What are the keys to human happiness?

[Fresno Bob]

The Egyptians thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over
The Greeks thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over
The Romans thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over

“For the rest of the earth’s organisms, existence is relatively uncomplicated. Their lives are about three things: survival, reproduction, death—and nothing else. But we know too much to content ourselves with surviving, reproducing, dying—and nothing else. We know we are alive and know we will die. We also know we will suffer during our lives before suffering—slowly or quickly—as we draw near to death. This is the knowledge we “enjoy” as the most intelligent organisms to gush from the womb of nature. And being so, we feel shortchanged if there is nothing else for us than to survive, reproduce, and die. We want there to be more to it than that, or to think there is. This is the tragedy: Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are—hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones.”

“No other life forms know they are alive, and neither do they know they will die. This is our curse alone. Without this hex upon our heads, we would never have withdrawn as far as we have from the natural—so far and for such a time that it is a relief to say what we have been trying with our all not to say: We have long since been denizens of the natural world. Everywhere around us are natural habitats, but within us is the shiver of startling and dreadful things. Simply put: We are not from here. If we vanished tomorrow, no organism on this planet would miss us. Nothing in nature needs us.”
― Thomas Ligotti, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

[Kevin Seitzer]

Raising a child is like preparing for a fantasy baseball auction. Always a plan until the first name comes out.

And you don't want to leave money on the table.

[The Feral Slasher]

The Egyptians thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over
The Greeks thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over
The Romans thought that they lived in the worst times, governments were the most corrupt, children had no respect for tradition, and the Golden Age was over

“For the rest of the earth’s organisms, existence is relatively uncomplicated. Their lives are about three things: survival, reproduction, death—and nothing else. But we know too much to content ourselves with surviving, reproducing, dying—and nothing else. We know we are alive and know we will die. We also know we will suffer during our lives before suffering—slowly or quickly—as we draw near to death. This is the knowledge we “enjoy” as the most intelligent organisms to gush from the womb of nature. And being so, we feel shortchanged if there is nothing else for us than to survive, reproduce, and die. We want there to be more to it than that, or to think there is. This is the tragedy: Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are—hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones.”

“No other life forms know they are alive, and neither do they know they will die. This is our curse alone. Without this hex upon our heads, we would never have withdrawn as far as we have from the natural—so far and for such a time that it is a relief to say what we have been trying with our all not to say: We have long since been denizens of the natural world. Everywhere around us are natural habitats, but within us is the shiver of startling and dreadful things. Simply put: We are not from here. If we vanished tomorrow, no organism on this planet would miss us. Nothing in nature needs us.”
― Thomas Ligotti, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

I never realized Dennis DeYoung was inspired by the ancient civilizations

[The Feral Slasher]

And you don't want to leave money on the table.

And having twins can cost u

[revo]

Hmmm....happiness.

I'd say -- being able to do what you want to do with little ramifications, and being able to enjoy the trappings of success in a non-pretentious way.

Be friendly to everyone. When I was a kid in Brooklyn, I generally ignored people on the street. Now, if I see them eye to eye, I give a friendly nod. Why not, what do I give a f__k?

Be mindful of where you came from. My parents had very little. My dad died broke. I still had a great childhood. They tried very hard, I respect that. Now as a parent I'm trying to do better for my kids.

Make sure you have a secure future. I can't tell you how important that is. I have a lot of clients who think they're going to fall into financial ruin at any moment, and it destroys their retirement. I get that many live for the moment. That's fine. But make sure you're not living above your means, and if by chance you live longer than you expect, you don't worry endlessly about how you're going to pay your bills. If you have too much money when you die, that's fine, give it to an heir or to charity. But realize that you're probably going to live longer than you think, and you're going to have to support yourself.

On the other hand, don't live under your means. If you have more than enough, live you life how you want. Travel. Go out more often. Splurge on yourself or a friend or a relative. Don't go crazy, but don't skimp either. Spend your money intelligently -- you can't take it with you.

Funny, that last point is interesting and hits home. My wife has finally decided, after my pleas, to spend some money. I finally bought a new car which she loves. We're finishing our basement. It might drain some from our savings, but it makes her happy. And why not? I think she realized that we're not going to live forever, and at some point you have to acquire some "luxuries." Live how you want to live.

If not spending makes you happy, then provide for others.

[onejayhawk]

The Greeks and Romans would claim that you cannot tell if somone is happy until they are dead. At that point, you can weigh the important factors to see how he/she did. At best you could be becoming-happy or happy-so-far. Romans also gave us words like gravitas to explain this stuff.

I always liked the definition that happy is being too busy to notice your misery.

J

[B-Fly]

A perfect example of modern "progress" spurring changes that undoubtedly reduce human happiness in the name of productivity:

Jack Ma endorses China's controversial 12 hours a day, 6 days a week work culture

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/business/jack-ma-996-china/index.html

"Sapiens" argues that this was essentially the case for both the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, now potentially extending to the Digital Revolution. To what end, besides making the rich richer?

