...About Sharing Happiness We can only share happiness with others when we ourselves know how to be happy and are happy. If we are not happy (it means we don't know how to be happy), then how can we share happiness with others and ask others to be happy, when we don't have happiness in ourselves? We can share our joy and happiness with all beings without any discrimination of human beings or non-human beings, good beings or bad beings, happy beings or unhappy beings, wise beings or ignorant beings, but we cannot give happiness to others nor can we make other beings to become happy. If one can give happiness to others or can make another being to become happy, then there shouldn't be any beings being unhappy in the world, because we can just give happiness to everyone and make everyone happy. But it doesn't work like that. Not even Buddha nor any enlightened beings can make another being to become happy or to become enlightened. If it is so easy, we can just ask for happiness or enlightenment and be happy forever and be enlightened. It is all come from within ourselves. Happiness or enlightenment, it is up to our own efforts to realize them within ourselves. It cannot be given or be bought from someone else. All the teachers and teachings are there to guide us to attain true happiness and enlightenment by our own effort. When beings are unhappy, have no peace in the heart, the mind is full of attachment, ignorance, anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, dissatisfaction, frustration...
Words: 3190 - Pages: 13
...Everyone is on their spiritual quest to find it, and sometimes, when they find happiness they do not know how to handle it. In Anton Chekov’s short story “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” Chekov let’s us into the mind of the character Dmitry Gurov as he seeks to compensate his unhappy life in his many affairs with women. In one of his many affairs with Anna Sergeyevna we see how Dmitry changes his views and attitude as he falls in love. In the beginning of “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” the character Dmitry Gurov is an unhappy narcissistic and a misogynist who is easily bored with women and his lover Anna Sergeyevna. By the end of the story, however, he changes his views of Anna when he realizes he loves her. Before meeting Anna, Dmitry is displayed in an unflattering manner. He is very unhappy with his life and marriage even though his wife was described as “a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, stately and dignified and, as she said of herself, intellectual” (156). She seemed like a great woman with beauty and intelligence, yet, he was still dissatisfied, “he privately considered her of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy, was afraid of her, and did not like to be home” (156). Dmitry is very critical of his wife he turns all her attributes into negative qualities. Dmitry’s harsh criticism of his wife further shows his dissatisfaction with himself. He cannot acknowledge her qualities because he is unhappy with himself. In search of happiness, Gurov felt the need to have...
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
...Dying With the Most Toys Does Not Mean You’ve Won In Book 1 of On the Free Choice of the Will, Augustine examines the relationship between doing good and being happy. Happiness is when someone takes delight in their own will, as opposed to depending on temporal things for your happiness, something with which modern psychology agrees. Evil people will to be happy as well, but they refuse to will to live rightly. This leads to evil people depending on temporal things for their happiness, which leads them to be unhappy. Augustine’s first point about happiness is that while everyone wants to be happy, a person is truly happy only “when he takes delight in his own good will” (Augustine, On the Free Choice of the Will, page 24). This person concerns his life with eternal things, and “the joy occasioned by acquiring this good [will] elevates the mind calmly, peacefully, and steadfastly,” which Augustine says is “called the happy life” (25). While the happy person takes delight in his good will, he appropriately assigns “little worth to anything else that is called good but can be lost even when the will to retain it remains” (24). In other words, the happy person does not become attached to the temporal things in life. This is because temporal things are, well, temporary (hence the similarity in the two...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...going to examine the consequences for the increase in divorce rates. It is important to understand that divorce is when a married couple legally divide apart each other. Divorce became easier in cheaper in 1969, as this is when the divorce reform act came into place. From 1969 divorce came increasingly more common. I believe that the main consequence of the rise in divorce rates is women gaining power in the family, winning more independence for themselves. Other consequences for the increase in divorce are that couples can escape unhappy marriages; there are less arguments within the household, creating a more positive atmosphere; there is more money being put into the economy; and a change in life course. All of these consequences will be examined further throughout my essay. One consequence of the increase in divorce rate is that women gain more power and independence. This is because after the divorce, they may be left with looking after the children on their own and therefore they become a single parent family. The mother will then become the head of the household, being held responsible for the balancing of childcare, emotional and financial support, working and the domestic household chores. This then is a positive consequence of the rising divorce rates as women become more powerful and have a bigger influence over the family and household as they are the one who is in charge; playing the role of both the breadwinner and the homemaker. Women may also gain more power in...
Words: 1206 - Pages: 5
...What exactly is happiness? According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, happiness is described as having a favorable attitude towards one's life as a whole, or the balance of pleasant experiences over unpleasant ones. Prevalent on the minds of many humans are the following questions: How does one achieve happiness? How can one make their pursuit of happiness less difficult? In John Stuart Mill's opinion, one should not pursue happiness at all. Mill has reported that he has found that "Those only are happy have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness." As a matter of fact, Mill believes that focusing on one's happiness will cause an individual to become unhappy, as supported by the quote "Ask yourself whether...
