Aug 23, 2021
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One shortcoming of the atheistic point -of-view is that it can not provide real happiness. Real happiness is pure happiness.

The non spiritual and the atheist looks for happiness in "things" or associate it with things. When I compare different cultures, I see that those in the West require so much to be happy. If they don't have technology, their cellphones, their cars, then they are not happy. Compare this with babies that are naturally happy. You can see how they are happy without needing all of these material "things". One quora member explained it as such:

"Babies are happy because they have not yet learned to be unhappy. Anxiety, guilt, and chronic disconnection from life (the three fundamental forms of suffering in a modern interpretation of Buddhist psychology) are all learned behaviors. Until we learn them, we are happy."
Sid Kemp

Atheism provides no way for us to transcend things because it says you are part of the things in the Universe and nothing more. These things are unstable, impermanent, and eventually die off. So why rely on things for happiness?

In short, atheism can not provide true and lasting happiness.
 
Thanks for sharing, Swami.

I have a few questions before getting to my response.

How do you define happiness? Saying that it is "pure happiness" seems circular.

Also, how do you attain this happiness? If it is something that anyone can attain, then I don't think that your point goes against atheism. There are atheists that are not hostile to religion, like those atheists who also claim to practice a godless type of Buddhism.

Compare this with babies that are naturally happy.
If you're saying that one has to become like a baby in a certain aspect, then that is sort of consistent with a New Testament passage:
Matthew 18:1-4
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Although, Jesus is not speaking of happiness here.

Finally, I'd say that the religious tend to have more hope instead of more happiness. Again, this depends on how you're defining happiness. I can attest to the hope part because I've seen patients on their death bed, and the ones that speak of God (the theists in other words), tend to have more hope. The atheist hope might end with the doctor, but having something above the doctor or even the natural, certainly helps to keep hope strong, even if that belief isn't proven.
 
"How do you define happiness?"
In my worldview, happiness or bliss is an eternal aspect of God just as love is an aspect of the biblical God. Bliss is a culmination of different positive aspects such as happiness and peace. 🙏



"Saying that it is "pure happiness" seems circular."

It is not. True happiness is not dependent on anything.
Normally people derive happiness by acquiring possessions. However the opposite is also true. Sometimes the pleasure derived from renouncing possessions voluntarily or being relieved of them by force is equally great. Even kings acknowledge this.
- HinduBlog


"Also, how do you attain this happiness?"
Renounce materialism.


"Although, Jesus is not speaking of happiness here."

Indeed, he is. He was not teaching about happiness alone.🙏
 
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One shortcoming of the atheistic point -of-view is that it can not provide real happiness. Real happiness is pure happiness.
PSHAW !! I've been an Atheist for 65-years and those years have been the happiest of my life. Before that, I wrestled with religion, sang in the church choir, read the Bible through, experienced unnecessary guilt, etc. My second wife of 23-years is an Atheist, and we are still very happy. The removal of the religion burden is mentally therapeutic at the very least!

I call myself atheist to avoid fundamentalists calling me an agnostic fence-sitter, and I will give them NO satisfaction. Of course, no one knows for sure that there is no God, so I am technically an agnostic, but I can assure you of the direction I would fall if I fell off that fence.
 
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Men feel happiness when they have pretty women, luxury cars, and abundant wealth. From this, people then think that having nice things causes happiness. They spend a lifetime chasing after these things.

The reality is that none of these things causes happiness. We have been conditioned to limit happiness to material things. This is why it is possible for people to be happy while having little, and for others to be miserable while having much, for example, spoiled rich kids. Some experts then say that happiness is based on how you think. Based on decades of meditation and even longer spiritual tradition, I've come to realize that happiness goes even deeper than our mind. Happiness is our natural state. It is everpresent in God's nature. 🙏
 
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I agree with that, except the source of nature is most likely not attributed to a god -- at least not the Christian god.

We have a small but comfortable house, just one car (a hybrid but not luxurious), and live within our retirement income. My wife has this motto hanging on her office's wall is: "If you must get away to some exotic place, you must not be happy at home." Her inner beauty transcends her outer wrinkles, and she says the same of me!

She was raised a Catholic, and I was raised in mixed Protestant faiths. Her deceased husband was a Benedictine Monk who eventually turned atheist. My first wife is conservative Brethren and thought she could bring me into her faith.
 
Atheism provides no way for us to transcend things because it says you are part of the things in the Universe and nothing more. These things are unstable, impermanent, and eventually die off. So why rely on things for happiness?

In short, atheism can not provide true and lasting happiness.
I don't really think atheism has much to do with happiness but I do get what you're getting at. Recently, I binged watched documentaries on famous singers, esp. during the 70s and 1980s. There are quite a few stories involving famous singers abusing drugs and eventually dying. I ask myself, aren't these people what everyone is chasing, ie. to be famous, have lots of money, fun? If so, why did these famous people turn to drugs and die early if having that status is so great?

In short I've learned that things that people think will make them happy may not really make them happy.
 
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On Happiness:
True enjoyment and happiness in life are not possible, unless it is secured on a lasting basis. Like Buddhism, Hinduism also clearly and emphatically recognizes the suffering that is inherent to earthly life and traces its root cause to desire only. Beings are unhappy because they are bound to impermanent things and cannot easily escape from their attraction and aversion to them. Because they are driven by their desire for impermanent things, and pairs of opposites, their happiness upon earth remains temporary and elusive. No one is free from suffering because of impermanence, which manifests in our lives as loss, union, aging, sickness, decay, death, and destruction.

Duality is another important cause. We experience unhappiness, because of union and separation, or attraction and aversion to the objects and conditions that we like or dislike. We are happy when we are with those that we like, or unhappy when we are with those that we dislike. One may experience temporary happiness when we pursue sense objects. However, it is a trap, since the pursuit of objects results in attachment. From attachment arise karma, delusion, and bondage, which aggravate our suffering and make our chances of enjoying life increasingly difficult.

Thus, chasing happiness upon earth by worldly means is like chasing a mirage. To escape from this predicament, one should subordinate earthly happiness to spiritual happiness and, earthly goals to spiritual goals, and aim for permanent happiness, which can be secured only when a being is completely free from all attachments, and the limitations of mortal life. True happiness of the divine kind arises not from having things or fulfilling our desires, but by restraining our minds and bodies, and becoming free from our dependence upon them. When we are free from all attachments, from the impurity of maya and desires, we return to our soul's essential nature, which is permanent bliss. Reaching this state is called liberation, which one can achieve even when one is alive upon earth.
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https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/significance-of-happiness-in-hinduism.asp
 
We are happy when we are with those that we like, or unhappy when we are with those that we dislike.

SVA,
I do not agree! I find no difference between my level of happiness between those I like and those I dislike. Those that I like, I pat on the back; those that I dislike, I feel sorry for but enjoy debating with them.
 
From the American Journal of Psychiatry:
"Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found."