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What the Aztecs Can Teach Us About Happiness and the Good Life
Posted by freya
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What the Aztecs Can Teach Us About Happiness and the Good Life May 02, 2020 | Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 3,708 |
I'm reading this article but I still can't make the connection between a worthwhile life and having brats.
Maybe the childfree have decided being happier is better than a "true, good life."
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-the-aztecs-can-teach-us-about-happiness-and-the-good-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Quote
Article quote
‘How many of you want to be happy in life?’ I ask. Everyone raises a hand. Always. ‘How many of you are planning to have children?’ Almost everyone raises their hand again.
Then I lay out the evidence that having kids makes most people more miserable, and that their sense of wellbeing returns to its former levels only after the last child has left the house. ‘How many of you still want children?’ I say. Maybe it’s just obstinacy, but the same people who wanted to be happy still put their hands up.
Maybe the childfree have decided being happier is better than a "true, good life."
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-the-aztecs-can-teach-us-about-happiness-and-the-good-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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Re: What the Aztecs Can Teach Us About Happiness and the Good Life May 03, 2020 | Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 12,432 |
The quote made sense. Then it stopped making sense on the next sentence.
Then, something like this,
which sure looks like an argument for anti-natalism, but clearly taking thoughts to their logical conclusion is clearly not the strong point of either the teacher or his students.
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My students reveal something that the pre-Columbian Aztecs knew well. You should stop searching for happiness, because that’s not really what you want.
Then, something like this,
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What they meant is that the Earth is a place where humans are prone to error, where our plans are likely to fail, and friendships are often betrayed. Good things only come mingled with something undesired. ‘The Earth is not a good place. It is not a place of joy, a place of contentment,’ a mother advises her daughter, in the record of a conversation that has survived to this day. ‘It is rather said that it is a place of joy-fatigue, of joy-pain.’
which sure looks like an argument for anti-natalism, but clearly taking thoughts to their logical conclusion is clearly not the strong point of either the teacher or his students.
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Re: What the Aztecs Can Teach Us About Happiness and the Good Life May 03, 2020 | Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 2,059 |
Some people equate happiness with pleasure. Pleasure being something that really doesn't last, like a peice of chocolate cake. Real happiness is something more like contentment and generally being ok with your life.
The students seem to equate kids with a long marathon slog though life where at the end you win with the idea that "at least you left something behind"
The students seem to equate kids with a long marathon slog though life where at the end you win with the idea that "at least you left something behind"
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