[Mithrandir]

A perfect example of modern "progress" spurring changes that undoubtedly reduce human happiness in the name of productivity:

Jack Ma endorses China's controversial 12 hours a day, 6 days a week work culture

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/business/jack-ma-996-china/index.html

"Sapiens" argues that this was essentially the case for both the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, now potentially extending to the Digital Revolution. To what end, besides making the rich richer?

Idiots

[Kevin Seitzer]

A perfect example of modern "progress" spurring changes that undoubtedly reduce human happiness in the name of productivity:

Jack Ma endorses China's controversial 12 hours a day, 6 days a week work culture

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/business/jack-ma-996-china/index.html

"Sapiens" argues that this was essentially the case for both the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, now potentially extending to the Digital Revolution. To what end, besides making the rich richer?

In my previous job, I had a 40-ish hour work week expectation for my employees. There were certain times of the year where we worked more than that, and people were on-call to fix bugs in the code on an occasional basis "after hours", but in terms of hours in the office, I thought it was actually counter to the productivity and creativity of the team to have people in the office longer than that on a routine basis. I recruited a couple good performers that I wouldn't have been able to hire without that promise of work-life balance. I also found that people were willing to give a little extra more often if they felt like they would get credit for going the extra mile for the team as opposed to having it be the expectation.

Apparently now the new boss that took over when I left is rolling back the expectations that I set and wanting people to spend full days in the office. We'll see how that goes in the long run.

I think for knowledge workers it's dumb for the company to require 60- or 80-hour work weeks. Maybe for other workers, too. The same amount of work tends to expand to fill the available time no matter how many hours you are in the office to do it. And at some point, you have burned-out workers whose loyalty to the company is gone.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Idiots

A shorter summary of what I said....

[Fresno Bob]

there is less time for revolution if everyone is beat from working 12 hours a day 6 days a week.....and there are still 500M people in china living off of less than $2 a day.....

[Steve 2.0]

Key to happiness:

[onejayhawk]

I like this approach.

[griswold]

Hmmm....happiness.

I'd say -- being able to do what you want to do with little ramifications, and being able to enjoy the trappings of success in a non-pretentious way.

Be friendly to everyone. When I was a kid in Brooklyn, I generally ignored people on the street. Now, if I see them eye to eye, I give a friendly nod. Why not, what do I give a f__k?

Be mindful of where you came from. My parents had very little. My dad died broke. I still had a great childhood. They tried very hard, I respect that. Now as a parent I'm trying to do better for my kids.

Make sure you have a secure future. I can't tell you how important that is. I have a lot of clients who think they're going to fall into financial ruin at any moment, and it destroys their retirement. I get that many live for the moment. That's fine. But make sure you're not living above your means, and if by chance you live longer than you expect, you don't worry endlessly about how you're going to pay your bills. If you have too much money when you die, that's fine, give it to an heir or to charity. But realize that you're probably going to live longer than you think, and you're going to have to support yourself.

On the other hand, don't live under your means. If you have more than enough, live you life how you want. Travel. Go out more often. Splurge on yourself or a friend or a relative. Don't go crazy, but don't skimp either. Spend your money intelligently -- you can't take it with you.

Funny, that last point is interesting and hits home. My wife has finally decided, after my pleas, to spend some money. I finally bought a new car which she loves. We're finishing our basement. It might drain some from our savings, but it makes her happy. And why not? I think she realized that we're not going to live forever, and at some point you have to acquire some "luxuries." Live how you want to live.

If not spending makes you happy, then provide for others.

Perfect, Ed....couldn't have said it better myself.

If I can add one thing....making your kids understand these same values as they grow up and become adults....that my friend is happiness when you see that happen before you.

[nullnor]

there is no key to human happiness because everything experiences reality in their own way. if everyone looked at the color red, or had the wind in their face, or smelled bacon frying in a pan, each person would experience each sensation differently. you might have similar experiences but no two would be exact within the lifespan of the universe. on a macro level reality averages or rounds up. it smooths but it's still unique.

for example, the two slit experiment, light is shined through 2 slits with a detector on film. instead of going though both slits, it acts like a particle and goes through one. if you remove the detector it acts as a wave and goes through both. so even at a quantum or micro level particles have their own perspective. an electron in superposition will say to a photon wave, " i saw you last night and you were decoherent like a 1 spin particle." and the photon will say " i know, i had a few beers and got drunk and accidentally bumped into a 1/2 spin electron particle and got entangled. and suddenly a moon appeared in the sky out of nowhere." ..but if a particle tried to tell a wave that's always coherent the moon exists, the wave will be right it doesn't, from his perspective, because it's never seen it.

additionally you might say consciousness and perception relies on the randomness of quantum realm. quantum reality or superposition or coherence don't exist outside of reality because you can probe it and cause a reaction. but even in extreme macro or cosmological levels of gravity experiences and perspective are literally different because space and time are combined. and if you tweak it too far, you'll even travel backwards in time.

so the key to my happiness is finding that there is no same keys or perception or experiences that any two people have in the entire universe. and that each one is correct and unique, and that perception is different figuratively and literally at every level of nature.