Thursday, June 14, 2012

More than happiness

There should be a law - you can't comment on an article unless you've read the thing.

But, there isn't a law, so I'm going to break it.

The New Republic has a piece up about happiness. It's longish, so I haven't had a chance to read it yet. But, based on the opening, I'm going to enjoy it, and agree with it (and, yes, I'll admit that, like most people, those often coincide!).

The gist seems to be that we make a mistake when we conflate happiness with pleasure. There's nothing wrong with pleasure, mind you, and it can be an important part of happiness. But, they aren't exactly the same. Happiness is something larger, something more profound.

The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 19a) teaches that happiness come from restraining your negative impulses.

Where do you find happiness?

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