While it’s not really the point being made, is happiness all we ever want? Aren’t there feelings that are sometimes more “correct”? (In terms of optimizing for a vaguely defined notion of “life satisfaction” — maybe something like aggregated happiness.)
For instance, I can’t imagine a life without some sorrow, some melancholia or without some crisis or another that pushes me to question myself to a level that I would otherwise not have.
Heraclitus: “Always having what we want may not be the best good fortune. Health seems sweetest after sickness, food in hunger, goodness in the wake of evil, and at the end of daylong labor sleep.”
Maybe we need some “texture” to our life, some trials to make the moment of triumphant happiness all the more meaningful?
By the way, I don’t think the correct answer is to just get dragged along. In fact, it might be possible to understand and exploit precisely the balance between hardship and fortune. I’m just saying that I don’t need my subconscious to think that an all-time happiness high is not something I long for.
While it’s not really the point being made, is happiness all we ever want? Aren’t there feelings that are sometimes more “correct”? (In terms of optimizing for a vaguely defined notion of “life satisfaction” — maybe something like aggregated happiness.)
For instance, I can’t imagine a life without some sorrow, some melancholia or without some crisis or another that pushes me to question myself to a level that I would otherwise not have.
Heraclitus: “Always having what we want may not be the best good fortune. Health seems sweetest after sickness, food in hunger, goodness in the wake of evil, and at the end of daylong labor sleep.”
Maybe we need some “texture” to our life, some trials to make the moment of triumphant happiness all the more meaningful?
By the way, I don’t think the correct answer is to just get dragged along. In fact, it might be possible to understand and exploit precisely the balance between hardship and fortune. I’m just saying that I don’t need my subconscious to think that an all-time happiness high is not something I long for.