Yuyutsu:

We must decide to fly above the turmoil of we really want to fly above it. We must ignore maturely not immaturely, a whole realm of so-called meaning. As long as our self-identification centers around what we call the real world, no profound happiness is possible. Happiness requires that we give up a wordly orientation as I stated previously - not wordly things but a wordly attachment to things. We have to surrender all outcomes. We have to live here but appreciate the joke. It's a phenomenal challenge because the world does not support our expansion into superbeings. Just as children play games in which they pretend to be adults, and thus pave the way into adulthood, so you and I must pretend to be angelic, noble, and enlightened spirits just visiting here, in order to actually become them.

This is all very true, Lexi, but how are you going to sustain that angelic attitude in the face of the first (and inevitable) crisis?

You just cannot do it alone, to overcome the attachment to the world without any firm location outside the world, but with God's Grace you can, as stated by Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, chapter 4, verse 10:

"Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me - and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me"

We have to rise above material desires! we must hug babies! we must appreciate the flowers!

All this blah blah blah you always hear from unhappy people telling us what 'we' must do to be 'truly' happy.

Well, all I see the is self-justification of miserable people pretending that they're all spiritual and that they WILL ( I think I can I think I can) be happy when all these intangible warm and fuzzy buzz words allow them to escape even more from reality.

The people who bang on like this are the people I think are the most unhappy, so why do they decide that 'we' should do this and that when it's plain obvious they're the ones who are so unhappy.

Most people who are genuinely happy and mature know that it isn't some great struggle.

The Pied Piper, yes, I think many of the things caused by our toxic society could well have been around for a long time and we are only just being able to investigate and report on them. The issue remains though, that if this is just Australia, what on earth would the figures for the rest of the world look like?

<< “Information with knowledge” Lost me on that one.>>

Data is everything that is recorded or stored; Information is data that is context sensitive or related to a specific topic. Knowledge is Information applied to a result of some sort. The ingredients for a cake are information, with a recipe and skills it can produce the result, Knowledge, a cake. Many of us seem to collect masses of information on topics but seem unable to reach a result or conclusion.

<< Intelligence vs education>> you mention IQ, which is not intelligence; it is a measure of aptitude, our ability to learn. There are other forms of intelligence measures used today but they are all aptitudes. (SQ, EQ and PQ)

There is not a single education system on the planet that teaches “intelligence” but you might need a reasonable IQ to get qualifications. If we could teach intelligence we would be able to teach someone with an IQ of 100 to have and IQ of 130, but we can’t.

You say “Faith comes under the heading of knowledge without information?” Not really, Faith does not require, nor does it have information, therefore it cannot have knowledge, i.e. it cannot produce a result of any description, thus we call it faith.

Pelican, I think I agree that the passive or active “just don’t get its” applies to all of us at some level. Yet we think we are intelligent, so why cannot we detect that which is not real and protect ourselves and our emotional well being from fiction? Why do many of us actually “adopt a fiction” thinking it will sooth us? Could it be the adoption of fictions that causes us the emotional stress? (runner??)

continue

Continued:

Hasbeen, you make sense. Could it be the people making these decisions “Just don’t get it”

Yuyutsu, you may have misunderstood my point. I was not implying that religion has not worked, I was responding to AGiR’s assertion that our ills are because we are godless, when clearly we have millions who have God in their lives, at whatever level they choose.

Nicnoto, loved your post. You used a key phrase,

<<I am suggesting that once an individual can learn to love who they are truly, they will lead a happier life without the constant depressing voice of others, and worst of all yourself, nagging to change the things that make you, you.>>

Can you please tell me who, or what, within our societies, you feel is the precise nature of those “constant depressing voice of others” that you imply nag you to change who you are?

Is anyone any closer to identifying either the “traits” or “causes” of the things that damage us emotionally?

Is it our belief in the unbelievable?

Houlley, there you go again in predictable form. Who is telling who how they should be happy? Why do read an opinion as though it is meant to reflect everyone elses'. Do we need to write a caveat each post to ensure no sensitive souls take offence that someone might be telling them what 'they' should think and do.

Do whatever it is that makes you happy, if you know what it is. Same applies for everyone.