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The Science Of Happiness
Hogwash McFly writes "There's an interesting article over at The Times that attempts to answer the question 'So what do you have to do to find happiness?' by exploring the biology and psychology behind this highly sought-after emotion. This article opens up new insight into the common perceptions of what makes us happy, such as having more friends and more money. Detailed in the article is the idea that our early ancestors' struggles against adverse weather and predators have led us to instinctually focus on what is wrong or out of place in order to react with more efficiency, then going onto autopilot when things are going well."
Is a successful FP.
I hope high gas prices are depriving your children, you fucking dumbass.
I'm such a black hearted emotionless wreck at this point, looking for happiness is a fruitless endeavor.
After having been chronically depressed for the past years i found out that happiness is just a balance of the right drugs.
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
No matter where you are or what you acheive, one is never truly happy. To be happy is to be content.. and to be content is to lack the craving to better oneself. And to lack that craving is to lack a fundamental part of 'survival of the fittest.'
Yes.. It's human nature to be discontent.. and that separates some of us from the apes.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
For happiness levels are probably genetic: identical twins are usually equally bubbly or grumpy.
This doesn't mean it's genetic. Twins most likely grew up together, right? Couldn't it have something to do with the environment/family instead of genes?
Bradley Holt
I'm surprised the article doesn't explore Religion and it's affect on people's happiness.
Saw a message of the day at the bottom of the slashdot page a few weeks ago:
"Men don't know what happiness is until they are married, but by then it's too late".
Good for wedding toasts...
Happiness is a warm gun.
For many of my co-workers here in the bible belt, hapiness is letting their worries be "god's" worries. IF thats so for most religious people, i would cynically say that hapiness is letting someone else have repsonsibilty. The article seems to concretrate heavily on the religous "values".
:(
I look it a different way:
When i die, i want to fly, sliding on my side at 100 MPH into the pearly gates, wearing a huge smile smile, yelling "WOW! What a ride!".
I hate for my life to be dull and unispiring - that for me is happiness.
I wonder if they did a case study on Adrenaline junkies, priests, and people like Linus Torvalds. Only then could i trust the science of happiness
Anyone concerned with happiness might want to consider reading Happiness is a Serious Problem by Dennis Prager.
He devotes an hour a week (called the "Happiness Hour") on his radio program to the question of happiness.
Agree or disagree, he is thought provoking. His approach is also interesting in that he values clarity over agreement and has callers and guests from across the ideological / political spectrum.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Dogs who experience electric shocks that they cannot avoid by their actions simply give up trying. They will passively endure later shocks that they could easily escape.
Wow, sounds like a really nice guy. Isn't this cruelty to animals? Oh wait, it's for science so it's OK.
Bradley Holt
...but usually twin studies take this into account, including identical twins who were for one reason or another raised in different families (often as a result of adoption). Researchers are not all stupid; they tend to take these things into account when designing the study.
picpix image polls. create - share - vote. fun!
Soma
Warning: Wishy-washy bullshit approaching. Proceed with caution.
Learn that you do not need anything except the biological neccessities for survival. Appreciate the present, but don't be considered with the future. Give up all attachments. Take only what you need to live.
The fact is, the more you have, the more you want. Do you ever see anyone without a TV lusting after a big screen plasma TV? Do you ever see someone without a computer lusting after the latest AMD processor? They spend time with those they care about, they read things, they think, they learn. Not only can you not buy happiness, buying actively makes you unhappy.
Interesting article...especially given my recent reading on the Hindu/Buddhistic concept of "detachment". These traditions prescribe detachment from wordly/materialistic desires in order to achieve contentment in life.
In short, anything that you're sufficiently attached to, that can give you enough happiness, can cause you as much pain when taken away. The solution therefore, is to follow a middle path practising detachment from all wordly desires, so as to walk along the middle path - neither be swayed emotionally toward too much towards happiness, nor being overly susceptible to sadness.
Happiness is a short lived emotion, (often accompanied by a potentially negative emotion of sadness) while contentment with what you have is usually a longer lived state of mind.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Yep, that's the ticket!
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Happiness isn't having what you want, it's wanting what you have.
The question "what do you have to do to find happiness?" is a Philosophy question, not something that can be answered through Science.
Drugs don't really make people happy. Happiness must come from within.
The Happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist in amusement. If Eudaimonia, or happiness, is activity in accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest excellence; and this will be that of the best thing in us.
