Thursday, June 12, 2008

Jonathan Haidt - Nothing Is Good or Bad

The Big Think posted a video of Jonathan Haidt talking about happiness. Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. I'm not so sure.

Haidt dislikes the contemplative traditions, such as Buddhism, because he feels it is contrary to who we are. I do agree that the contemplative tradition is not right for a lot of people. He distinguishes between Western, Americanized Buddhism and the actual truth of Buddhist practice. But I still think that most people can get a lot out of studying Buddhism and practicing meditation and mindfulness.



And here is Dan Gilbert talking about what it means to be happy at TED. [The video posted at Big Think wouldn't run this morning, so I substituted.] I like Gilbert. He argues that we are remarkably inept at knowing or predicting what will make us happy, which may support some of Haidt's arguments.




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