A man can only be said to
behad been happy after his death.
Gandhi on happiness
Questioning the conventional wisdom
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Does that imply that man can never be happy?
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not really rather that the circumstances of man can change before he dies that one who was thought happy dies miserable
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I’ve always found Gandhi to be kinda creepy!
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he berates non believers.
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What does that have to do with me finding him creepy? I’m not trying to be sarcastic – I’m curious what one has to do with the other.
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For a great sage, I felt it was unbecoming of him to dismiss non believers. Maybe this is not related to creepy.
Could you be kind to tell me why you think him creepy?
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Creepy in a pervy keeping dark secrets kinda way. For lack of a better term that’s the vibe I get from him when I look at him.
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Well, you shouldn’t give gandhi the credits for this saying. An ancient Greek philosopher made this one, several thousands years before him.
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you are right. The Greek should be Solon I guess. Gandhi repeats it in his interpretation of the Gita.
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Nevertheless, I tend to agree with this statement.
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In the same vein there is a bible verse that says that the day of a man’s death is better than the day of his birth….
Obviously you all I have the wrong definition of happiness….I like mine better.;; I’ll stick with it.
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Tell me friend, what is your definition of happiness maybe I could also adopt it.
I like more the person who said the first best thing is not to have been born the second best is to die sooner!
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Happiness is feeling good in your skin, doing what you are meant to do and feeling like the world is smiling with you. Not very specific or rational but it beats being dead or suffering. 🙂
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I think it beats suffering. Nothing could beat being dead 🙂
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I am afraid tha my lust for life can’t comprehend that thought. If being dead meant happiness, we would allact like lemmings jumping off buildings in a single bound, no?
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So far as we can tell we are devoid of feeling once we are dead and for us the living we’d do everything to postpone the day of death just because for most of us we entertain a hope that pain and suffering will pass, that we’ll be happy and that our existence serves some purpose. That’s how I see it and I could be wrong. what say you my friend?
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Are most of you days spent in pain and suffering? Mine are not. Sure there are things I would like to change, improve, erase, wave a magic wand and pouf it off the planet, but overall, things are rather pleasant. Birds songs, music, flowers, writing, good friends like you to connect with… the list of pleasant things could go on and on. Postponing the day of death to me is not because I hope to postpone suffering or because I hope my life has some meaning (I know better), but because I actually enjoy living and the sensations, feelings, emotions, understanding, all kinds of tangible and not so tangible things that make me grateful to breathe. I feel like I need to justify the simple pleasure of being alive….
I find more reasons to be glad to live (although the reasons may be shallow to philosophers) than reasons to wish I were dead.
When my wish to be dead will outweigh my desire to see another sunrise for the pleasure inherent in that show, I will be dead. Until then let me smell the flowers and paint pictures, dance with dragonflies and feel content that I can.
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My days are mainly pleasant. Maybe it is the reason I can focus my abilities to think about suffering and write about it. I am also alive to the fact that pain and suffering are our very faithful companions on this journey. The difference is where our energies are focused, there are those who wake up and all around them is suffering yet there are those, like me, who wake up and all around them is a reason to be happy.
In as much as I am happy to be alive, my philosophy inclined brain refuses to give serious reasons to be alive. At least, however, it has not suggested we kill me.
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That’s a good reason for me to be happy! I would miss you terribly. 🙂
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I would miss you too! You have become such a good friend.
I have a reason to write, knowing that you among many other unknown faces will read and connect with what I write even if our approaches are different.
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I don’t get it
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There was a ruler in Lydia in 6 BCE named Croesus who asked Solon a lawgiver whether anyone could be happier than himself [Croesus] and he’s told only after a man has died can we say whether he had been happy.
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So it could be rephrased as:
Man’s best days are yet those to come. And when you die, it is only then that we can decide the happiest period of that man? Did I get it?
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close but the import of this statement, in my opinion, puts much emphasis to how a person dies or rather the status of a man when he’s dying.
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“had been”…. Ahhhhh.
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I think I should modify the statement to read had been
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Would make more sense
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Edited
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That’s because he can’t give a damn anymore. I think that’s what it means.
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I think because it’s only after death can we be sure he lived happily to the end.
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One of those times I’m…Happy to be a woman… 😀 hee…
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That’s an interesting observation 😀
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just having a bit o’fun playin on the word “man” … 😉
honestly on this one I am with John….
who but the man himself can say whether he is truly happy or not?
I for one enjoy happiness while i am alive. We must seize the moments…once I am gone…what will it then matter? (but the point could well be hopping right over my head… )
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I think happiness is such a fleeting sensation, we are always chasing after it.
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Ah, well I suppose there are many differing definitions of it…..sometimes I feel rather guilty that it is not something I have to chase
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When we’re dead, we’re dead. Nothing else matters anymore. No hunger. No thirst. No pain. No cares. So true, only then are we really happy!
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Yes…that means rocks are happy and so are doornails, right?
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Absolutely. The factor is: once they are dead. After a rock dies, it doesn’t have to worry about being carved. After a nail is dead, it no longer has to hold wood in place. Dead is dead. No work. No play. Nothing.
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No fun.
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True that! 🙂
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Dear friend, do you know of anyone who could be or has been hurt by non existence?
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Death solves all our problems 😀
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Amen! LOL!
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