Will Wilkinson - Latest Comments in Happiness as a Condition

Re: Happiness as a Condition

chiro16 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:01:39 -0000

Negative emotions can wreck ones relationship with others. Each one of us had different points of views regarding with this issue, your point view is quite interesting thanks for sharing it with us.

Re: Happiness as a Condition

medical uniforms — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:59:23 -0000

interesting blog. i love Italian opera very much.

Re: Happiness as a Condition

sicily villa rentals — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:49:09 -0000

This is a good post to send to everyone I know and my standard response to people who consider doing anything online. Good one!

Re: Happiness as a Condition

Lamotrigine — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:30:35 -0000

Lamictal (lamotrigine) for Bipolar Disorder: Lamictal is one of the best drugs I've ever been on. It has been amazing. Being on it has made me feel so much more level. Before taking it I never really knew how I was going to feel or how much things would affect me. I am currently on Lamictal in addition to many other medications, but adding Lamictal made me so much more sure of my emotions. I felt so much safer. It has really been wonderful.

Re: Happiness as a Condition

Eric Barnhill — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 01:03:20 -0000

I've been enjoying your latest. One thing that I think gets lost in happiness debates is the factor of clarity. I see two facets of this, one of which connects to some Eastern practices and the other of which connects to Italian opera.

If there was one Eastern concept that I wish made the Western rounds more, it is "the watcher". In traditions of the watcher, our transformative efforts are not made towards adjusting any particular emotional reaction, but developing a capacity to be present to the reaction and let it manifest without interference. The I is simply an accumulator of self-knowledge. Sufi, Gnostic, and Gurdjieffian traditions all self-watching and self-remembering a central feature. The goal is not the self-calming of much Ameribuddhism, but the building of a broader picture of the "human machine" which puts all emotional reactions in a perspective. In not getting identified with our manifestations, but not manipulating them either, a larger and more magnanimous concept of self emerges, even while we act basically the same externally.

I think a similar reason is at work in the great Italian operas. What is the power of these tragedies? Why is it so meaningful for us when heriones die in the desert or throwing themselves off of a bridge? Because there is a certain victory in feeling these tragic emotions with total clarity. I feel like the main message of Italian tragedy is: life throws us unfairness and sadness, but in grasping it fully, in pouring out heart out for it, we are there for it, we live it rather than run from it. And somehow, that issue is at least as important as what emotional situations come our way: whatever they are, we live them as clearly and fully as possible.

Re: Happiness as a Condition

patry — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:15:19 -0000

Interesting.