"But being too happy in thine happiness" -Keats Can it hurt to be happy? I think so especially if you are not seeking true happiness or being greedy about it. I believe that happiness is accessible for everyone but if you use it in the wrong way it will bite back.
I agree with Kent. It sounds like what you are describing is not a form of happiness to begin with. In my opinion, it is illogical that anything unwanted or bad can come from true happiness. If it is false happiness, such as greed for money, then I would not classify it as happiness in the first place.
I don't have a particularly exact quote, but I do remember Mrs. Parnaby saying that Worsdworth believed that you didn't have to understand everything in the world. This is directly contrasted to what the Enlightenment thinkers said, and I found it intriguing because I think it kind of connects back to the Christian's view of how to achieve happiness. Christian's accepted that they didn't understand God and His grace, and how He works, but they accepted that they didn't NEED to understand either. I think this is an important point to make as people realieze that a confusion or lack of understanding doesn't have to take away from your overall happiness.
I agree that you don't have to understand everything in the world. It reminds me of Plato's "Apology". In this, Socrates discusses wisdom. He goes around talking to supposedly "wise" people, such as poets, to find out how wise they are. He discovers one similarity between each person. Each of them claim to know everything there is about their particular field, and it only makes them seem arrogant and false because no one could know everything about something. Socrates concludes that the wisest person is he who has the knowledge that he truly knows nothing, and I believe this can be tied to what you said.
not "knowing nothing" but either "knowing what you do not know" for the Socratic or "knowing that you don't need to know everything" for the Christian. Interesting distinctions.
Do you think that ratings take away from sharing or expressing someone's happiness?
This quote really stuck in mind when Dr. Bieze said it, because although I don't think a 4 year old should be playing call of duty, I do feel that putting restrictions on art, music, and maybe even video games, takes away from these expressions. In art and music, by putting a restriction on what might be someone's form of happiness, you might be preventing someone else from reaching that very same happiness. This is kind of a hard concept for me to expand on but it really sticks in my mind, what do you guys think?
I think ratings are necessary. While it can specifically place things in certain categories, we need the censorship. For those who are wise and mature enough to understand and correctly absorb the material presented it is okay, but for the rest of people censorship is best.
I hate being censored, but I suppose a certain amount is necessary just to keep society under control (ads for porn during Prime Time TV, etc). My biggest problem with ratings is who decides what is appropriate? For example, why is violence so much less offensive than sex or cussing according to modern rating systems? For example, Taken has a brutal electrocution, stabbing, neck breaking, people shot, thrown to death, run over, sex trafficking, etc and any kid who wants can get in. The King's Speech drops the f bomb three times and gets an R. Lost in Translation could have been G, but had a 30 second scene in a strip club and gets an R. Give me the logic in that. :P
I'm in complete agreement with Will here. There needs to be some ratings to keep people in check, but there definitely needs to be an overhaul on how we rate things.
I'm also in complete agreement with the fact that ratings are necessary in various situations; however, I'm a big believer that political correctness and constant censorship of not only shows but our own words and actions, is a huge problem in our world today. With complete censorship of our language and expression, how can we be completely honest? Why are we more concerned with protecting people's feelings rather than honesty? In this sense, I agree that 'ratings'/PC/censorship can ruin the power of expression, but I do think that there are many situations in which Deanna's assertion would be right as well.
The idea of censorship is a really hard topic for me to choose a side to. With censorship there comes an obvious loss of expression and without censorship there is a chance of an ignorant mind missing the truth in the beauty, power, and symbolism in something that may be explicit. When we are young our ignorant minds cannot discern the difference between beauty and something that we are uncomfortable with.
Caroline, what changes with age that gives us the ability to discern this? I think you are making a subtle, but elegant, point that needs to be fleshed out for the masses.
The idea that aligning oneself closer to nature is a way to become happier is very intriguing to me and I tend to agree with it. Being in nature is important for happiness because it puts things in perspective. All the worrying about yourself tends to go away once you realize that the world isn’t focused on you. When you see the beauty and simplicity that is around you then the ordinary problems tend to go away because, like with being absorbed with music, nature absorbs all the senses and there really isn’t room for anything else.
I completely agree with you, and I feel it's very necessary for us to get in touch with nature today, because often we lose the ability to appreciate and connect to the happiness nature brings us
Nature is definitely a way for some people to find happiness. Nature can do this in many ways, but I think one of the biggest is that it provides an escape from the stresses and responsibilities of life; the things that potentially take away from happiness. When I spend time in the mountains, I feel powerless compared the the landscape. It makes me feel simple, which is a big way to find happiness.
“The Significance of Architecture-our surroundings affect us”
Do you think surroundings affect us and our experiences?
Thinking about what was said today in class I was really struck by this. I usually think that our experiences in a certain place change how we perceive that place. This idea that the surrounding changes our experiences I havn’t ever thought of before but now that I have I completely agree. The way a building feels immediately sets the tone or feeling for any experience that happens within it. The chapel used to seem much quieter because it was darker, older, and felt almost more sacred. Now it is much warmer and new and it is evident that some things are there only to satisfy code. It doesn’t feel the same and so what goes on there has a different feeling to it. Now that I have come to the realization that my surroundings, especially the buildings I am in, have a really powerful affect on my experiences I think I am going to notice them a lot more. I am not sure if that’s good or bad.
Jensen, I was also really struck by the idea that surroundings really change our experience. It makes sense though. In prayer and med, when I walk into the upper chapel I instantly get a feeling of quiet calmness and relaxation. The rooms we are in have their own kind of personalities / qualities that affect how we learn. It was really sad to hear how in a few years the rooms will be losing the personalities they currently have. It would be majorly depressing if all the classrooms had the cold, sterile hospital feel that our current happiness class has. I also think that I will start paying attention to this more now that it has been drawn to my attention. I would venture to say that this is a good thing. I can't see how it could be a bad thing to better appreciate the spaces you are working in.
I absolutely agree that the places we are in and the feelings they project influence and change us. The yummy meal you had in the fancy French restaurant was better because you had the background of a better place. The meal would not have been as good if it was the same but in a New York taxi cab. This also mirrors the TED talks video we watched today. The situation or place events in influence and change our experience for better or worst.
I completely agree with you guys! When I was a junior and upper class men talked of walking on to a campus and just knowing by being there that was where they belonged , I used to think it was complete bogus till I did it myself. And since dr. Beize talked to us about this, I have been paying attention to how I feel in certain class rooms and buildings like moo vs satellite or the chapel vs gunn. I actually have started to appreciate it a little more and hope it continues
Joey you brought up something that I have been trying not to think about! I was sort of shocked and affected more than i thought possible by the thought of the Marist rooms being completely overhauled. I feel like if any of us ever come back we wont recognize anything and we will feel much less connected to our former highschool.
I think that the fact that we can use words that evoke feeling such as warm or cold supports your argument of the power a space has on our happiness. I do find it interesting how so many people can feel so many different things towards different styles and how one person differs from the next. In the same way, we all have different ways of attaining happiness.
On the surface, this seems like a really pointless way to choose a college. However when looking back over my college search experience, this totally makes sense to me. Before I had talked to a single person at Elon, I knew it would be a great school for me. The campus was so beautiful and just looked / felt like a place where I could learn and thrive. It felt homy. On the other hand, I got a completely different vibe walking on the campus of Xavier University. I'm sure this is a great school, but it felt really different than what I was looking for. The architecture made it look like a super strict Catholic school. It felt dreary and cold in a weird way. Not exactly what I was looking for. I would totally agree with Dr. Bieze's quote that our college decisions (and by extension many of our other decisions) are greatly affected by the campus or surrounding that these decisions take place in.
I totally agree. I remember when I accompanied my sister an a lot of her college visits back in '09 and we visited some places up North like Williams, and they just seemed so cold (not temperature, but emotionally) and empty. I'm sure they were great schools, but I was immediately put off. It's frankly stunning just how huge an impact architecture can have on our perceptions.
I completely agree with both of you. The most prominent feature (or one of them) of the Air Force Academy is the chapel. It is absolutely gorgeous and when walking around it and in it you can see how they work to accommodate as many faiths as possible there. Then on the actual campus (after the fences and such) there are huge modern buildings for classes and the dorms are kind of like the Chanel building. To many people the buildings and campus seemed very organized, cold, and closed off. To me it feels driven, structured, and respected. When walking around and on campus I could feel that the people there were the next leaders. That knowledge and the overall feeling it gave made me convinced that it is where I want to go.
