You are mistaken in one thing in terms of Armagedon:
In addition to the effects of Climate Change, we also, increasingly, face the threat of Nuclear War.
But my TaiChi instructor for the past 5 years tells me practicing TaiChi makes everything, physical and emotional, better. So I keep practicing and hope he's right😊
yes, you're right. I don't want to oversimplify - while my pervading fear is climate change, there's also the nuclear. (I guess I'm holding onto the one that I feel like I might be able to do a tiny bit to fix...) You do have to peace in yourself to be able to handle these things
From a book I am reading ““Our quality of life is better than ever, yet our satisfaction with life is plummeting. We’re becoming lazy. Hedonistic. Materialistic. We’re losing our sense of spirituality. And human connection is at a low even as mass communication rises.” I think this is accurate although perhaps harsh
Bertrand Russell was an intellectual titan, but good luck getting through his "A History of Western Philosophy." I made it through the audio version.
Agree completely that it's not very American to be happy, at least not these days. I think we (collectively) were happier 30 years ago, but I'm also a straight white male, so that's really easy for me to say. One thing that's for sure is that something changed around Sept 11th, 2001. The skies have stayed a little cloudier since then, at least in my experience. Maybe the veil of invulnerability had been removed.
good job attempting the audio of that! I found this essay a little much - tackling happiness in a few pages is a feat and it was light on substance (for a science mag!).
It is true that struggling seems to be what we pride ourselves on - stress and striving.
Interesting to note the gap of 9-11, there's something to that for sure - and with the "chasm" in our competing politics. Innocence lost.
You are mistaken in one thing in terms of Armagedon:
In addition to the effects of Climate Change, we also, increasingly, face the threat of Nuclear War.
But my TaiChi instructor for the past 5 years tells me practicing TaiChi makes everything, physical and emotional, better. So I keep practicing and hope he's right😊
yes, you're right. I don't want to oversimplify - while my pervading fear is climate change, there's also the nuclear. (I guess I'm holding onto the one that I feel like I might be able to do a tiny bit to fix...) You do have to peace in yourself to be able to handle these things
Good point❤️
From a book I am reading ““Our quality of life is better than ever, yet our satisfaction with life is plummeting. We’re becoming lazy. Hedonistic. Materialistic. We’re losing our sense of spirituality. And human connection is at a low even as mass communication rises.” I think this is accurate although perhaps harsh
I'd like to blame all the screens for all of that; sounds about right.
Bertrand Russell was an intellectual titan, but good luck getting through his "A History of Western Philosophy." I made it through the audio version.
Agree completely that it's not very American to be happy, at least not these days. I think we (collectively) were happier 30 years ago, but I'm also a straight white male, so that's really easy for me to say. One thing that's for sure is that something changed around Sept 11th, 2001. The skies have stayed a little cloudier since then, at least in my experience. Maybe the veil of invulnerability had been removed.
good job attempting the audio of that! I found this essay a little much - tackling happiness in a few pages is a feat and it was light on substance (for a science mag!).
It is true that struggling seems to be what we pride ourselves on - stress and striving.
Interesting to note the gap of 9-11, there's something to that for sure - and with the "chasm" in our competing politics. Innocence lost.