survive.
pleasure. “The Id is driven by the pleasure principle for immediate gratification of all desires,
In Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, he writes about the concept of the “pleasure principle,” which is “the unconscious wish for pleasure or power” (497). Freud would agree that individuals’ greatest desires for obtaining power or the ultimate happiness stems from this pleasure principle theory. When something is missing in individuals’ lives, the desire to compensate for these deficiencies manifests itself in the form
This principle promotes a life of more pleasure than pain by choosing actions that produce more happiness. These are conscious actions made that follow a life of utility and act in accordance with the “Greatest Happiness Principle.” Though Mill’s critics would argue that Utilitarianism is not a reasonable foundation for morality by not fulfilling a life of happiness, creating selfish or expedient people, and reducing human experience to animals, I would have to disagree. This principle promotes happiness and pleasure for all, along with aiding individuals to be less selfish, and an even slate for people of all characters. I find the “Greatest Happiness Principle” to be a relevant and altruistic foundation of morality. There is an emphasis on lives containing more pleasure than pain under the rule that one person cannot put their own happiness above others. I think a type of morality such as this would be more successful than other forms of morality because it wants every human life to be a life filled with more pleasure than pain. I see this as an appropriate foundation because it promotes good over bad, which is ultimately the function of morality as a whole. As written by Raymond Plant, “Since the principle of the individual is to try to satisfy his desires…the principle of society should be to try to advance the satisfactions of those who belong to the society…”
Human life is absurd and there is no universal meaning, but humanity suffers from this inevitable fact so they try to find meaning through various created purposes to feel significant in their life. The absurdity of life is one of the biggest issues of philosophy because of the consequences it can cause in peoples lives. As human beings we desire purpose, meaning and order in life. Without the content of a meaningful life we feel lost and strive to find something that gives us meaning. We are all suffering from this unattainable goal to find a meaningful life. Albert Camus and Thomas Nagel agree with the fact that life is absurd but disagree on the right approach to life after realizing that life is without meaning.
Despite having the grandiose honor of being the main character of The Inferno, Dante is still a normal human being. He is lead by his mentor, Virgil, who attempts to guide him through the perils of sin. The ultimate goal is for Dante to hate sin, and he steadily progresses from initially feeling pity to aggressively terrorizing the sinners. This can be seen through his journey from swooning to the Lustful to ripping the scalps of sinners. The Everyman's actions and viewpoints for sin changes as he ventures through Hell with the aid of Human Reason.