STUDY: Want ‘sustained happiness’? Get religion.

[AFTT47]

So if I want sustained happiness, I should delude myself into thinking that the universe is exactly how I want it to be. Sounds like a good plan except:

1. I have this issue with intellectual honesty. Even if I WANT to believe 1 + 1 = 3, I CAN'T. You see, the logical aspect of my mind seems to be stronger than the emotional aspect (at least on this subject). I can't actually CHOOSE to believe in something my logical mind tells me is crap.

2. I value truth more than I do happiness. Maybe that is why any emotional attachment to 1 + 1 = 3 fails to overide my logical mind. I have a greater emotional attachment to truth than I do happiness. This is the same reason that the average person rejects the happy euphoria of drugs vs. not-so-happy reality. One values reality more.

3. The dichotomy is not necessarily valid. One may find the greatest happiness in reality. In fact, I can't imagine anyone would be happier believing in the existence of an omnipotent God with the emotional and intellectual maturity of a 5-year-old than a coldly impassionate universe. Make no mistake: All the gods of man-made religions are that bad. They are monsters. How to hell would believing in any of them make me happy? Quite the contrary, I would be horrified.