I agree as well. A lot about choosing a college is the 'feel', and that has a lot to do with the architecture. I personally loved the architecture at Georgetown and BC and UVA and of course Penn because it portrayed something familiar to me. Something that I knew would make me feel comfortable and at home. At the end of the day, do you want to walk into buildings every day that make you feel like you're trapped? I think that if a building first and foremost makes you feel happy, most of what goes on in that building will be productive and will also make you happy.
Alain de Button's book, The Architecture of Happiness, contains a chapter entitled "Talking Buildings". Essentially the chapter expresses the importance of the smallest and most intricate details that are hidden in architecture. And it's true is it not? Why do people go to such lengths to pain, sculpt, or sketch the smallest of details? There is a sensation of wonder, discovery, joy if you will in seeing things that not all people can see. There is joy in the discovery of something that is so uniquely beautiful that it takes a focused eye to find it. We get a rush in seeing something so natural, yet so uniquely simple. Dr. Bieze said that one of the most important things to remember is to be present. Like romanticism expresses, being present in your surroundings allows you to discover those small details that build on larger ones.
Do the small things have that much of an affect on our more general sense of happiness?
I don't think they do, but to those who look deeply it is like being a member of an exclusive club. I heard a story about sitcom writers that always have a joke for the "2%". The one random viewer that will get it will connect and love the show because of the reference they got and no one else did.
Coach Heintz posed a question today along the lines of "so is architecture controlling your emotions, or are you?" Meaning, is it the architecture giving you those feelings or are they truly coming from you...I'm still struggling with finding an answer. I generally feel that certain locations trigger memories and feelings we associate with similar locations (or from times we had visited said location in the past), (meaning we are giving ourselves emotions, not the architecture) yet there are certain instances I feel that really undermine that theory. My old room for example...I never had any trauma in there...nothing bad happened in it whatsoever...yet everytime I walked in there for six years it was like hitting a wall and I was overcome with an overpowering sense of dread. Why would a room with Bunk Beds and pale yellow walls do this? I can't think of anything I could relate that to...it was the room itself almost. So ultimately, like so many things we have discussed in class thus far, I am going to say we should look to the middle and say it is a little of both...thoughts?
William, I agree with you. I was totally convinced it was all an internal thing, meaning we control our own happiness and future depending on how we looked at things. And then coach Heintz's question shattered my view on that haha. It must be some kind of middle ground, because I still think that a lot of our happiness is internal, but then the beautiful (or ugly) building should not really have an affect on our happiness. I think our surroundings do affect our happiness. Maybe agreeing with both of these ideas is a contradiction in itself, but maybe there is some kind of middle ground.
"But being too happy in thine happiness" -Keats
ReplyDeleteCan it hurt to be happy? I think so especially if you are not seeking true happiness or being greedy about it. I believe that happiness is accessible for everyone but if you use it in the wrong way it will bite back.
I feel that it is impossible to be too happy. How can you use happiness in the "wrong way"?
DeleteI agree with Kent. It sounds like what you are describing is not a form of happiness to begin with. In my opinion, it is illogical that anything unwanted or bad can come from true happiness. If it is false happiness, such as greed for money, then I would not classify it as happiness in the first place.
DeleteI don't have a particularly exact quote, but I do remember Mrs. Parnaby saying that Worsdworth believed that you didn't have to understand everything in the world. This is directly contrasted to what the Enlightenment thinkers said, and I found it intriguing because I think it kind of connects back to the Christian's view of how to achieve happiness. Christian's accepted that they didn't understand God and His grace, and how He works, but they accepted that they didn't NEED to understand either. I think this is an important point to make as people realieze that a confusion or lack of understanding doesn't have to take away from your overall happiness.
ReplyDeleterealize*
DeleteI agree that you don't have to understand everything in the world. It reminds me of Plato's "Apology". In this, Socrates discusses wisdom. He goes around talking to supposedly "wise" people, such as poets, to find out how wise they are. He discovers one similarity between each person. Each of them claim to know everything there is about their particular field, and it only makes them seem arrogant and false because no one could know everything about something. Socrates concludes that the wisest person is he who has the knowledge that he truly knows nothing, and I believe this can be tied to what you said.
Deletenot "knowing nothing" but either "knowing what you do not know" for the Socratic or "knowing that you don't need to know everything" for the Christian. Interesting distinctions.
Delete"Ratings prevent expression"
ReplyDeleteDo you think that ratings take away from sharing or expressing someone's happiness?
