Sculptor wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:24 pm
RCSaunders wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:07 pm
Sculptor wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:01 am
I seriously do not think that these two things are connected necessarily, since we rarely live to the letter of our philosophy and its rightness in terms of reason and logic may well not lead to a happy outcome.
Of course you do not have to think that. I think most people do not believe there is a direct connection between what they believe that determines their choices and the consequences of their choices and actions. If someone is not living, "to the letter of their philosophy," they must believe their philosophy is not totally correct, and therefore can be defied without bad consequence, or that they can choose to do what their own philosophy tells them is wrong and get away with it. I think that is exactly what most people think.
No.
You are making a rationalist fallacy.
People's rationality is a veneer. We are led my deeper forces.
I know I am right in saying that it would be better if I were lighter. I am also right in saying that overeating makes me fat. I am crystal clear that I ought to eat less and loose weight.
Yet everyday I am happy to enjoy, too much food. Somedays it is just a little too much; other days it is far too much. As I grow older my conviction about the strength of my argument about the relationship between food and being overweight is more and more sure, yet I am still overweight and I still enjoy my food.
Despite this internal contradiction I am happy.
My one and only point was to those who are not enjoying their life. It did not imply anything else (except in your mind). If you believe you are happy, I would never presume to think you are not. Everybody is different and how anyone lives that will satisfy them will be different.
But, I also take the word of those who say they are not enjoying their lives, or indicate by their behavior, such as those who engage in self-destructive behavior or complain about their depression, unhappiness, and frustration with life. There are more people seeking psychological help then ever before in history (just because they are not enjoying their lives) and whole swaths of people publicly protesting their unhappiness with the world, society, politics, their poverty, mistreatment, etc. etc. etc. I do not regard them as happy.
I do not mind anecdotal examples, such as yours. The only thing I would question is what point you were making. What do you mean by, "I ought to eat less and loose weight?" You did not say why you believe you ought to. If it's just because you think you would like it if you were lighter, there are always thing we would like, but we make choices. We can't have everything or do everything so we have to choose which is worth the most to us. There are some languages I would really love to know better and could, but the time and effort required at this stage of life that would have to be taken away from other things I know would be good for me prevent me from spending that time and effort on those languages.
It seems to me, you've made a decision. You know it would be good for you if you weighed less, both for your own immediate enjoyment and your health. You also know you enjoy eating, and that depriving yourself of the pleasure makes you miserable. As far as I can see from what you've told me, you've simply made choice between two thing you desire, and if your happy, as you say your are, than who can argue with your choice. I don't think you like the fact that you have to make that choice, that you cannot both enjoy eating what you enjoy eating and enjoy weighing less, but life is tough and there are always hard choices.
My wife was a Weight Watcher leader for many years. She often told me that both men and women complained to her that they knew they should loose weight, but just could not stop eating. When she asked them, what made them eat when they did not want to, they all admitted they ate because they wanted to. They did not eat when they did not want to eat, they ate when they wished they did not want to. She had to make them see, they were never going to not want to eat and that they just had to decide what they wanted most, and what was really in their own best interest both short term and long term. They were going to have to give up something, like it or not. It was going to cost them something sometime, and there was no avoiding the consequences of their choice.
One more thing I must say. If you are happy with your life, you never have to explain to anyone else how you live or why, and more power to you.