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
...“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a poem about a woman named Mrs. Mallard who feels oppressed and stripped of her personal freedom by her marriage. “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is a short story about a woman named Mrs. Loisel who is not happy with the way her life turned out and her need to feel important. The characters in these works are very similar and so is the tone, but it does have some small differences. Even though there are some differences, “The Necklace” and “The Story of an Hour” share many techniques and are both about women who are unhappy with their lives. The first similarity in these two works is the tone used. The tone in both “The Necklace” and “The Story of an Hour” is situational irony. In “The Necklace” Mrs. Loisel longed for a life of money and luxury that would improve her social status. This was evident when it is said, “She had no dresses, no jewelry, nothing. And she loved nothing else; she felt herself made for that only. She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive and sought after.”(Clugston, 2010) This informs the reader from the beginning that she only cares about having nice things. This sets the tone for the story. Mrs. Loisel borrows a necklace from a rich friend to complete her outfit that finally makes her feel like the person she should be. She loses the necklace, and has to work ten hard years to pay for a replacement necklace. The irony is that after she pays off all her debt she finds out that...
Words: 1979 - Pages: 8
...How dose JK.Rowling adapt her language to suite her audience? In this essay I will be exploring how JK.Rowling adapts her language to suite her audience in two interviews. In the 60 minutes interview JK.Rowling is more serious as her audience is adults, she is also very gloomy and reflective. Whereas in the blue peter interview she is more enthusiastic and lively in order to capture the attention of her audience who are children. Between these two interviews the style of her speech differs greatly. In the interview 60 minutes JK.Rowling starts the interview by saying “I have no nostalgia whatsoever for childhood”. She uses the word nostalgia followed with whatsoever to emphasise to the audience that she has no sentimental longing for the past. This is also an indication that JK.Rowling is not content with her childhood, hence the negativity. JK.Rowling also stammers, uses fillers and false starts, she does this because of the distress she is feeling in reminiscing her childhood. JK.Rowling also uses very few para-linguistic which makes her seem tense. To underline her discontentment in child hood JK.Rowling expresses the point that she would not go back if she was paid. JK.Rowling uses this phrase in a non-literal sense for a vivid effect of her disapproving childhood. JK.Rowling then reveals to the interviewer of how she was bullied as a child, which explains part of the reason why she had no nostalgia for childhood. The interviewer prompts JK.Rowling to reveal more by saying...
Words: 777 - Pages: 4
...can and will have tremendous effects on their children’s lives. Some of these decisions can be very heart-wrenching because a parent has to make a decision without knowing exactly how the decision will change their children’s life. The children may view these decisions very differently. A parent must consider how their decisions will affect the many aspects of their children’s lives in order for that child to grow and learn successfully. In the poem, I Go Back To May, 1937 by Sharon Olds, the author paints a picture through the eyes of a child. The author describes how she goes back in time to see her youthful parents about to graduate and get married. The child sees her parents as innocent, unknowing and not wanting to hurt anyone. She reflects on her past and wants to say, “Stop, don’t do it-she’s the wrong woman, he’s the wrong man, you are going to do things bad things to children” (Olds, 449). But the child does not do it, she wants to live. The child is dreams of stopping her parents from marrying; obviously, the child has felt immense pain during her childhood with her parents. Many parents struggle to decide what is best for their child; moreover, obtaining the answer is quite a mountainous feat. No one knows for sure how a child will react to life changing decisions and parents are faced with some tough questions. For some people, the decision to become a parent is well-planned, and coordinated with the economics of raising a child. For others, parenting...
Words: 1303 - Pages: 6
...responsible for burning English-influenced books. This shows how the fireman have tampered with history to prove how noble and righteous their cause is. This is necessary for them to do or else everyone including firefighters would question their actions. This proves how the theme is about covering up. Secondly , direct characterization proves how Montag has fooled himself to believe in how perfect and happy his life is even though in reality he is very unhappy. "Darkness. He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs" (12). After his encounter with Clarisse, Montag goes back home. Clarisse had questioned Montag's happiness. Montag keeps the question in mind. He enters his bedroom and finds it to be dark. Montag then realizes that he is not happy after thinking for so long that he is happy. This proves how unhappy Montag truly is and how he has easily tricked himself to believe he is happy and lives a perfect life. This proves how the theme is about concealing. Thirdly , foreshadowing is shown when Montag is shown to look at a grille and remembers something about it. As if he has been storing something there and making sure he...
Words: 1093 - Pages: 5
...what I feel are some of its strengths and weaknesses before finishing with my conclusion. Definitions of Counselling. There are many definitions of counselling, but most share the same idea: it is when one person helps another. To me counselling represents one word more than any other: CHANGE. One person is unhappy with some area of their life and wants it to change while the other person helps to facilitate that change. Just as there are many definitions of counselling there are many types of counselling with different philosophies. In fact “Karasu (1986) reported having come across more than 400 distinct models of counselling and psychotherapy “(McLeod, 2008, p.10). There is evidence of unhappy people in every society in history and the treatments were as varied in the past as they are today. As far back as the fourteenth century asylums were used to house the mentally ill, which also included people with speech disorders, epilepsy and depression. Up until the 19th century these places were more interested in removing them from the general public and locking them up than helping or curing them. Thankfully we have come a long way from this to a more accepting way of dealing with people who are unhappy. From Freud to Rogers and everything in between, it is now the unhappy person that has the choice of what therapy best suits their needs. Background of Glasser William Glasser was born 1925 and raised in Cleveland Ohio. Little has been written about his childhood and...