This quote really stuck in mind when Dr. Bieze said it, because although I don't think a 4 year old should be playing call of duty, I do feel that putting restrictions on art, music, and maybe even video games, takes away from these expressions. In art and music, by putting a restriction on what might be someone's form of happiness, you might be preventing someone else from reaching that very same happiness. This is kind of a hard concept for me to expand on but it really sticks in my mind, what do you guys think?
I think ratings are necessary. While it can specifically place things in certain categories, we need the censorship. For those who are wise and mature enough to understand and correctly absorb the material presented it is okay, but for the rest of people censorship is best.
DeleteI hate being censored, but I suppose a certain amount is necessary just to keep society under control (ads for porn during Prime Time TV, etc). My biggest problem with ratings is who decides what is appropriate? For example, why is violence so much less offensive than sex or cussing according to modern rating systems? For example, Taken has a brutal electrocution, stabbing, neck breaking, people shot, thrown to death, run over, sex trafficking, etc and any kid who wants can get in. The King's Speech drops the f bomb three times and gets an R. Lost in Translation could have been G, but had a 30 second scene in a strip club and gets an R. Give me the logic in that. :P
DeleteI'm in complete agreement with Will here. There needs to be some ratings to keep people in check, but there definitely needs to be an overhaul on how we rate things.
DeleteI'm also in complete agreement with the fact that ratings are necessary in various situations; however, I'm a big believer that political correctness and constant censorship of not only shows but our own words and actions, is a huge problem in our world today. With complete censorship of our language and expression, how can we be completely honest? Why are we more concerned with protecting people's feelings rather than honesty? In this sense, I agree that 'ratings'/PC/censorship can ruin the power of expression, but I do think that there are many situations in which Deanna's assertion would be right as well.
DeleteThe idea of censorship is a really hard topic for me to choose a side to. With censorship there comes an obvious loss of expression and without censorship there is a chance of an ignorant mind missing the truth in the beauty, power, and symbolism in something that may be explicit. When we are young our ignorant minds cannot discern the difference between beauty and something that we are uncomfortable with.
DeleteCaroline,
Deletewhat changes with age that gives us the ability to discern this? I think you are making a subtle, but elegant, point that needs to be fleshed out for the masses.
no quote but...
ReplyDeleteCould nature really make you happier?
The idea that aligning oneself closer to nature is a way to become happier is very intriguing to me and I tend to agree with it. Being in nature is important for happiness because it puts things in perspective. All the worrying about yourself tends to go away once you realize that the world isn’t focused on you. When you see the beauty and simplicity that is around you then the ordinary problems tend to go away because, like with being absorbed with music, nature absorbs all the senses and there really isn’t room for anything else.
I completely agree with you, and I feel it's very necessary for us to get in touch with nature today, because often we lose the ability to appreciate and connect to the happiness nature brings us
DeleteNature is definitely a way for some people to find happiness. Nature can do this in many ways, but I think one of the biggest is that it provides an escape from the stresses and responsibilities of life; the things that potentially take away from happiness. When I spend time in the mountains, I feel powerless compared the the landscape. It makes me feel simple, which is a big way to find happiness.
Delete“The Significance of Architecture-our surroundings affect us”
ReplyDeleteDo you think surroundings affect us and our experiences?
Thinking about what was said today in class I was really struck by this. I usually think that our experiences in a certain place change how we perceive that place. This idea that the surrounding changes our experiences I havn’t ever thought of before but now that I have I completely agree. The way a building feels immediately sets the tone or feeling for any experience that happens within it. The chapel used to seem much quieter because it was darker, older, and felt almost more sacred. Now it is much warmer and new and it is evident that some things are there only to satisfy code. It doesn’t feel the same and so what goes on there has a different feeling to it. Now that I have come to the realization that my surroundings, especially the buildings I am in, have a really powerful affect on my experiences I think I am going to notice them a lot more. I am not sure if that’s good or bad.
Jensen, I was also really struck by the idea that surroundings really change our experience. It makes sense though. In prayer and med, when I walk into the upper chapel I instantly get a feeling of quiet calmness and relaxation. The rooms we are in have their own kind of personalities / qualities that affect how we learn. It was really sad to hear how in a few years the rooms will be losing the personalities they currently have. It would be majorly depressing if all the classrooms had the cold, sterile hospital feel that our current happiness class has.
DeleteI also think that I will start paying attention to this more now that it has been drawn to my attention. I would venture to say that this is a good thing. I can't see how it could be a bad thing to better appreciate the spaces you are working in.
