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Re:Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new cate... by nemo44x on Saturday July 01, 2023 @06:42PM (#36556103)
I sort of agree with this. We’ve been marketed to that we should be happy and that buying <thing|experience> will make us happy. These <things|experiences> will bring pleasure but they don’t create meaningful happiness. As if pleasure and happiness are the same thing. But they are often conflated.

I can’t tell or teach people “how to be happy”. I’m not even sure that’s possible or if it’s something everyone can do or would really want to. But I do know that being hooked on a treadmill of pleasurable experiences isn’t it.

Re:Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new cate... by newacct3 on Saturday July 01, 2023 @07:04PM (#36556242)
> We’ve been marketed to that we should be happy and that buying <thing|experience> will make us happy.

Seems like the entirely idea of happiness has been semiotically highjacked by marketing, morality, other things

When I mentally picture "happiness", all I really see is a bunch of behaviors that are frequently depicted as desirable in the aggregate by media and others

The Buddhists are a lot more sane about this than we are. Imo there's so much residue around the word "happiness", in order to achieve a sense of peace it's better to just throw it out and take each day at a time

Re:Shifting views about psychedelic drugs require a new cate... by vorpalhex on Saturday July 01, 2023 @09:27PM (#36557252)
Happiness is a state of mind, and is a (mental, emotional) place, and that place is easier to occupy if your life is setup to make it easier. A few good friends, a romantic partner, meaningful work, kids is sort of the usual and probably pretty safe recipe. It's possible to have these things and be miserable, and it's possible to have none of them and be blissfully happy.

Aristotle wrote a pretty solid book on the topic.