(September 16, 2023 at 4:26 pm)brewer Wrote:

(September 16, 2023 at 3:24 pm)ShinyCrystals Wrote: Very well, if that is what you want.

For one example, if you are happy with the business you own, that is good. If your business is doing good for others, that is good too.

BUT if your business is doing good for you, but is harming others (like with pollution), and you do nothing about to to keep it being good and avoid getting in trouble, that is bad, right?

Another example of good being bad is when you feel love for someone, but it is unnecessarily high and it leads you to stalk someone or even go as far as harm them to keep them with you, or loving someone to the point of dangerous obsession.

By the way, I am not saying anything I say as truth, just a bit of worry for something about humanity.

Good mixed with bad?

Kind of, if I understand right. Well, I guess another example is if one's emotions are hurt, and the person does not want to continue doing something to improve, when they can overcome that. I have heard and said many times that pain, which probably includes emotional pain is an illusion. On the illusion part of what I said, I think our minds are not as accustomed to bad things that don't kill us, let alone ruin our lives (otherwise, too much abuse and something that ruins one's life, whether or not it is beyond repair, is not a good thing, so those do not count), even though they can help in some way if we accept them and use them to improve ourselves. I just think the pain from one's feelings getting hurt is an illusion, an obstacle to getting better for humans, like getting one's reputation tarnished for doing something bad, but as long as it is not too bad and you can repair it, that is okay.

Now, on what I said about good things being like drugs, good things don't usually cause physical harm in the way drugs are, but I do think they can blind one if they enjoy it too much. Like someone wanting to do a hobby like playing and not do anything else but that, because they enjoy it too much.

But I digress. I am only showing concern here that some humans do not understand this. That is all. But I guess it is more of bad resulting from good rather than a direct mix of it. Plus, good is not absolute here, as I mean it as if it were relative between people.

(September 15, 2023 at 5:58 pm)ShinyCrystals Wrote: I did not know what other sub-forum to put this in, but I guess it works in this one. If not, if it is possible to move this to the right sub-forum, please do. Now, I have a question I wish to ask all of you...

Have you ever felt that most, if not, all the positive things in life can be, or are like an illusion, or like a drug?

What I mean is things like happiness, love, good, those kinds of things. I mean, sure, they are great to have, don't get me wrong, but I think these kinds of things can be built up to become like a drug, like meth. I mean, too much love, or too much happiness can prevent people from seeing the reality of things, especially if not enough bad things happen to them. While it is not necessary or even ideal to have too many bad things happen to people as well, we, as people, need both the good and bad to balance life out, and that is a reason why we learn from our mistakes. Too much of the good things can prevent people from making the right decisions, being able to deal with situations that are bad well, those kinds of things. I personally think too much of anything good can happen to have bad results. Even if the person is not really affected by these bad results somehow, others can be affected negatively, too.

As for the illusion part, I feel that too many people in this world think everything is fine, life is good for them, nothing needs to change, nothing bad is going to happen, etc., when in what I believe to be plenty of cases, things may not be fine for those people, and they are living in an illusion, or simulation where they think things are okay. It may depend on the person, or it could be more general, but it is like people using religion to escape reality; no matter how much they try to escape it, and even if they think they have escaped it, it is always there, and affecting them in ways they don't know, hence the illusion part. Whether they are being affected negatively by this illusion or others are, there is always something they do not know, that they may not want to accept, that makes life not so great. Even if they don't suffer the consequences in their lifetime, there is a chance people's offspring may suffer those consequences later in life if they continue down the same path thinking everything is fine. It is kind of like how people believe in free will, but that, in itself, is an illusion as I am sure many of us believe.

The problem is, though, we are too inclined to want good things to happen to us, and we are too inclined, furthermore, to want to hear what we want to hear. We even have emotions that can make it hard to cope with reality and life. Thing is, even if life is not as great as we want it to be, we can still try to improve it. That said, I also think many people in this world are emotionally, morally and overall, mentally underdeveloped for these kinds of things, not seeing how too much good can be a bad thing and that some things are illusions and not what people want them to be. Thing is, reality and society is meant to, and can change, no matter how slowly, but many seem to focus on the present, or now part of time rather than waiting for the future itself. The way the human mind works is faulty, and I do not think it was, when humans came into existence, meant for a big society like we would end up having now. There is also always a trade off for good and bad; what happens to some one that is good can be bad for others, by the laws of nature, that is technically unavoidable.

With all that said, what do you all think? Can too much good of anything be a bad thing and like a drug, and can some good things people may think exist, or are existing in life in fact, an illusion?

No, no, and maybe.

Pain is an illusion and good things are like a drug.

What kind of experience are you looking for?

(September 16, 2023 at 4:48 pm)zwanzig Wrote: Pain is an illusion and good things are like a drug.

What kind of experience are you looking for?

I might have misspoken about the drug part, admittedly, or maybe I used a bad comparison with the drug part, but to answer your question...

A balanced experience.

Because for me, not being upset about bad things happening to me, the things not actually harmful, killing or life ruining, that is, AND improving myself while mixing it with the good things in life, I believe that kind of balance would lead me to a good life.

And while I can't decide for others, of course, (so I am not going to tell everyone to do this), I believe that can lead to a healthier life. Still, it seems not many have the mental or emotional strength to overcome what negative emotions they feel when they are hurt, but overcoming something is possible to do.

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

~ Wikipedia

(September 16, 2023 at 5:01 pm)Angrboda Wrote: The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

~ Wikipedia

Which is why you either need to change your baseline (is that possible?) Or have the resources to have a constant series of novel pleasant experiences and changes (be really rich, I guess). Preferably both.

Depends on how positive you need it. I've been happy waking up on top of Kilimanjaro to see the equinox sun rise. I've been happy when nobody was shooting at me. I've been happy when the Y-donor wasn't home. Wide scale there, a monstrous xylophone of life.

(September 16, 2023 at 9:28 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Depends on how positive you need it. I've been happy waking up on top of Kilimanjaro to see the equinox sun rise. I've been happy when nobody was shooting at me. I've been happy when the Y-donor wasn't home. Wide scale there, a monstrous xylophone of life.

As positive as required so I don't want it to be more positive, I guess.

I'm reminded of the song that goes, "If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad".

What if hitting people in the head with a hammer makes me happy?*

Would society be okay with that? As long as I'm happy?




*I don't. Why waste a perfectly good hammer when I have a crow bar?

(September 17, 2023 at 6:00 am)The Valkyrie Wrote: I'm reminded of the song that goes, "If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad".

What if hitting people in the head with a hammer makes me happy?*

Would society be okay with that?  As long as I'm happy?




*I don't.  Why waste a perfectly good hammer when I have a crow bar?

I think hitting people in the head with a hammer could be a public service. Let's face it - there are people whose behaviour translates as, 'PLEASE hit me in the head with a hammer.'

Boru