Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Happiness as Reasonable Obstacles

Have you ever thought about how weird it is for humans to drink beverages which have been carbonated with carbon dioxide? Moreover, doesn't it seem odd that most people get an urge to burp after drinking a carbonated beverage (a negative thing), but still seem to really enjoy drinking the beverage? Perhaps people enjoy it because the urge to burp (a negative thing) is generally accompanied by the act of burping (a postivie thing), and so it's worth it and the drinking behavior is repeated. Now, you say, what does this have to do with anything reasonably interesting?

Perhaps this specific example parallels the broader notion of humans creating obstacles in their life which they then feel compelled to overcome in order to feel good. One implication of this logic is that one has the opportunity to create fewer obstacles to overcome. However, maybe happiness comes from creating reasonable and manageable obstacles for ourselves to overcome.

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