There has to be more to life than this

[Poetic Justice]

I wouldn't consider knowing your place in the world to be an existential question unless you mean a question like "who am I?" or "why am I here?". Knowing your place, to me, indicates questions like "what do I like to do?" or "what makes me feel happy and fulfilled?" in which case it's very relevant to life. In that case, you need to explore and try different things and eventually you find something that truly sparks a fire in you.

This

 

[NeverAmI]

I used to have this issue a lot and it would leave me feeling cold and lonely, empty like I had no connection to reality, so I set out to find the answer. I failed and came to the conclusion that the best approach is not to think about it. As profound and meaningful as it feels to try to tackle the really big questions. Existential questions just aren't relevant to achieving happiness and satisfaction in life. All we really want is to feel content. How to achieve that is the only useful knowledge.

Agreed

 

[bagelriffic]

All we really want is to feel content. How to achieve that is the only useful knowledge.

+1

 

[frozen_water]

It feels a bit weird to copy this because Kaze was the one who posted it, but as the link came from INTPf and I haven't seen him repost it yet,

http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletter.aspx?id=54

Three paths to happy lives

So the core thesis in Authentic Happiness is that there are three very different routes to happiness. First the Pleasant Life, consisting in having as many pleasures as possible and having the skills to amplify the pleasures. This is, of course, the only true kind of happiness on the Hollywood view. Second, the Good Life, which consists in knowing what your signature strengths are, and then recrafting your work, love, friendship, leisure and parenting to use those strengths to have more flow in life. Third, the Meaningful Life, which consists of using your signature strengths in the service of something that you believe is larger than you are.

Important new evidence

Until this month, the idea that there are three routes to happiness, two of which do not involve any felt positive emotion at all, was merely an untested theory. Both Chris Peterson at the University of Michigan (chrispet@umich.edu) and Veronika Huta at McGill University (vhuta@ego.psych.mcgill.ca) have just tested it with converging results that are startling.

Dr. Peterson devised three sets of questions, one about pursuing and having the Pleasant Life, the other two about pursuing and having the Good Life or the Meaningful Life, and gave them to 150 adult volunteers. You can complete a questionnaire with all of these questions at www.authentichappiness.org. His target was life satisfaction. He found that both the Good Life and the Meaningful Life were related to life satisfaction: the more Eudaimonia or the more Meaning, the more life satisfaction. Astonishingly, however, the amount of pleasure in life did not add to life satisfaction.

...and the original thread over at intpf: http://intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=7499

 

[KazeCraven]

Yep, it's relevant now. Though I'd have to say that I rather disagree with the latest turn of thought. You see, there's a difference between trying to find happiness and trying to make sense of the grand significance of reality. I suppose it's kinda like when people feel guilty about feeling happy, though I admit this doesn't exactly get at it either.

Maybe thinking about it this way would help: let's say you've got a really great life and love what you do. But there's this nagging voice in the back of your mind asking, "What's this all about?" In essence, despite all your enjoyment of life, you can't help but shake the feeling that you're missing something big, or that you've deluded yourself, or that you'll wake up one day realizing that all you've worked for amounted to nothing. It's not terrifying or depressing, because you're enjoying your life now and you could certainly drop everything if you ever found out what was missing, but it is a serious question you wish you could figure out.

I'd go so far as to call it a philosophical addiction, though again I can see that being a somewhat misleading metaphor.

 

[dark_angel]

I can definitely relate, that is me on a bad day. I try to concentrate on enjoying the simple things like the sunshine on your face, hearing the birds twitter, watching your cat stalk something in your garden, enjoying your loved one

 

[just me]

A friend of mine, a guide for an outfitter, once said he believed people usually bring their own hunts out there with them when they come.

All this from a writer for sports magazines in years past, after spending every morning and every evening in a blind with people talking during the season. My friend is well-liked, well-versed, and very experienced with people(the best of guides, too). He is quite brilliant with his vocabulary and wit. I have given that statement he wrote back around the year 2000 many hours of thought.

Such is life.

 

[Kgal]

Bringing Your Own Hunt

A friend of mine, a guide for an outfitter, once said he believed people usually bring their own hunts out there with them when they come.

All this from a writer for sports magazines in years past, after spending every morning and every evening in a blind with people talking during the season. My friend is well-liked, well-versed, and very experienced with people(the best of guides, too). He is quite brilliant with his vocabulary and wit. I have given that statement he wrote back around the year 2000 many hours of thought.

Such is life.

@ justme ...When I read this I thought: The people were bringing their own story of what they hoped the hunt would be; their expectations of what they'd get out of doing the hunt; and the story(s) they'd tell about their selves when they returned from the hunt.

We all have our story. And we all have our "hunt".

What do you think he meant?

 

[just me]

@ justme ...When I read this I thought: The people were bringing their own story of what they hoped the hunt would be; their expectations of what they'd get out of doing the hunt; and the story(s) they'd tell about their selves when they returned from the hunt.

We all have our story. And we all have our "hunt".

What do you think he meant?

I'd like to see what others think first, or at least give them time to think about it. Maybe this weekend. Thanks for the reply.