-- Aristotle, "Nichomachean Ethics"
What I get out of that, is that people are happy when they have a sense of purpose and feel like they're doing "what they need to do". Of course, sometimes that is very bad for everyone else. But think about what happened to that guy from Fight Club, who was working at the convenience store but wanted to be a veterinarian.
They say money can't buy happiness. However true this may be having the bill collectors call day in and day out certainly doesn't contribute to happiness either.
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
"Kids, we're going to the happiest place on earth - Tijuana, Mexico!" 8F24
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
Getting laid on a regular basis sure doesn't hurt... and if that doesn't work, try Prozac!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Really, happiness is subjective, but it like so many emotions is largely controlled by your attitude. If you're a cynic and prone to expect the worst, you can expect that to colour your outlook. If you think about it (at least here in the western world), most of our problems are transitory in nature. Things you sweated bricks about 10 years ago have little impact to how you feel today. Things that seemed insurmountable change with perspective and distance. It's the in-the-moment gut wrenching that take a lot of us down. If you can keep things in perspective, even your worst problems will not drag you down to the mud. If you can stand your ground and hold your attitude, your sense of self respect will keep you above water.
Simple perhaps, but the saying goes that you are only as happy as you decide to be
Emotions by their very nature are transitory.
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
C.S. Lewis
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
To find a complete science of happiness, we'd need to find out a master formula to create/rate good music, a formula for art, one for thought and games (sport, console or otherwise), and the various other senses (touch, smell, taste).
Those are the fundamentals.
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Plenty of exercise works. Seriously. Exercise cures depression. It's really that simple!
(This doesn't apply to people with screwed-up brain chemistry.)
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
I never forgot my childhood. I remember crawling around, I remember breast feeding, (somethings I wish I could forget) and I even remember being born. (as well as an undeterminable duration of being inside my mom)
The reason, I'm sure, has part to do with the fact I was born a full month late, and part to do with the fact that I'm both autistic (I clearly remember visual things very well) and I have ADD. (I tend to repeat things in my mind over and over)
I must say, the memories themselves have never brought me happiness. What makes me happy is improving myself by learning new things and new skills. And there will always be an abundance of things for me to learn. If I didn't have to worry about money, I'd be happy my whole life. This past year on paid leave, then unemployment has been wonderful, not counting the occasional meeting I had to go to.
Work, and by association, money, are the root of unhappiness. (esp. working at a state job)
"That's so plausible, I can't believe it!" - Leela
Serious question: how do they sort out cause and effect? They observed a correlation between happiness and social interaction; but which is which?
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
No...FREEDOM is slavery!
Need help - license plate reverse lookup. NY plate CSE-2960. Guy almost hit me, blamed me, pissed me off.
...is bound to be wrong.
Catholicism on Happiness:
"Man has one ultimate purpose of existence: eternal happiness in a future life. But man also has a twofold proximate purpose: to earn his title to eternal happiness, and to attain to a measure of temporal happiness consistent with the prior proximate purpose."
This is from "State and Church," in New Advent's Catholic Encyclopedia.
Unfortunately, that is exactly the mindset that credit card companies and advertisers _want_ you to take, because you spend more. In reality, you should think about the future, save for a rainy day, work in a field you enjoy, and party on weekends.
It doesn't buy everything in life, but what it don't buy I don't like....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_Pyramid
Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Actualization.
Fulfill these needs and you'll find happiness. (An interesting thought is that this view does not oppose christianity at all, they seem to fit very well)
A personal observation upon myself is that the darkest times of my life were the ones where none (or only one) of these needs were fulfilled. If I didn't believe in God, i would surely have killed myself - so maybe Maslow's pyramid could also be used as an indicator for potential suicides. Just a thought.
As a somewhat practicing Buddhist, I always cringe when someone says "life means suffering (dukkha)" when Sanskrit word "dukkha" means so much more. The translation "life is unsatisfactory" is perhaps more accurate. Dissatisfaction is not just caused by suffering (i.e. the personal experience of loss) but also by the failures of expectations to be met and the innate mature of our mind -- especially knowledge of our own mortality.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
For me, you cannot be happy until you have been horribly unhappy first.
I am now approaching the second year of my divorce. My marital breakup was equivalent to the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs. I lost massive weight before working out and putting back on muscle. I learned to jog and became a better father. I read book after book on relationships, divorce, psychology and religion and finally came to the conclusion that most, if not all, of my unhappiness in life came from the fact of trying to control the free will of others. I happened upon a theory I call "reality philosophy." I mainly base this on Robert Ringer who points out in his theory of reality:
Reality isn't what you hope it would be. It isn't what it even appears to be, but with careful investigation it is what it is. You either go with it and benefit from it or fight it and suffer.
