I think the answer lies in the undeniable perfection that is Mexican food.

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Originally posted by D-res I think the answer lies in the undeniable perfection that is Mexican food.

Hallejuah!

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inner city - say something

In the end, seeking "to be happy" is not really a worthwhile goal in my opinion. Since we perceive how "good" or "bad" events and phenomena around us are in relative terms, we're going to end up experiencing roughly the same net amount of "happiness" over a long enough period of time regardless of our circumstances.

What really varies more from person to person is how they perceive their past experiences. Some people naturally remember their "happy" times more vividly, and so they generally report a high degree of happiness. Others remember their "unhappy" experiences more vividly... and consequently they report being unhappy a disproportionately large part of the time. Some people cling to moments of extreme happiness and think that anything less than that is bad... such people doom themselves to perceiving their situation as unhappy. It is really how people perceive their own past experiences, more than actual happiness that they experience, that is reflected by how people report their levels of happiness over a period of time.

The American lifestyle runs contrary to this aspect of human nature. People here want to believe that they can buy happiness if they just have enough money. But while buying something might create a short term increase in happiness, it will almost always lead to a counter-reaction in the intermediate time frame... in some cases manifesting itself as stress over finances, and in other cases as making relatively minor annoyances seem more severe. This is due not only to the relative nature by which we perceive the quality of our experiences, but also due to the cyclic nature of those neurotransmitters which provide much of the physiological basis for such feelings.

Personally my goals do not include such abstract things as happiness, nor do I pursue money for the sake of buying things that are supposed to make me happy. I accept that I will experience unhappiness on many occasions, and happiness in a comparable dose. If I can achieve meaningful accomplishments, that is something I value more than the emotion "happiness."

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The American lifestyle runs contrary to this aspect of human nature. People here want to believe that they can buy happiness if they just have enough money. But while buying something might create a short term increase in happiness, it will almost always lead to a counter-reaction in the intermediate time frame... in some cases manifesting itself as stress over finances, and in other cases as making relatively minor annoyances seem more severe. This is due not only to the relative nature by which we perceive the quality of our experiences, but also due to the cyclic nature of those neurotransmitters which provide much of the physiological basis for such feelings.

The problem too is the generalized guilt induced by religions like Christianity -- there's always a feeling that something which is euphoric at a base level (eating, having sex, drinking) is a sin, and that salvation is only achieved by suffering through the ignorance of your most primal needs, rather than simply accepting and pursuing them until they are sated. There's a constant push towards a concept of perfection and nirvana that simply does not exist. Logically I don't think it even makes sense to believe in such a concept as heaven, as what would you do when you got there if all your needs were satisfied?

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Alcoholic Alliance
The Ecstasy (MDMA) Bible Thread 2.0

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Originally posted by Masonious you win again dude - and nice move shoving the whole i figured out how to order pizza thing in my face. i tried that 4 and a half months ago and woke up with a Taiwanese transvestite but to Ygrene it's just, "anoother day in the life, noooo biggieee".

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Originally posted by D-res I think the answer lies in the undeniable perfection that is Mexican food.

so true. enchiladas, tacos, homemade refried beans... those are definitely the keys to happiness.

i even asked my parents when i was about 6 or 7 years old if i was "half-Mexican" because i liked Mexican food so much.

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lovebirds tracklist archive | vincenzo tracklist archive

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Logically I don't think it even makes sense to believe in such a concept as heaven, as what would you do when you got there if all your needs were satisfied?

Sing and play on harps all the day long?

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2. In man's heaven everybody sings! The man who did not sing on earth sings there; the man who could not sing on earth is able to do it there. The universal singing is not casual, not occasional, not relieved by intervals of quiet; it goes on, all day long, and every day, during a stretch of twelve hours. And everybody stays; whereas in the earth the place would be empty in two hours. The singing is of hymns alone. Nay, it is of one hymn alone. The words are always the same, in number they are only about a dozen, there is no rhyme, there is no poetry: "Hosannah, hosannah, hosannah, Lord God of Sabaoth, 'rah! 'rah! 'rah! siss! -- boom! ... a-a-ah!" 3. Meantime, every person is playing on a harp -- those millions and millions! -- whereas not more than twenty in the thousand of them could play an instrument in the earth, or ever wanted to. Consider the deafening hurricane of sound -- millions and millions of voices screaming at once and millions and millions of harps gritting their teeth at the same time! I ask you: is it hideous, is it odious, is it horrible? Consider further: it is a praise service; a service of compliment, of flattery, of adulation! Do you ask who it is that is willing to endure this strange compliment, this insane compliment; and who not only endures it, but likes it, enjoys it, requires it, commands it? Hold your breath! It is God! This race's god, I mean. He sits on his throne, attended by his four and twenty elders and some other dignitaries pertaining to his court, and looks out over his miles and miles of tempestuous worshipers, and smiles, and purrs, and nods his satisfaction northward, eastward, southward; as quaint and nave a spectacle as has yet been imagined in this universe, I take it.

Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth.