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Money ≠ Happiness


jackg

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Bumping this.

I think getting 'comfortable' with where you are can be a big problem in life. I mean people get comfortable with their salaries, cost of living, etc. and it makes them scared of doing things that will increase cost of living and/or reduce their income. So, they stay where they are even though the idea of opportunities elsewhere seems exciting - it just remains a dream. I never want to be like that.

Edited by wurm
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agree completely wurm. getting some interesting ideas from Rand of late, not sure if I agree completely but there is definitely something pretty on point in her philosophy....

Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of whatever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind’s fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational goals, seeks nothing but rational values and finds his joy in nothing but rational actions.

Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury or the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement. Just as I do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal of my life, so I do not consider my pleasure as the goal of the lives of others. Just as there are no contradictions in my values and no conflicts among my desires—so there are no victims and no conflicts of interest among rational men, men who do not desire the unearned and do not view one another with a cannibal’s lust, men who neither make sacrifices nor accept them

Happiness is the successful state of life, pain is an agent of death. Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values. A morality that dares to tell you to find happiness in the renunciation of your happiness—to value the failure of your values—is an insolent negation of morality. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man—every man—is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose.

But neither life nor happiness can be achieved by the pursuit of irrational whims. Just as man is free to attempt to survive in any random manner, but will perish unless he lives as his nature requires, so he is free to seek his happiness in any mindless fraud, but the torture of frustration is all he will find, unless he seeks the happiness proper to man. The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live.

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Edited by jackg
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Bumping this.

I think getting 'comfortable' with where you are can be a big problem in life. I mean people get comfortable with their salaries, cost of living, etc. and it makes them scared of doing things that will increase cost of living and/or reduce their income. So, they stay where they are even though the idea of opportunities elsewhere seems exciting - it just remains a dream. I never want to be like that.

There'll always be opportunities. You have to ponder this with your situation first, and it's not an easy task for anyone. You're pointing an extreme/simple state of mind, and need to approach this question much more carefully.

Edited by Dropt
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There'll always be opportunities. You have to ponder this with your situation first, and it's not an easy task for anyone. You're pointing an extreme/simple state of mind, and need to approach this question much more carefully.

I understand this, but at the same time these boundaries are mostly self-imposed. There's the apprehension that something won't work out and you'll be worse off than before. Life needs a bit of risk-taking to be enjoyed, though. Chances are that whatever you do, it won't kill you.

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i guess what i mean to say is money is so many things other than happiness to other ppl?

for me money = security. i like to know that whatever happens, ive got backup.

money can be security but knowing how to make money is even better

when you get into trouble and need to hit up your savings, you'd be left with little to nothing. but if you have the knowledge and ability to make money despite circumstances you will be truly secure.

money doesn't equal happiness yea, but it makes life easier.

but making life easier might mean you lose out on some life lessons/experiences--just hope you never fall from posh life then because there are always trade offs and no one can win it all.

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agree completely wurm. getting some interesting ideas from Rand of late, not sure if I agree completely but there is definitely something pretty on point in her philosophy....

Rand certainly had some interesting ideas. However, if you haven't already, I suggest you look also into her own life (just Wikipedia is a good start). Ultimately I think she is a good example of the failings of her own philosophy, including her self-aggrandizing belief in "rational man".

Neither can I agree with being "comfortable" being a big problem in life. I find humans' tendency never to be satisfied with what they have to be a far bigger problem in terms of both their own well being and the well being of those around them (as well as their environment). Personally I relate more to the Buddhist principle "desire is suffering"

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Yeah, I'm guessing it's a Methusalah, which means it's a six litre bottle of Dom.

Phhhhhh. Chump change.

Nebuchadnezzar or nothing!

Bottle Sizes

bottlesizes.gifType Capacity Number of bottles Quarter (not illustrated) 18.75 cl 1/4 Half-Bottle 37.5 cl 1/2 Bottle 75 cl 1 Magnum 1.5 l 2 Jeroboam 3 l 4 Rehoboam 4.5 l 6 Methuselah 6 l 8 Salmanazar 9 l 12 Balthazar 12 l 16 Nebuchadnezzar 15 l 20

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Btw, I agree that lack of money can surely cause stress and unhappiness, but after a livable wage is acheived I think it comes down to personality. There seems to be a spectrum of people with malcontents that will never be happy on one end, and other people who just have a generally happy disposition who seem unaffected. I think most of us fall in between and the lucky teeter more towards happy, and the others get caught up in the chase for something better. At some point we have to settle on our financial standing and focus on what makes us happy (family, freinds, music, art, sports, drinking, etc.). Not saying that a person shouldn't pursue a promotion, but they should be ok with where they are at too.

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