I have learned to let go and stop trying to control things. I think Fight Club says it best when Tyler tells the narrator in the car as he's trying to keep it between the lines, "look at you! you're pathetic! just let it go...." Truly, it isn't until we've lost everything that we are free to do anything. I am a living example of this.
Looking back, if anything made me a man it was my divorce. I went through a crash course of the legal system, the hell of financial trauma, work stress, single-fatherhood, on and on. Divorce hits you on every level imaginable. But I was determined to survive and thrive. I now am in the third basketball season as a YMCA children's coach. I have found one of the most therapuetic things is to volunteer my time for something like this. The kids are my doctors, counselors as I watch them grow, learn and each season as I've coached basketball, soccer, etc. I find the practices and the games are the highlights of my life. I am better at my job, my appearance, my relationships, name it. I wouldn't trade my divorce for anything because I never knew that I wasn't even happy before it.
I am now leaner and wiser than ever and am a far better person to be around. I dove into religion and books as I said. Here are some qoutes I carried in my pocket for a solid year and committed to memory. Each chance I got -- if waiting somewhere with nothing to do for example -- I would get them out and go over them:
Attitudes are more important than facts. -Karl Menninger
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:6-7
Stand up to an obstacle. Just stand up to it, that's all, and don't give way under it, and it will finally break. You will break it. Something has to break, and it won't be you, it will be the obstacle. -Peale
Do not take the attitude that you are in a situation in which nobody has ever been before. There is no such situation. -Peale
People have overcome every conceivable difficult situation. -Peale
A clean engine always delivers power. -Peale
Never tell me the odds. -Hans Solo
A mind free of negatives will always produce positives. -Peale
There is no spoon. -Peale
Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. -Emerson
If you had faith... nothing would be impossible. -Matthew 17:20
Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow. -Peale
The rough is only mental. -Peale
There is a time when we must decide and act and never look back. -Phillips
If a man will devote his time to securing facts in an impartial, objective way, his worries will usually evaporate in the light of knowledge. -Hawkes
When worrying about something always ask two questions: 1. What am I worrying about? 2. What can I do about it? -Litchfie
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
They had that meeting. Half of them decided to try for consistency and the other half decided to go for completeness. The completeness half is doing great, but makes absolutely no sense. And the consistency half gave up and became atheists.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Everybody knows that Catholics aren't Christian!
Seriously, though, you're right the Catholic church sold golden tickets into heaven for a long time. But it's not like that had anything to do with Jesus or anything.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
coke. duh. easier than wires into your cerebellum, more effective than prozac.
I am curious as to what people have experienced with psychedelic drugs. I have personally done mushrooms and lsd, and both changed my perspective on life for the better. I wasn't happier, but I was less anxious and more willing to try more things. Going out wasn't such a chore. I've read in many places about shamans as the original psychologists of ancient culture and while their practices were risky, I think they might have had more success than many modern day psychologists. I recommend research into this for anyone who is interested.
I'm currently in therapy and I don't do any drugs any more, but I don't discount what I've "learned" from my drug use. Some day, I'll try mushrooms again and see if I can't open my mind in places where I'm currently repressed. I think that those repressed areas represent a lot of pain for me and I can't get there normally, but with the help of these drugs and a qualified therapist I hope to explore these areas and unlock them for my every day life.
Reply if you have had any experience in this area, I would be very interested in hearing your response.
According to scientific research posted here at the BBC website, the Buddhists faith looks as though it might have something going for it. The research says that brain scans show that Buddhists are the happiest people. There is some stuff on meditation helping to ease the symptoms of depression here
Good luck sometimes arrives disguised as bad
Before I knew God I had a fear of death from like when I was 6 years old. Before I knew everyone died, I thought people just got old. I wanted to be content to just live forever playing newer and better video games. When I learned about death, my whole priorities changed. I felt that I had to live more for the moment and get as much in this life as possible so I don't miss anything.
People told me God exists and I went to a Christian Church, but it was hard for me to grasp and I never understood it well. My faith wasn't so good, then in 2003 God spoke to me,"Good News", and I recieved a Good News bible soon after. When I found out God exists for a fact, Jesus is Lord. I also learned that he promises eternal life. I didn't go looking for a way to avoid death and thusly believed in Christianity because it was the only possible answer. I found out God exists for a fact then I realized he promises eternal life!
You can speak for yourself and say that God doesn't make you happy. But for me knowing death isn't the end of things makes me a very happy person.
God spoke to me.
For me, happiness doesn't come from what I can get, only from what I can do.
Well, in many ways, the Four Noble Truths aren't really something you are supposed to have faith in. Faith, fundamentally, is secondary to logically reasoning and deciding for yourself the teachings are accurate.
I guess the only article of 'faith' in Buddhism is that you agree with the observations about suffering and its causes, and think the solutions make sense. It's a moral and metaphysical outlook, but it's not something you take on faith.
At its simplest, Buddhism is about compassion and quelling the noisy mind. Either it resonates with you and makes sense, or you're free to pick or ignore anything that works for you -- or, choose to ignore it altogether.
As for Pascal
Buddhism offers a middle path. Rational exploration of the world around you, as well as a guides for behaviour in order not to increase suffering and to reach enlightenment. It also completely incorporates gods and ghosts and everything else in between -- to the best of my knowledge, skepticism about those is a personal choice.
Unlike fundamentalist Christians, for example, who dogmatically insist the world was created exactly according to the bible, Buddhists accept that some of the body of literature is intended to be metaphorical in nature. And believe that whatever the science tells you is what really happened.
Now, yes, an eager new monk is going to have a religious aspect, but practising Buddhism doesn't actually require faith or dogma.
If you're more interested, read some Pema Chodron, Thicht Nhat Han, or something from the Dalai Lama. It's quite accessible -- not full of formal/religious Buddhism, just useful life stuff.
At least, that's one Westerner's limited perspective. =)
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The article was rather interesting, but didn't discuss my favorite theory:
Happiness is often thought of being connected to one's health or economic well being, but I have considered it more connected with the rate of change of one's well being. A poor or unhealthy person can be happy if things look like they are getting better; a rich or healthy person can be unhappy if things are getting worse.
1. RTFA
2. ???
3. Prof^wHappiness
---Before I knew God I had a fear of death from like when I was 6 years old. Before I knew everyone died, I thought people just got old.
Actually, I remember when my great-grandmother died. I was 2 and 1/2 and a "crazy toddler". Yet, with no pictures and no telling what happened, I can vividly describe her, her clothes, the room, the way leading to her room (in the hospital), and countless other facts. I remember holding her hand, and her skin was like tissue paper. My parents (and grandparent there, her mother) thought I was going to really hurt her. I could speak some, but there was no speaking necessary.
There was compassion. I knew she was going to die, and die she did. She passed the next day, after seeing me. She knew of nobody in the room, but she recognized me as her baby boy.
I never had a fear of death, even being close to those who were near. It's not sad or despairing. It's peaceful, tranquil.. melancholy. I feel sad for those who do think terrible and dredging thoughts with somebody near death.
---I wanted to be content to just live forever playing newer and better video games. When I learned about death, my whole priorities changed. I felt that I had to live more for the moment and get as much in this life as possible so I don't miss anything.
What is there to learn? You die. Maybe now, maybe later, but you WILL die. Nothing your parents/teachers/church leaders can tell you and give you an "informed view". Some believe that you only have 1 chance, and then you go to an absolute good or bad place. I dont like that. I wish to better myself and share compassion to others, but I might take many lives to do that. If, somehow, I attain enlightenment here now, I wont have to live again. Eternal nothingness will be freedom, or is that eternal everythingness?
---People told me God exists and I went to a Christian Church, but it was hard for me to grasp and I never understood it well. My faith wasn't so good, then in 2003 God spoke to me,"Good News", and I recieved a Good News bible soon after. When I found out God exists for a fact, Jesus is Lord.
If you dont mind, what was the fact that God exists (seriously, not from a flaming point of view). I have personally witnessed 'concidences' that fell together all to well. Point in being is thus: After my grandmother died (from cancer), later on came my mothers birthday. She was almost to tears remembering how my grandmother would always send her a card, get her some thoughtful present, and call her. At the store (with my sister), she went and bought a lottery ticket (not 5, 10, or 50, just 1 single ticket). As she scratched it, she won 20$. Looking underneath the ticket, at the local paper, it had the small headline, "grandmother gives after death".
That day was my mothers birthday (when that happened). Take it as you wish.
---I also learned that he promises eternal life. I didn't go looking for a way to avoid death and thusly believed in Christianity because it was the only possible answer. I found out God exists for a fact then I realized he promises eternal life!
