Big Think

Musycks on October 26, 2008, 10:57 PM

HI Clyde… shouldn’t we make ourselves happy first? from there all things flow… is that selfish? hard to make others around you happy if you’re a miserable old git!
so it’s a kind of altruism after all?

love and bananas on ya.

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 26, 2008, 10:59 PM

“It seems logical to me to think that if everyone was selfish there would be little true happiness?” Selfish? We have to eat to survive. You see what I mean..? We need to be a little selfish to be happy?

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 26, 2008, 11:10 PM

Ya, I caught that. You were a little quicker on the draw! I’m trying to point out the benefit of giving as opposed to taking. In a Yoda voice: Receive you will mmm!

Thanks for the bananas. mmm!

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 26, 2008, 11:12 PM

..and the love

Much Love Uncle

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 26, 2008, 11:17 PM

I think happiness takes a group effort!

Musycks on October 26, 2008, 11:35 PM

thanks nephew… and I’ve said it before.. the sum total of what I don’t know would probably fill a galactic black hole.

I do know that love is better than hate, that happiness can only be measured properly if you have the context of pain.
That my family and friends give me meaning by reflecting and completing me.
That the natural world is beautiful, that music gives me a physical joy that can be sublime and mysterious… and that there is no interested, intervening, celestial, universal entity who got the ball rolling… all else is conjecture and hot air and bananas.

Brad Strong on October 27, 2008, 12:00 AM

I see that everyone is selfish and there is no such thing as absolute altruism. Every action one makes is for the betterment of the self, even if it is doing good for another. Ideas like karma or the Judeo Christian ethic reinforce this view. My karma or my god is happy with my performance this is the reward. If I do something for another person out of the goodness of my heart there may not be a physical reward for my actions. Instead I receive a feeling that I had done the right thing, a good feeling in itself is the reward I get and the motivation to do good. We are all selfish beings, it is when my selfishness impedes upon your selfishness that we have a problem.

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 27, 2008, 1:42 AM

musycks,

Could we measure happiness if the context of pain was only a memory?

I won’t comment on what you say you know (for now) because I don’t know if you know and I know or don’t know you don’t know and do not and do know. :)

Siddy,

I hear ya.

I’m happy when other people are happy. Unless they’re happy with war and rape and shit like that. But, I think those things are part of nature and I’ll be happy when then don’t happen here.

We have to be selfish, but where do we draw the line.

I’ll admit that I’m not in the same mind set as I was when I started this bit. Getting tired.

I liked your 2 bits Siddy. As MR would say, “welcome to the roller coaster.” That is unless you’ve been on BT before. In that case welcome back or whatever fits.

Peace

sciencesaves on October 27, 2008, 9:18 AM

BC, Your Mom makes good points.

So does Yoda.

Knowledge is key to understanding and operating as a decent human being. Again, an individuals balance of viewpoint affects actions.

Religious concepts are not balanced, they are prejudiced against those who cannot accept the basic premise that god or whatever entity exists. Why should we embrace the grand illusions without any testable proof whatsoever?

Artificial comfort?

This is not progressive thinking.

Case dismissed due to lack of evidence.

dennis ilic on October 27, 2008, 9:28 PM

(song achingly expressive):
And in the end
the love
you take
is equal to
the love
you make.

dennis ilic on October 27, 2008, 9:29 PM

That’s what I think I know.
I have no idea what I don’t know.

Musycks on October 27, 2008, 9:51 PM

I hear ya HZ…. how sweet it is.
..the part of me that passes for a soul amongst you spiritual types is moved. :)

pokój! on October 28, 2008, 3:21 AM

hz does humanity actually ‘make’ Love? Or receive and transmit? Does this lessen the yearning any, or does it add a value to Love that renders it perpetual?

sciencesaves on October 28, 2008, 8:41 AM

hz, How true!

Is “religious” pseudo-love simply an unhealthy option for those with unfulfillable emotional needs?

Perhaps the god notions are seen as a necessary delusion by some, because they’re greedy for more than real love provides?

dennis ilic on October 28, 2008, 6:31 PM

I think what the Beatles were saying was, in the end, when you die, the only love you can take with you, is the love you made.

Therefore everyone, make as much as you need. (No more, no less, required).

dennis ilic on October 28, 2008, 6:45 PM

pokoj, does humanity? No. Does a human? Sure. If you do not receive or transmit love, what have you done with it? If you receive it, grow it, and release it, is that not making something? Making love more abundant than… lets say… hate.

Bryan Cridlebaugh on October 28, 2008, 11:22 PM

Based on nature, time and the reality we are.. is the “atrocious” necessary? Maybe even made of love? Can you see it as love? I mean, if world war 2 and so on, wouldn’t have happened would any of us be who we are? Would we even be? Would the people and things we feel love for exist?.. Maybe life is simply real.. one step at a time and the best thing to do.. maybe for eternity? If you have eternity to deal with (or live), at some time would you take a kick in the face to see what it feels like? Maybe somehow we welcome this reality instead of being nothing? Can or will you see love and find some understanding in your place?.. or something like that? Sorry, not really.. I’m just “spit ballin.”

Luke Allen on October 28, 2008, 11:37 PM

What I know is the same as what I don’t… that all knowledge is limited to my subjective expirience and that I can only comprehend what I’m allowed to understand from my previous experiences. I like everyone on here trying to explain what they know or don’t know. Enjoy.

pokój! on October 31, 2008, 1:52 AM

“does humanity? No. Does a human? Sure. If you do not receive or transmit love, what have you done with it? If you receive it, grow it, and release it, is that not making something?”

No, its recognising It, and passing It on… but we do not ‘create’ Love. Our Love doesn’t stem from nothing…

“Making love more abundant than… lets say… hate.”

Yes… but again, passing It on is not the same as creating it.

Nice, Bryan… but there is a need to separate ‘tough Love’ from intentional hate.