The Conquest of Happiness

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There is no ultimate satisfaction in the cultivation of one element of human nature at the expense of all the others, nor in viewing all the world as raw material for the magnificence of one’s own ego. If his analysis is right (which I personally doubt), then we’d have to choose between adults who are deluded about their abilities and feel ignored by others; or we could have adults who are self-critical and realistic about their own abilities, but full of envy for others. But since it is this “natural zest and appetite” that makes a life happy, each one of us can improve their happiness without needing to wait for a change in society.

The Conquest of Happiness - Medium The Conquest of Happiness - Medium

He is focussing, in the whole book, not on those whose existential needs push them into situations of unhappiness, but on those who could, in principle, live better lives because they are sufficiently wealthy to do so, but who, for dubious reasons, stay trapped in a life that makes them unhappy.I am not at all sure, however, that it is easier to acquire a good character than a good appearance, at any rate the steps necessary for the latter are better understood and more readily pursued by women than are the steps necessary for the former by men. This is due partly to having discovered what were the things that I most desired, and having gradually acquired many of these things. When you have looked for some time steadily at the worst possibility and have said to yourself with real conviction, ‘Well, after all, that would not matter so very much’, you will find that your worry diminishes to a quite extraordinary extent.

The Conquest of Happiness. By Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. London The Conquest of Happiness. By Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. London

In university, they may for a few years find others like them, and in big cities generally one can find like-minded people.There is no arguing with mood; it can be changed by some fortunate event, or by a change in our bodily condition, but it cannot be changed by argument. Partly it is due to having successfully dismissed certain objects of desire - such as the acquisition of indubitable knowledge about something or other — as essentially unattainable.

The Conquest of Happiness - Academia.edu The Conquest of Happiness - Academia.edu

In the previous two posts ( one, two), we talked about Bertrand Russell and his theory of what makes us unhappy: competition, anxiety, envy and the fear of the opinion of others are just a few common factors that contribute to an unhappy life.His drunkenness, his furious rages, his indifference to women, and his claim to divinity, suggest that he was not. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.