Eternal anything sounds like fun after the first 100 million years, but after that sounds like an "amusement park prison". I would rather, for eternity, not exist, or blend my consciousness with the universe. For many people, they want a pretty place to call good (heaven). The other absolute is Hell. Once you in either, you're stuck there for ever. Even the idea of an absolute good or bad seems... bad. Does your sect of Christanity allow do-overs, or are you condemned to wherever you are "judged" to go?
---You can speak for yourself and say that God doesn't make you happy. But for me knowing death isn't the end of things makes me a very happy person.
After reading much of the Bible, and finding I disagree with the very conduct of "God", I determined that he wasnt honorable. Jesus, on the other hand, was honorable. Soddom and Gomorrah could have been easily dealt with, if "God" was to show the evil to each person there. No viol
While I agree with you, your argument lacks cohesion. Did you forget a paragraph going from a "myriad [of] consequential effects of the various substances you ... take in" to "any [drug] dependency ... is an indicator that something deeper is going wrong"? NB: I am not trying to be an ass.
These studies to which you refer are probably the myriad of studies showing how bad the crap added to our food is. Drugs have nothing (or little, more often maybe) to do with it. Most people suffering from depression (This is NOT a joke!) can be done with it in about two weeks by eliminated high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from their diet. This usually means not drinking pop and buying the expensive condiments. Many more will recover by also eliminating white sugar. This is more difficult but possible. If you like candy, you will need to learn to make your own from natural unrefined sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup (the real kind, not "maple-flavored syrup". You'll pay big bucks for it but it is worth every penny), and stevia for those that want it calorie free. The other big cause of depression in our food and beverages is artificial sweeteners, including but not limited to aspartame, saccharin and sucralose. These are actually worse than sugar and HFCS and will cause you to GAIN WEIGHT if you use too much. If you ditch those sweeteners entirely, you WILL lose weight and probably get over depression.
Remember, the only reason you don't know how bad this stuff is is because depressed people will consume more of it. Like the companies that sell this shit want you eating less. That's why they pay megabucks to develop artificial sweeteners that make you fat. You'll buy more of it. NB: HFCS is also artificial. It is a chemical cocktail produced from corn. Sucralose (Splenda) is also a chemical, created from corn using petroleum.
...because you always give what you have.
The unhappy people can't stand happy people. So if you're unhappy, you will more likely seek depressing and complaining company, than cheerful, vibrant and active people. That doesn't mean they don't exist, you just shut everything positive away, so you can live what you think you are right now. Depression leads to dullness and stagnation, and is also fueled by it, while the way to come out of it is to become active and seek out good company/do good things for others etc. It's really very simple! Yet, when you're stuck with your unhappiness, it seems so hard. You think that 'you' are unhappy, so you stay there longer. We know what to do, yet, we find so many excuses for not doing it. This is mainly because we have been trained to do so, and have perfected its mastery very well. The mind is pretty sneaky actually!
Don't fall for the truth of unhappy people about what is our true nature. Have you seen a child? It is never depressed. A child cannot be depressed. It learns that behaviour from the environment, which it eagerly emulates, and when put under stress for a long time. The younger the child, the more happiness, creativity, laughter, playfullness, innocense and all the other good qualities.
So we need to get rid of our stress and negative patterns that lets us be stuck with a worldview that dictates we shouldn't be 'too happy'. That is truly an art, and then we will discover WHO WE TRULY ARE.
'Old trite arguments'? There's no such thing. It depends on the listener!
Are you your stress?
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
set realistic boundaries with people, and stick to them.
don't involve yourself with unhealthy social behaviour.
set aside time to yourself everyday.
appreciate what you have, not what you have not.
flying muppet yoda would say:
simple things are they, improve life they will.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Isn't buddism the science of happiness?
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http://www.bswa.org/modules/mydownloads/singlefil
Ven. Jhanrato
a C++ compiler and a cup of coffee.
