Glad God? (1 of 4)
Series: The Good Life
Ross Lester
Prov 12:22
Intro:
Welcome to Week 1 of a new series called The Good Life.
Chance to examine a theology of happiness, contentment and joy.
Will look at one week of the ''why'' of happiness and three weeks of ''how''.
The pursuit of happiness is a basic driver of so much human behavior. It really is.
Thinkers throughout the ages have seen it as such whether they be people of faith or not.
The North African 4th Century Bishop Augustine asked: ''Is not a happy life the thing that all desire, and is there anyone who altogether desires it not?'' He then added a second part to the question. ''But where did they acquire the knowledge of it, that they so desire it? Where have they seen it, that they so love it?''
Blaise Pascal (17th century mathematician and philosopher) said, ''All men seek happiness. This is without exception.''
Humanist Psychologist William James said, ''How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.''
Atheist thinker L.K. Washburn said, ''Everybody wants to be happy, and thinks, strives, wishes and lives to that end.''
It is true if you think about it. The pursuit of happiness is the strongest driver of behavior we have.
It is why we buy stuff - even though we suffer from continual repeated post purchase cognitive dissonance.
It is why we try to get into relationships, why we try get out of them.
It is why we exercise - feel that we would be happier being in shape than we would being lazy.
And yet unfortunately through the millennia of this pursuit, one would assume that we would be better at it than ever before and yet it doesn't seem to be working all that well.
Happiness indexes - over the all of the years through which such things have been recorded - show very little progress and in fact seem to suggest some backward movement.
...
Series: The Good Life
Ross Lester
Prov 12:22
Intro:
Welcome to Week 1 of a new series called The Good Life.
Chance to examine a theology of happiness, contentment and joy.
Will look at one week of the ''why'' of happiness and three weeks of ''how''.
The pursuit of happiness is a basic driver of so much human behavior. It really is.
Thinkers throughout the ages have seen it as such whether they be people of faith or not.
The North African 4th Century Bishop Augustine asked: ''Is not a happy life the thing that all desire, and is there anyone who altogether desires it not?'' He then added a second part to the question. ''But where did they acquire the knowledge of it, that they so desire it? Where have they seen it, that they so love it?''
Blaise Pascal (17th century mathematician and philosopher) said, ''All men seek happiness. This is without exception.''
Humanist Psychologist William James said, ''How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.''
Atheist thinker L.K. Washburn said, ''Everybody wants to be happy, and thinks, strives, wishes and lives to that end.''
It is true if you think about it. The pursuit of happiness is the strongest driver of behavior we have.
It is why we buy stuff - even though we suffer from continual repeated post purchase cognitive dissonance.
It is why we try to get into relationships, why we try get out of them.
It is why we exercise - feel that we would be happier being in shape than we would being lazy.
And yet unfortunately through the millennia of this pursuit, one would assume that we would be better at it than ever before and yet it doesn't seem to be working all that well.
Happiness indexes - over the all of the years through which such things have been recorded - show very little progress and in fact seem to suggest some backward movement.
...
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