• JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    7 months ago

    Might be happiness for some, but it’s certainly not freedom, in any normal sense of the word.

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      In what sense? Aside from whether it’s practical to really desire nothing, if you could wouldn’t you be free by definition because you could do and have absolutely everything you wanted, that being nothing?

      • exanime@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        7 months ago

        At the very least and no matter how humble your threshold is, everyone wants food, shelter and some kind of company.

        The first 2 cannot be attained for free in our world’s ergo, you cannot be free from whatever obligations you may incurr to procure them

        This is all nice theoretical advice… Not to be used literally in practice

  • owenfromcanada@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    7 months ago

    Freedom from what?

    I think there’s an important distinction to make with this: contentment vs complacency. They’re similar, but distinct. Contentment resonates more with the gratefulness aspect of your statement, whereas “wanting nothing” leans more toward complacency. Contentment is more oriented with a sense of joy or peace, whereas complacency is apathetic and numb. Only one of those sounds like freedom to me.

    In addition, I would argue that it’s impossible for a human to truly “want nothing” (sorry Buddhist friends). Even the most enlightened soul would desire to see peace throughout the world. In fact, if you truly wanted nothing, I don’t think gratefulness would even be possible–what is there to be grateful for if you didn’t want any of it in the first place?

    Related reading: the Oatmeal on Happiness

  • plumbercraic@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    7 months ago

    I certainly haven’t figure out how to be happy without being grateful. And I’ve noticed comparison seems to serve little purpose other than to undermine gratitude.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    7 months ago

    Sounds like propaganda from horrible dystopian society.

    Although there was a study done on lottery winners to see if they were happier after 6 months. They were not