“Compared to people living only a few generations ago, we have enormously greater opportunities to have a good time, yet there is no indication that we actually enjoy life more than our ancestors did.
“Opportunities alone, however, are not enough. We also need the skills to make use of them. And we need to know how to control consciousness — a skill that most people have not learned to cultivate.
“Surrounded by an astonishing panoply of recreational gadgets and leisure choices, most of us go on being bored and vaguely frustrated."
Adam Oliensis wrote:
ReplyDeleteMy father was a psychologist. We spent time living in East Africa, when I was a kid. For some reason, he and I talked (I was only about 5) about how I thought smart African kids must be frustrated about their lack of opportunities. My dad said that being frustrated about that wasn't necessarily correlated with being smart. That idea has stuck with me ever since.
And being satisfied isn't necessarily correlated with having opportunities (by the same token).
Quite the contrary, often times, I think.
I see it in my kids. When your habits lead you to opportunities that have the nutritional value of sugar, you are left wanting.
Deep engagement, as Bill Gates calls it...that's what we're hungry for.
Michelle Eads wrote:
ReplyDeleteIn a college anthropology class, I was introduced to the idea that, wealth and happiness are a matter of perception and that, of all the people on Earth, the indigenous people of the Brazilian rain forests were the happiest and the most wealthy. They worked fewer hours per day to satisfy their needs, as they perceived them. They wanted for nothing and had more leisure hours to spend with their loved ones, doing whatever pleased them, than anyone else on the planet. Of course, I'm sure that's changed with the ravaging of the rain forests over the past 30+ years, but it rang true at the time and I've never forgotten it.