Sorry but even then, you’ll get grumpy or depressing days. If Mother Teresa still had 'em despite her being one of those few people being really close to God, what hope is there for your average joe?
If that is your attitude towards people, you will probably always be as miserable as you currently are, no matter how much money you make, or how prestigious you think your job is.
Great questions. I’m going to print this out.What I do to get over materialism is to remember Mark 13:2. At the eventual end of the world *, money won’t save you. Luxury cars and apartments won’t save you, the only thing that saves is God/Jesus. Period. I hope I’ve helped, this is what works for me when my human nature makes me want for things. Sorry if this isn’t what you were asking
Grumpy/depressing days and happiness are not mutually exclusive.
Well not that I disagree with you here but we’re just talking semantics here again. I’m just simply saying that even the most devout and religious will share similar moments with the OP.
That’s kinda missing my point. Drawing links between two unrelated actions is never a good case for spirituality/religion. When one tries to find the reason for one’s own unhappiness, one needs the direct cause, sin or not.
Yes… They will share moments or days with the OP. It didn’t seem to me that the OP was describing something that lasted for short periods of time. He seemed to be describing general dissatisfaction or even melancholy. That’s where the inside job comes in.
The link that I was drawing is between advancing spiritually and happiness. Sin is only one aspect of spiritual advancement. Are you saying that there is not a relationship between the two?
Depends on your definition of ‘contribute’ to be honest. For me, so long as an object has some relation or role in making someone happy then there is a small contribution at least.
I must contest you here. This is in complete contrast with the poor in this country where cheating spouses, drug addicts, and suicides are just as rampant amongst the poor as they are amongst the rich.
Of course they are! You are not contesting my point. My point was that wealth does not make happiness, not that wealth creates unhappiness. Poorness does not create happiness…LOL
I agree with you.
I agree again. I think that you consider insecurity and financial problems causes for unhappiness. They are not. They’re irrelevant to happiness. The confusion is that *fear *of financial insecurity or insecurity in general will affect happiness. Faith and spiritual conditioning overcome the fear.
Being perfectly honest, I can relate (somewhat). And, yes, it is wicked decadence when one thinks of the truly afflicted.
You can read Nicolás Gómez Dávila escolios too:
Very well said. There was a priest/author on the Catholic radio last weekend, who was speaking about the 4 levels of happiness.
There’s nothing wrong with being average. Even if you had achieved your professional goals at a younger age than others, you would still be average and maybe even less than average in other ways. No one is the best in everything in their life. So what if you’re the best doctor and achieved it at a younger age than others? It’s still only one aspect of life. Someone else might not be a doctor but they will be a gourmet chef, an opera singer, etc. So they will be better than you in another area of life. The trouble with always being the best is that it’s an impossible goal to sustain over time. Once you achieve something, there’s always something else to achieve so you can never be satisfied. It’s a trap. If you were taught that you had to be the best to have any value, then someone taught you the wrong thing. Maybe it’s the only validation you had as a child and youth and so it would be understandable that you would feel you must keep achieving to feel good. The other thing is that being smarter, richer, more prestigious is not always in someone’s personal control. Is someone supposed to feel less of a person than someone else because they were born with great artistic talent rather than a high IQ? If you are constantly comparing yourself to someone else, you give your power away. If you focus more on what you enjoy doing rather than if you can do it better than someone else, I think you may have more peace of mind.It’s been over two weeks. I still have the feeling that I’m not good enough in life. Other excelled more than me, ie started at the Ivy League before 18, became super young doctors, etc. I’m just an average joe. Pathetic, worthless, just average…nothing special. Whatever happens, I will die in mediocrity.
How can it be that no one else feels like me? If you are just “average” how do you live with yourself knowing there are smarter, richer, more prestigious people out there? HOW?!?!
Even if I reach my profesional goals in the future, why would it matter if others reached the same goal before me on a “traditional pathway” (ie, straight after undergrad, not a career change). Doesn’t that negate my achievements and make them “average Joeish”.