Whenever life gets you down
Keeps you wearing a frown
And the gravy train has left you behind
And when you're all out of hope
Down at the end of your rope
And nobody's there to throw you a line
If you ever get so low that you don't know which way to go
Come on and take a walk in my shoes
Never worry bout a thing
Got the world on a string
Cus I've got the cure for all of my blues (all of his blues)
I take a look at my enormous penis
And my troubles start a-meltin' away
I take a look at my enormous penis
And the happy times are coming to stay
I got a sing and a dance when I glance in my pants
And the feeling's like a sunshiney day
I take a look at my enormous pe-e-e-nis
And everything is goin' my way
(whistling)
(ad lib solo)
PE-E-NIS
(end ad lib solo)
Everybody
I take a look at my enormous penis
And my troubles start a-meltin' away
I take a look at my enormous penis
And the happy times are coming to stay
I got great big amounts in the place where it counts
And the feeling's like a sunshiney day
I take a look at my enormous penis
And everything is goin' my way (my trouser monster)
Everything is going' my way (my meat is murder)
Everything is goin' my way (size doesn't matter)
Everything is goin' my waaaaaay
yummmm
-- Enormous Penis, Da Vinci's Notebook
If you search for happiness in the external world, you'll never find it. Because, logically, happiness comes from the mind itself. If you consider the rich, the famous, and even, the successful, they aren't necessarily happy because happiness doesn't depend on external things. I think if more people realized this truly, there would be less focus on materialism, and *more* peace in the world. As far as finding happiness through drugs... the brain is not the mind. It's related to the mind and it *can* affect the mind. How we feel is determined by what we believe in, not by our current predicament.
Buy my tapes!
I like your post, but I'm pretty sure Sucralose is chlorinated sucrose molecule. At least, that is what the company that produces it says. Here are some links:r s.htm#
http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/sucralo sebroch.cfm
http://www.sucralose.org/facts.html
http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/ http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dange
Please note I wasn't specifically looking for pros vs cons of the shit. I personally hate it, I can taste when it's in my food, and I have a sneaking suspicion it wrecked my digestive system. However, I don't know all there is to know about it so I really can't point fingers, but I can stop, and have stopped, eating it.
Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
For me, _Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience_ by Mihaly Csiksczentmihalyi defines happiness. I'm happiest when I'm actively engaged in an activity that is neither so difficult that it's frustrating nor so easy that it's boring. If I'm mentally and psychologically engaged in doing something that's near the limits of my abilities, so that success is possible but not guaranteed, then life is good.
You know what I find ironic? There's an actual story in the gospels that contradicts this guy's whole script about original sin and redemption. Here we go (I'm paraphrasing):
.02...
A rich kid goes up to Jesus and asks, "How does one win entry into the kingdom of heaven?"
Jesus replies "Follow the commandments."
The kid says "Is that all there is to it?"
Jesus says, "Well, if you want to be perfect, give your money to the poor and follow me as a disciple."
The kid went away, saddened at this. Apparently he didn't want to give up his money.
Jesus said as the kid walked away, "It is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle."
So, there you have it. If you want to get into heaven, obey the commandments. Nothing about swearing allegiance to Jesus, nothing about original sin, nothing about anything but "be nice to each other". If you want to be "perfect", follow Jesus and preach the Word, but he never said you HAD to.
I think Christians tend to forget that JESUS WAS A JEW, so he believed in Jewish rules. He even said, "I am not the end of the law but the fulfillment of it".
What happened was, over the past couple of thousand years, the Roman Catholic Church rearranged Jesus' principles in their dogma to solidify their power. It's pretty hard to threaten people if all they have to do to get into heaven is be nice to others. If a priest has to utter some magic words over your deathbed, though... Well, there ya go! Instant power.
My
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
"Conan! What is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
Misery makes people self-obsessed and inactive.
My experience is the exact opposite. Self-obsession and inactivity make people miserable. And it IS a positive feedback loop.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
To my medical knowledge, what you eat can have a significant effect on your mood, but it's not the only cause, or even necessarily the most common one. Refind sugars can have a depressant effect by leading to low blood sugar. The body shoots out insulin to deal with the sudden sugar spike, but since the spike is very short you're left with a ton of insulin that prevents you from maintaining a sufficient supply until it can be cleared out.
But even if you're just talking physical causes, there are others which can have the same effect--lack of sleep, exercise, and all that other "Health" stuff. Most people don't mentally link their state of mind with their state of body, because it's counterintuitive--most people think of their emotions, their thoughts, and their body as being distinct. They are not. That's why anti-depressants work in the first place. While they may ultimately be a band-aid for the effects of a persistant problem, we wear band-aids for a reason. Often the causes of depression are too difficult to ferret out, so we remove it's effects instead.
So, in short, you're right that sugar can affect mood but sugar isn't the whole story.
All Hail the Maggott Show
As far as the low Slashdot ID, are you jealous, AC?