Where does human happiness come from
If my own definition of happiness is not clear, my happiness is naturally determined through comparison with the outside world.
- For me, happiness is interpreted as positive experiences that are often given for a while when M. Scott Peck defines “Life is a Confession,” and “The Origin of Happiness,” as the author defines it, “Life is a continuation of conflict/a continuation of competition.”
- The author of this book advises that in order to increase the probability of happiness, you should often encounter trivial things in your daily life, such as “friends, Pyeongyang naengmyeon, coffee, Messi’s pass, Bach, good books, new experiences, travel for driving.” Because happiness is not a certain state (goal), but rather a “tiny pleasure” that you experience for a moment.
- Therefore, it is foolish to pursue happiness alone, and rather, because of this trivial pleasure, humans ultimately focus on creative, intelligent, and difficult goals.
- Why doesn’t happiness last for a short time? The author explains that from an evolutionary psychology perspective, humans are constantly motivated to survive and reproduce, that is, to jump into the two most dangerous, difficult, and competitive goals. “Since all pleasure is soon extinguished, it is absolute to feel joy several times less than just one great joy.” In other words, happiness should be found in “frequency, not intensity, of joy.”
- The author, a world-renowned happiness scholar, interprets “happiness” as an “emotional experience” that gives pleasure and motivation not to forget this difficult goal for survival and reproduction, which is most important to mankind, and as “a kind of ‘byproduct’ that automatically occurs when interacting with others.” In places where external evaluations and comparisons are frequent, such as Korea, we are at risk of over-contact with unwanted by-products called ‘unhappiness’.
- If so, would it be an ideal state if the feeling of temporary happiness continues without boiling (without hardship and difficulty/continuing individual pleasure)? The author says that a new homework called “tiredness and lethargy” begins. Happiness should again be confirmed to be felt only in interactions that promote relationships with people beyond individual pleasure. Prosocial behaviors, such as “being happier when spending money for others, not for yourself” or “seeing the face of a friend who is grateful with my help”, induce happiness that “does not induce boredom and lethargy”.
- “What would it look like to capture the essence of happiness on a single photograph? When we take the book’s content and the various findings so far into consideration, it’s a scene where you eat with someone you like… It’s these two things that our primitive brains are still most excited about and excited about. Food, and people.”
- Food and people suggest that the origin of human happiness lies in a ‘social relationship’. In positive activities where social interaction takes place, we temporarily enjoy happy emotions, and in negative activities, we also temporarily enjoy unfortunate emotions.
- If I were a co-author of this book, what if I could reconstruct a single photo or conclude my version by considering the contents of the book?
“I want to continue the challenge of sharing small pleasures with people I like, people I can help and need, people I help with growing up, eating delicious food sometimes, continuing the positive emotional experience (happiness) that is given for a while, and creating a common goal and value to look at together.”