No one put any qualifiers on happiness, which usually entangles happiness with morality, virtue, ethics, law, and common sense. We were just discussing "plain ole" happiness proper as a state of mind.
From there, the discussion turned to the nature of reality. How do we know what is real? This came up because one of our members had one or more "shared dreams" with a friend and wanted to know if a shared dream somehow constituted a reality. From there we discussed several explanations possible for a shared dream, e.g., similar pervious circumstances, confirmation bias, or power of suggestion. No suggestions seemed like a home run (intentional pun alert).
Thoughts, suggestions, rants, and shared dream stories welcome.
I really enjoyed our discussion about the shared reality. I have had dreams before where i have woke up and gone back and picked up where i left off like i put it on pause but never had a shared dream with someone.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to ask what kind of relationship you had with the person with which you had the shared dream. are you guys super close, known each other for a long time, etc.
This is something that i wish would happen to me.
The fact that everyone has a little bit different recipe for happiness is what makes us unique and makes up different little parts of a fantastic whole. If you think about someone's goals in life, it is a direct representation of what they think will make them happy in the future. These are unique and different from person to person and gives way to the development of various fields. This is what I find interesting about this class -- it shows all the various ways people define their happiness to gain insight on the world we live in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Dean. It does seem that happiness is a deeply personal experience. And the qualifiers don't do much to clarify a universal measure of "happy." Never considered a shared dream as an experience of reality--what did your group decide?
ReplyDeleteThough cut short due to my run-in with triple a, I wasn't able to fully partake in group discussion as I had to leave class a bit early. However, to remark on what was talked about-
ReplyDeleteAs Solara Key said, we all have different and subjective recipes for happiness that cannot be transferred from person to person at it's truest essence, and once it is let know to the masses that we have the ability to define what our own breed of happiness is, and the 'American Dream' does not in any way mean you will be happy. As is said, "mo money, mo problems." Though this not necessarily be true, it is true that we define the parameters for when we choose to be happy, and we choose to find the silver lining in a situation or not. As Kathy stated, it is indeed a deeply personal experience.
Factual Question for chapter 4- Who said "Real wealth is poverty adjusted to the law of nature?"
Answer- Seneca
As for my discussion question, it would be a bit more appropriate for the Atheism and Philosophy class, but I think it would be interested to get your opinions here as well. What is your take on the quote by Pascal "But your happiness? Let us weigh up the gain and the loss involved in calling heads that God exists. Let us assess the two cases: If you win, you win everything, if you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then; wager that he does exist." For the sake of emotional well-being, do you think there is some merit to what is being said here?
As for my link, I would like to share a fascinating documentary with you all on Netflix called The Quantum Activist. It surveys the present day life and studies of quantum physicist Amit Goswami, and if you have ever been interested in quantum mechanics and desired to learn more, this hour or so documentary is packed full of intriguing information and theories. Amit Goswami writes most of the textbooks for quantum mechanics in the country- or at least this was the case last year.
Hi John,
DeleteI'm glad you brought up Pascal's Wager where he advises us to examine the "two cases" of gambling on the existence of God.
Setting aside the problem of sincerity for the moment, there seems to be further complications with Pascal's Wager.
Voltarie got close when he said we don't know enough to wager on way or the other, and Diderot argued whether Pascal's "view" of God was correct. But both these views are missing the bigger picture. A two sided coin doesn't do the choice justice. In recorded history, there have been around 3500 gods. Lawrence Krauss emphasizes around 1000 gods for his debates with theists, which insures he doesn't violate the Principle of Charity. Recent surveys have documented around 41,000 different versions of Christianity. Even if we use Krauss's number, the chances of picking the correct god is .01%. Nearly all these gods are mutually exclusive. That's more like a lottery than a coin toss. So, as you can see, Pascal's "two cases" of flipping a coin doesn't statistically ring true.
To win this wager, one not only has to choose to sincerely believe (if that's even possible), but then choose the correct god and the correct version of that god.
That being said, I still don't think we've addressed the question of happiness of true belief in an afterlife. I'll start a new thread on this topic at the top for comments.
I'm so gonna watch "The Quantum Activist." Thanks for the heads-up.
(Maia Lewis)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go ahead and get this out of the way before I reply to anything.
Factual Question for chapter 4: What was the title of Pascal's book? (Pensees)
Discussion Question: Does religion or belief affect one's happiness? Are you happier with it or without it, or is it different for everyone?
I really enjoyed last time's discussion of reality and would like to continue exploring it. Sorry I didn't make it to Happy Hour, Dean. :/
Link: Can we see what other people are dreaming through technology?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgxJhpLoFFU (Sorry there's no hyperlink. Good ol' copy & paste will have to do.)
I think happiness is affected by different aspects of religion or belief for some people, but for others that may be agnostic or atheist it depends on other aspects. I think it does play a huge role for some, but I suppose it all comes down to the individual like your group discussed.
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