Words: 1733 - Pages: 7
...On May 2, 1808, residents of Madrid rebelled against the French military, who occupied the city. In response to this conflict Goya printed Los Desastres de la Guerra (‘The Disasters of War’), a sequence of 82 prints depicting the effects of war and starvation. One of the 82 prints that I am going to focus on is caption Unhappy Mother. The etching depicts the death of a mother who is being carried by three men. There is a little girl no younger than three with her hands wiping her tears away. If you look closely you can see one of the three men looking at the little girl as they carry the woman away. There is a person behind the men. The person seems to be dead because there seems to be a gunshot wound on her back. The eighty etchings present...
Words: 556 - Pages: 3
...been capable of being lazy; there would at least have been one quality, as it were, positive in me, in which I could have believed myself.” Reaction- The underground man has a seemingly pitiful life. He desires to have qualities that “normal” people detest. In this passage he is positively reflecting on laziness. How if he could only be lazy he would have ONE positive quality. It is sad that he doesn’t think he has a single positive quality, and furthermore that a negative one would be fulfilling for him. I also do myself enjoy being lazy, but only whilst I’m being lazy. After that it becomes drab and I look back on the wasted time. It is a pity. Part 2) But at this point a strage thing happened. I was so accustomed to think and imagine everything from books, and to picture everything in the world to myself just as I had made it up in my dreams beforehand, that I could not all at once take in this strange circumstance. What happened was this: Liza, insulted and crushed by me, understood a great deal more than I imagined. She understood from all this what a woman understands first of all, if she feels genuine love, that is, that I was myself unhappy. Reaction- I love this passage, and everything leading up to it. This man who had holy rollered his way over her in the Whore-house, preaching to her the evil of her deeds was truly an unhappy man. When people are unhappy their sole goal is to make other unhappy. He was almost successful, but Liza realized his unhappiness...
Words: 464 - Pages: 2
... once this success is achieved, they are still unhappy. In the 1920s, the majority of people had one dream to achieve particularly the American Dream. In essence, the American Dream is the idea of anyone being able to achieve success if they put in a lot dedication and hard work. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic twentiethcentury story that revolves primarily around the theme of the American Dream. The characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson are prime examples of characters who represent this theme. The Great Gatsby gives a vivid peek into the lives of Americans who live the American Dream, and proves it to be rather a deceptive fallacy. This deceit results in the downfall of many characters within the novel as they try to obtain the unachievable goal of the American Dream. Tom and Daisy Buchanan represent what many lowerclass citizens in the U.S. strive to be: wealthy and highstatus socialites. This facade is what tricks many into thinking that the American Dream results in a greater and happier life. However, Tom and Daisy’s happiness only goes so far. Apart from being successful, this couple encounters many debacles both within and out of their marriage. Like many who live in East Egg, Tom came from a wealthy family and made sure he stayed that way. Although Tom has theoretically achieved the American Dream, he still is not satisfied with his life. He sees Daisy as an object of possession that he bought with his ...
Words: 1499 - Pages: 6
...After being married for five years and divorcing I believe that I have a clear understanding of what makes a happy marriage. In my opinion a happy marriage begins with the persons seeking marriage finding their true identity. I believe that when you know who you are that you will make clear and concise decisions. Some people marry when they do not know who they are in life or what they want out of life which results in an unhappy marriage. I also believe that being equally yoked is very pertinent to having a happy successful marriage because how can a married couple be one or in union with one another when they have different beliefs towards very important matters. I also believe that good lines of communication will create a happy marital atmosphere considering when you communicate you remain on the same sheet of music. The last thing that I will include is finances because when you are stable you are able to remove some unneeded stress that many people face due to the lack of funds. There are also many fundamental differences that separate unhappy and happy married couples such as happy married couples are deep rooted in their marriage when problems and situations arise they work hard and fight to keep everything together. However when unhappy married couples face trials and tribulations throughout their marriages they are ready to throw in the towel and yell I want a divorce because they do not feel that they have anything to...
Words: 254 - Pages: 2
...Reading is important because it keeps people connected and happy. When reading, individuals create a bound with the author’s thinking through their words or the person they’re reading with. Reading can be a great way to communicate with people and create connections. When people read, the book brings happiness and can cure problems through the characters’ experience. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, societies that do not value reading, become unhappy, lack of connection or escaping from reality. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary. G. Thompson the characters experience unhappiness and a lack of connection with people because without reading they feel alone. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag cannot read or express his ideas, and this makes him feel unhappy. No one cares in this society; there's lack of connection between everyone. When Beatty visits Montag, he tells him, ”The word ‘intellectual; of course, became the swear word it deserved to be”(Bradbury 57). Beatty saying smart and intelligent people are...
Words: 471 - Pages: 2
