Happiness vs. self gratification

[Cory Duchesne]

I get a passage by JKrishnamurti emailed to me every day.

I find Jkrishnamurti's philosophy similar to QRS, but different.

Who's thought is superior, JK or QRS?

J Krishnamurti makes a distinction between happiness and self-gratification. Is JK fooling himself?

QRS makes no distinction. Are the QRS fooling themselves?

Here's the passage:

Happiness vs. self-Gratification

What is it that most of us are seeking? What is it that each one of us wants? Especially in this restless world, where everybody is trying to find some kind of peace, some kind of happiness, a refuge, surely it is important to find out, isn't it?, what it is that we are trying to seek, what it is that we are trying to discover? Probably most of us are seeking some kind of happiness, some kind of peace; in a world that is ridden with turmoil, wars, contention, strife, we want a refuge where there can be some peace. I think that is what most of us want. So we pursue, go from one leader to another, from one religious
organization to another, from one teacher to another.

Now, is it that we are seeking happiness or is it that we are seeking gratification of some kind from which we hope to derive happiness? There is a difference between happiness and gratification. Can you seek happiness? Perhaps you can find gratification but surely you cannot find happiness. Happiness is
derivative; it is a by-product of something else. So, before we give our minds and hearts to something which demands a great deal of earnestness, attention, thought, care, we must find out, must we not?, what it is that we are seeking; whether it is happiness, or gratification?

[Angel Ramirez]

Lately I find that happiness comes spontaneously without seeking it.

It's very interesting.

[bert]

the secret of happiness is to be in harmony with yourself;little more is permitted or desirable.do not ask me what is 'yourself'.

[Ryan Rudolph]

One can only be truly happy in solitude, however as feelings of isolation reach their pinnacle there is a yearning desire to be in the company of others, in other words there is a yearning desire to return to a state of unhappiness.

Here is a funny quote I thought of the other day.

Marrying a women is condemning yourself to hearing a lifetime of crap in your ear, and the funny part is that we are born with the yearning desire to seek out such a companion.

[R. Steven Coyle]

One can only be truly happy in solitude, however as feelings of isolation reach their pinnacle there is a yearning desire to be in the company of others, in other words there is a yearning desire to return to a state of unhappiness.

It is still possible to be happy in the company of others. Though it requires a prolonged detachment, and a regulation of events towards their natural unity; upholding the beauty of solitude, the company of Nature.

The tiered state of unhappiness is the amount of potential growth in an individual.

[Ryan Rudolph]

Steven wrote:

It is still possible to be happy in the company of others. Though it requires a prolonged detachment, and a regulation of events towards their natural unity; upholding the beauty of solitude, the company of Nature.

yes, it was an exaggerated joke. Although with some humans it is impossible to be in a peaceful state of mind around them because their very behavior threatens your own wellbeing.

[R. Steven Coyle]

That's what the ground is for . . .

:)

[Ryan Rudolph]

Continuing on with this marriage theme that I explored:

As a human being, one is programmed with the desire to seek out a companion, and no matter how wise the individual these emotions seem to still come to the surface from time to time.

And what is tragic is that the true philosopher cannot be with most women because she is too weak to mirror his will, and even if she did mirror his will and lived according to his rules then he would grow tired and weary of her anyway because she would simply be lesser version of himself….

Either way he is screwed. He can live alone his entire life and regret it or work along side of a woman and regret that that too.

Choice is difficult. Soren Kierkegaard as many other philosophers dedicated a lot of time trying to understand the complicated series of events that follows making a single choice.

The wisest choice is to make no choice at all, although this road is followed by continous doubt and second guessing ones own faith and ability.

[Matt Gregory]

I've been thinking lately that we don't seek happiness for the sake of happiness, but we seek it as a means to justify our existence. I think that's the real human dilemma. Everything a person does can be seen as an attempt of theirs to justify their existence. When we're unhappy we feel that it isn't worth it to exist. Or maybe when we feel that it isn't worth it to exist is when we become unhappy. I know it isn't pain that makes us unhappy because it's possible to struggle with pain and as long as you feel justified in doing it, then the pain doesn't matter at all in terms of happiness.

[Sapius]

Cory,

Who's thought is superior, JK or QRS?

J Krishnamurti makes a distinction between happiness and self-gratification. Is JK fooling himself?

QRS makes no distinction. Are the QRS fooling themselves?

Nobody’s thought is “superior” unless you want to place a value on it according to your own logical acceptance and pronounce it ‘superior’.

Neither are fooling themselves because all they are doing is expressing their views according to their own casually created conditions, and so am I.

Happiness is derivative; it is a by-product of something else. So, before we give our minds and hearts to something which demands a great deal of earnestness, attention, thought, care, we must find out, must we not?, what it is that we are seeking; whether it is happiness, or gratification?

Isn’t ‘self-gratification’ also a by-product of what one accepts as a reward of some kind?

One that seeks Truth does not really look for any self-gratification or happiness as such, except a casually driven urge to KNOW. In fact, when one actually knows, he is so distressed in finding out that at the ultimate core of it all it is actually all absolutely meaningless, and yet one exists to know the meaningful truth of its meaninglessness. Thereby removing the distress through a meaningful understanding, and removing any urge to find any meaningful happiness or gratification through that which is known to be ultimately meaningless.

However, one can keep deciphering as to what drives one and what leads to what, to try and understand existence, but will ultimately reach the one and only conclusion if he can see it clearly and at all times, that it is ultimately, causality, with no meaningful agenda at all, and yet a product of the same causality is full of all the meanings one can conjure up, and ALL of it IS Reality, excluding absolutely NOTHING at all.

[MrRemarkable]

Sometimes I think age plays great part in wheather you prefer happiness or self-gratification
I think in childhood, you are around by more happiness
as you grow up as youth, you find much more leveled happiness but quickly they turn into competitive gratification
Man's midhood is mostly self-gratification and
after you get old I think people like to be rested being moderately happy not crazy after $$$ or sex~ or social status shift