Some food for happiness thought, courtesy of Penn Jillette, from the book Every Day is an Atheist Holiday.
This is from the chapter "I Defy the Jails of the World to Hold My Son," and Penn talks about his hopes for his children and gives us this thought:
"As far as my children are concerned, I’m not even sure I need them to be happy. We all want happiness for our children, but they don’t have to be happy about everything all the time. Life must include sadness, and there’s peace and truth to be found in sadness. The best times are not always the happiest times, but the times spent in the flow, the times spent getting things done, the times spent living."
So...perhaps the meaning of life is larger than happiness.
Thoughts?
Thoughts being: Personally I agree with the girl in our class the other day who said she doesn't mind the melancholy days... I mean there is a reason that most great writers, poets, and philosophers were melancholy in nature... a reason that melancholy and intelligence seem to go hand in hand... personally those are my most creative, insightful days/moments... let's face it, in order to look deeper into anything, be it life, or some other less meaningful subject, it takes seriousness, and a person who has experienced pain... who knows what it is to suffer. But the question is, “do I wish these things upon my son?” Do I wish him pain and suffering, so that he will know the satisfaction and joy of learning??? No! I wish upon him a happiness at the ecstatic end of the condition, a childlike innocence that lives on within him forever, and a life full of love (not lessons)... why wouldn't I want my child to be as smart as he could be, as in-tuned to the tragedies of life as possible, so that he will know what it REALLY means to live?... after all suffering is learning, and learning is living. I don't know, but if happiness is stupidity, and melancholy is intelligence, I wish him stupidity!!! (careless, suffer-free stupidity! lol) Alright, alright, so I’m exaggerating a little here! lol, of course I want him to experience hard work, triumph and pain, to know the feeling of true-love and heartache, to appreciate contentment in the little moments…. let’s face it, that’s life... that’s the good stuff! Just like the bird poop on an already bad day… life is ironic… love is pain, happiness is stupidity, and suffering is genius. If there is a god, what a smart guy to disguise these meanings?, right? lol. I wonder then, if happiness is stupidity, and suffering is genius, don’t bipolar people really have the best of both worlds??? lol. Please don’t read too much into this, I’m not a philosophy major, and don’t claim to be, I just thought I would entertain a few thoughts that I had stirring up in my tired mind. lol. I just wish my son a truly happy childhood, not bogged down by adult concerns of life and its meanings… there is plenty of time for that when he gets there! :)
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