 

[KazeCraven]

A friend of mine, a guide for an outfitter, once said he believed people usually bring their own hunts out there with them when they come.

People will see what they want to see.

People will find only what they are looking for.

 

[Poetic Justice]

People will see what they want to see.

People will find only what they are looking for.

Yep. Beliefs are the filters through which we see the world. They sort incoming information in order to prove themselves to be true

 

[Nixie]

I don't doubt that my life has meaning. I took the time and energy to define who I was and what I believe in and it gives me a great deal of comfort everyday. I can certainly relate to wanting to spiral down the path of "is this all" and have done so many times and will probably do so again. All that crap about the journey being the best part of life is basically true. Not every moment can be filled with awe and wonder but you'd be suprised that the lamenting over the grandiose moments can make you miss the smaller everyday moments that still carry meaning and bring joy.

 

[Poetic Justice]

lots of people worry about achieving their goals. They think I'll be happy when I get X or I'll be happy when I don't have to X anymore.

Change you goal to achieving constant growth, constant improvement. You will constantly be achieving it.

If you can only be happy when you have achieved you goal and your goal is constantly being achieved. Guess what? you'll be constantly happy

Well.... sort of. lol

 

[Jack]

I just posted a blog about this, if anyone wants to have a look. You can comment here or there, if you are so motivated.

 

[Trifoilum]

I wouldn't consider knowing your place in the world to be an existential question unless you mean a question like "who am I?" or "why am I here?". Knowing your place, to me, indicates questions like "what do I like to do?" or "what makes me feel happy and fulfilled?" in which case it's very relevant to life. In that case, you need to explore and try different things and eventually you find something that truly sparks a fire in you.

if that's the case, yeah; I do agreed with you.

Maybe thinking about it this way would help: let's say you've got a really great life and love what you do. But there's this nagging voice in the back of your mind asking, "What's this all about?" In essence, despite all your enjoyment of life, you can't help but shake the feeling that you're missing something big, or that you've deluded yourself, or that you'll wake up one day realizing that all you've worked for amounted to nothing. It's not terrifying or depressing, because you're enjoying your life now and you could certainly drop everything if you ever found out what was missing, but it is a serious question you wish you could figure out.

I'd go so far as to call it a philosophical addiction, though again I can see that being a somewhat misleading metaphor.

so it's about our perception of the worth of...something? But that also implies that; it's something that's....indeed nagging in the back, so it's somewhat of an unfulfilled need, of some sort, in any kind and manifestation? As in, the way you said it, it gave an implication that everything's fulfilled except --that--.

A friend of mine, a guide for an outfitter, once said he believed people usually bring their own hunts out there with them when they come.

their own problems? nah, [MENTION=2578]K-gal[/MENTION]; is probably more correct; their own story. I guess everyone's a hero in their own story?

 

[KazeCraven]

so it's about our perception of the worth of...something? But that also implies that; it's something that's....indeed nagging in the back, so it's somewhat of an unfulfilled need, of some sort, in any kind and manifestation? As in, the way you said it, it gave an implication that everything's fulfilled except --that--.

Logically, yes. But intuitively, it's like a big red flag.

 

[frozen_water]

how can you accept that? it seems as unfounded as believing there IS a purpose, without anything more to go on than your own personal experiences. maybe [MENTION=137]frozen_water[/MENTION] is right, and giving to others would be enough to give our lives meaning. even so, i can't help but wonder if there's a point beyond that :/

I would say that there is... but this is just pure theology speakng, so nothing experiential behind it at all. I tossed that one out 1. because it's the lesson I would have grabbed both from theology and from the experience of interacting with those nasty things, 2. because it's something most people would easily agree is important, and 3. because it's more than most people do, or at least it's something where people can easily pick out places in their lives where they don't do it as much as they could.

 

[Jack]

Perhaps. But even if we did know that there was a god and a higher purpose, we'd still be at a loss as to knowing what it was. Or, let's say we weren't. Suppose I found the truth of what it was, and even then the higher purpose didn't resonate with me. Wouldn't I still be saying "is this it?" Err, well, of course you couldn't answer what my own reaction would be, but you get the idea.

Come to think of it, what would a possible solution to this look like anyway? Would it just be something that makes us feel like our life is wholesome? Would it be some great reason our minds could grasp and say, "ah, there is what I am missing."?

I would be pretty surprised if one did not find meaning in the meaning that we're assuming in the context of this discussion they were made for. I think you're approaching the situation as if it would be merely one activity, which imho would be shockingly narrow.

 

[KazeCraven]

I would be pretty surprised if one did not find meaning in the meaning that we're assuming in the context of this discussion they were made for. I think you're approaching the situation as if it would be merely one activity, which imho would be shockingly narrow.

Not one activity, but rather one purpose is what I had in mind.

But yeah, I suppose if we truly were made for something, any preconceived notions about meaning in rebelling and choosing our own path would seem trivial in comparison.

 

[Jack]

Not one activity, but rather one purpose is what I had in mind.

But yeah, I suppose if we truly were made for something, any preconceived notions about meaning in rebelling and choosing our own path would seem trivial in comparison.

One purpose could cover a broad range of human endeavor.