Philosophy Relative Comparison 11 September 2023 Following up on my previous note, I'd like to make a few important additions. Our sense of happiness is strongly influenced by what is known as "relative comparison": this occurs when we feel uneasy about the gap between what we already have and the desired level we wish to attain. Moreover, our sense of happiness is also affected by our prior expectations: for instance, if we have had a very enjoyable vacation, it's likely that in the future we will measure our happiness against that previous successful experience, expecting that, at a minimum, we will once again have a similar experience and the same emotions. Generally speaking, we want our current situation to be as good as our previous positive experience. In such cases, to alleviate constant frustration and cognitive dissonance caused by the mismatch between our expectations and reality, it's sufficient to reasonably lower our expectations of the current moment and life in general. Obviously, this must be approached with full seriousness, as excessive lowering of expectations can lead to unhappiness. Lowering expectations allows us to break free from the chains of "deferred life syndrome," as learning to be content with little, but present, things - in the current moment - gives us the opportunity to let go of grand expectations that reside somewhere in a distant future that will never come; after all, the future doesn't exist, it's merely a figment of our imagination. We gain the opportunity to be content with what we have, rather than what we wish to have. As Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius said, "No man is happy until he thinks himself so." Indeed, expecting that we'll only be happy when we "reach some goal" or "attain a certain moment" deprives us of the opportunity to consider ourselves happy right now, as we will inevitably expect happiness to come only after certain life conditions are met. And we will never be happy in such a case. However, reasoning itself and, in principle, any philosophy are worthless if a person does not make conscious efforts to apply the acquired knowledge to their own life. Personally, I believe that one cannot become happy; one can only be happy, and be so right now: after all, we only have control over the current moment, and we have no influence over the future, which is entirely beyond our control. From this follows that to achieve happiness, it is enough to have the desire to be happy (surprise!) and then allow oneself to experience aesthetic pleasure in the context of one's own life: to find beauty in all manifestations of the current moment and everything that surrounds us right now. We should constantly ask ourselves where we are, and if the answer is "the future" or "the past," one must make conscious attempts to return to the present - the only destination where happiness is possible. Copyright (c) 2023 contact@renecoignard.com Powered by Weblog v1.17.16