Reporters from yesterday's class stroll over to the Naked Eye Observatory, you can all post your brief summaries of what you and your two discussion partners discussed in a comment here. And everybody else who'd care to comment, as well.
Watch this space on Monday, for our first quiz.
I'll go first. I tagged along with Caroline ("the mortician girl"), Damon (the dog-whisperer) and (I think-correct me if I'm wrong) Christian T. Our discussion was wide-ranging but relevant, including canine psychology and instinctive/conditioned behavior in humans. Unlike our pooches, we complicate things by consulting ego as well as in-born biological drives when seeking fulfillment. I shared my little New Yorker cartoon of a genie coming out of his bottle and telling a dog: "After you've wished ONCE for food, you can stop using your other wishes on food." The difference is, for the dog a constant craving is natural and spontaneous. For us, it can be an unhealthy obsession.
ReplyDeleteI love that when we all got to the Observatory, none of the discussion groups wanted to stop talking; and that we then got so caught up in our whole-class discussion that we had to hustle back to the classroom. To my mind, this means we're doing it right.
My group consisted of Katie & Mills & we discussed different ways one could be happy. Such as achieving the American Dream, living vicariously through children, and seeking happiness from peers. We also talked about the ways one could find happiness & what makes us individually happy. We agreed that happiness is worth stumbling upon instead of hunting.
ReplyDeleteI was in a group with Jennifer and...I cannot for the life of me remember our other group member's name! Please refresh my memory.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we discussed the distinction between joy and happiness (joy being deeper than happiness) if you're seeking it, it's going to be way more rare than if you just enjoy the moments. We all seemed to agree that we tried to see optimism in what Schopenhauer was saying. Also, we don't achieve happiness, it comes from occurrences, not a constant..you have to have the bad. We also discussed how happiness IS fulfillment and that you have to find ways to make that happen and discovering that trying to fulfill other people, or other roles you have to play, drains you of your own happiness.
Hey! I'm Alex, from your group--I understand the difficulty of remember names, so no worries. Anyway, thanks for remembering to post this :)
DeleteHi! I'm Dustin. My group consisted of Blake, John, and a girl whose name I cannot remember. Feel free to tag your name on this post. During our walk we talked about what happiness is and where it comes from. As part of this we talked about whether happiness comes from purely biological processes in the brain or even further extended processes.
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ReplyDeleteI'm Fadi. I was accompanied by Amir and Kirulus. We discussed the feasibility of happiness. We all agree that happiness is within reach. We discussed whether happiness was connected to religion or spirituality, and we concluded no. We talked about happiness and joy, and what each word implies. We think that happiness is temporary while joy is permanent.
ReplyDeleteI'm Fadi. I was accompanied by Amir and Kirulus. We discussed the feasibility of happiness. We all agree that happiness is within reach. We discussed whether happiness was connected to religion or spirituality, and we concluded no. We talked about happiness and joy, and what each word implies. We think that happiness is temporary while joy is permanent.
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