If our feelings are formed by chemicals and waves in the brain, then what would be false about happiness from those sources? Is it actually false happiness, or is it possibly just happiness derived from stigmatized/alternative sources?
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DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 months agoUsually people regard using drugs as false happiness. Or like having a parasocial relationship with a famous person.
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Eq0@literature.cafe 2 months ago
I think the concept of “false happiness” is given by the ends result of such behavior. Doing fruits gives you a high, but also addiction, so in the long run it’s bad for you. Having a fake relationship does not allow you to develop a real one, thus being a negative over time. True happiness is something that should make you happy in the moment and in the long run.
For this reason, media is true happiness.
I wad happy reading the lord of the rings and I’m happy I read it. The happiness reading produced has kept being a source of additional happiness. I remember Bilbo’s songs, and think about them when I take a walk. I remember small little details, or big plot points, and I’m happy to remember them. Same can be said about films and video games (I am just less passionate about them, but that’s just me)
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’m not sure I agree - why is a long term aspect necessarily for something to constitute true happiness?
If I can’t remember something, does that mean it didn’t make me “truly happy”?
If so, that would mean that a child given a toy they play with for years but eventually lose interest in and forget as they grow older, didn’t experience “true happiness” from that toy, which doesn’t seem right to me.
I don’t think permanence or longevity are factors in whether ones happiness is true or not.
Eq0@literature.cafe 2 months ago
Good point!
Other hypotheses: we say “true happiness” when it’s sustainable (for a bit) without obvious negative effects. Thus drugs are stereotypically not sustainable and with negative effects, so they are not true happiness [obviously many would disagree, e.g. Baudelaire] and finding true love is true happiness. Thus, stories are also true happiness.