Saturday, November 06, 2004

the goal of philosophy

the goal of pholosophy is the search for happiness. The purpose of finding the eternal truth is to attain eternal happiness.
humans all over the world and since times immemorial have tried to be happy. but this has been disrupted by desire and ambition. people who dont have the means or the capabilities to attain their ambitions are unhappy. this has been the root of the philosophy of detachment. shunning all worldly desires and material wealth. this can lead to happiness.
a person who has the ability to chase his dreams successfully is happy. but success leads to more desire and whatever be the capabilities of the individual, there comes a time when he can achieve no more. that is when unhappiness creeps into his life.
a person who knows his limitations and who has the control and discipline to will his mind to do his bidding is always happy. in my opinion he is the one who knows the eternal truth. he is the one closest to GOD.
controling the desire for success, after tasting it is a very difficult thing to do. therefore the whole philosophy of relenquishing desires arises. this concept though sounds crude and mythical is in my opinion the best way to achieve happiness or in other words salvation.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not true.

Nobody has to give up anything or do anything to be happy.

That is a very narrow minded Hindu/Buddhist thinking.

Happiness is a state of mind. I'd rather stay sad and help those in need THAN sitting under a tree taking rest/meditating.

Being happy completes your life?! Really?

I am a human, I want to experience DIFFERENT emotions. I want to love and be loved.

"there comes a time when he can achieve no more" My response: you get what you settle for.

"who has the control and discipline to will his mind to do his bidding is always happy"
Nope, they are the unhappy ones usually.
Those who explore, those who achieve and those who learn, love and live are the happy ones.

"the goal of pholosophy is the search for happiness"
Your very first statement is cliched. Philosophy is more than that. Philosophy searches for morals, truth, values and ethics.





I hope I pissed you off enough. LOL!

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous
This is the blog owner. Its been so long i have forgotten my password.

Anyway, if you have seen In Pursuit of Happyness there is a very good line in the movie which compliments Jefferson(is it?) for including the word pursuit in the Declaration of Independence.

Similarly i have stated that the search for happiness is the essence of Human endeavor. There is no prolonged stage of "being happy". So your question "Being happy completes your life?! Really?" does not really apply.

I am human too and being in love and to be loved makes me happy. Does it make you feel anything else? You may argue that love includes pain and disappointments. True. But that is where the SEARCH for happiness part of it comes into the picture. In your search for happiness you experience the whole range and gamut of human emotions. Maybe along the way you may feel some inhuman emotions too.

Sitting under the tree makes some people happy. Helping others makes you happy.

You get what you settle for is very true. I have to agree. If you never settle for anything you will forever be in the search and will never actually be happy. These are the kind of highly successful guys whom you see crying and repenting on their death beds and whom you have called as the usual unhappy ones. The guy sitting under the tree settled for a life under the tree. He reached his destination. He is happy.

When you say they are the unhappy ones usually, you are referring to people who look at themselves through the eyes of others. People who actually discipline their minds are truly happy. They can control their wants and desires. On the other hand people who look at themselves through the eyes of others deny themselves of what they truly want and chase things that they think are coveted by others.
Example: The guy who wants to truly be a doctor will stop "enjoying life" maybe even stop "loving and living" as you said, to be a doctor. He controls his mind and when he actually becomes a doctor he has no regrets, he is happy. On the other hand take the guy who wants to be a doctor because his parents will be ashamed otherwise or because being a doctor is the in thing right now. He will look back at his studying years and feel regret. Even though he ends up as a doctor.

The only valid point you have made is that my first line is cliched. It is and i am truly sorry. 2.5 years ago my knowledge of Philosophy was rather narrow and this post was my first attempt at writing something.

Why do you hope you pissed me off?