I absolutely agree that the places we are in and the feelings they project influence and change us. The yummy meal you had in the fancy French restaurant was better because you had the background of a better place. The meal would not have been as good if it was the same but in a New York taxi cab. This also mirrors the TED talks video we watched today. The situation or place events in influence and change our experience for better or worst.
DeleteI completely agree with you guys! When I was a junior and upper class men talked of walking on to a campus and just knowing by being there that was where they belonged , I used to think it was complete bogus till I did it myself. And since dr. Beize talked to us about this, I have been paying attention to how I feel in certain class rooms and buildings like moo vs satellite or the chapel vs gunn. I actually have started to appreciate it a little more and hope it continues
DeleteJoey you brought up something that I have been trying not to think about! I was sort of shocked and affected more than i thought possible by the thought of the Marist rooms being completely overhauled. I feel like if any of us ever come back we wont recognize anything and we will feel much less connected to our former highschool.
DeleteI think that the fact that we can use words that evoke feeling such as warm or cold supports your argument of the power a space has on our happiness. I do find it interesting how so many people can feel so many different things towards different styles and how one person differs from the next. In the same way, we all have different ways of attaining happiness.
DeleteIs there a single space or building that has a universal affect on people? I can only think of something like the Grand Canyon.
Delete"Colleges feel right, because of architecture".
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, this seems like a really pointless way to choose a college. However when looking back over my college search experience, this totally makes sense to me. Before I had talked to a single person at Elon, I knew it would be a great school for me. The campus was so beautiful and just looked / felt like a place where I could learn and thrive. It felt homy. On the other hand, I got a completely different vibe walking on the campus of Xavier University. I'm sure this is a great school, but it felt really different than what I was looking for. The architecture made it look like a super strict Catholic school. It felt dreary and cold in a weird way. Not exactly what I was looking for. I would totally agree with Dr. Bieze's quote that our college decisions (and by extension many of our other decisions) are greatly affected by the campus or surrounding that these decisions take place in.
I totally agree. I remember when I accompanied my sister an a lot of her college visits back in '09 and we visited some places up North like Williams, and they just seemed so cold (not temperature, but emotionally) and empty. I'm sure they were great schools, but I was immediately put off. It's frankly stunning just how huge an impact architecture can have on our perceptions.
DeleteI completely agree with both of you. The most prominent feature (or one of them) of the Air Force Academy is the chapel. It is absolutely gorgeous and when walking around it and in it you can see how they work to accommodate as many faiths as possible there. Then on the actual campus (after the fences and such) there are huge modern buildings for classes and the dorms are kind of like the Chanel building. To many people the buildings and campus seemed very organized, cold, and closed off. To me it feels driven, structured, and respected. When walking around and on campus I could feel that the people there were the next leaders. That knowledge and the overall feeling it gave made me convinced that it is where I want to go.
DeleteI agree as well. A lot about choosing a college is the 'feel', and that has a lot to do with the architecture. I personally loved the architecture at Georgetown and BC and UVA and of course Penn because it portrayed something familiar to me. Something that I knew would make me feel comfortable and at home. At the end of the day, do you want to walk into buildings every day that make you feel like you're trapped? I think that if a building first and foremost makes you feel happy, most of what goes on in that building will be productive and will also make you happy.
DeleteAlain de Button's book, The Architecture of Happiness, contains a chapter entitled "Talking Buildings". Essentially the chapter expresses the importance of the smallest and most intricate details that are hidden in architecture. And it's true is it not? Why do people go to such lengths to pain, sculpt, or sketch the smallest of details? There is a sensation of wonder, discovery, joy if you will in seeing things that not all people can see. There is joy in the discovery of something that is so uniquely beautiful that it takes a focused eye to find it. We get a rush in seeing something so natural, yet so uniquely simple. Dr. Bieze said that one of the most important things to remember is to be present. Like romanticism expresses, being present in your surroundings allows you to discover those small details that build on larger ones.
ReplyDeleteDo the small things have that much of an affect on our more general sense of happiness?
I don't think they do, but to those who look deeply it is like being a member of an exclusive club. I heard a story about sitcom writers that always have a joke for the "2%". The one random viewer that will get it will connect and love the show because of the reference they got and no one else did.
DeleteCoach Heintz posed a question today along the lines of "so is architecture controlling your emotions, or are you?" Meaning, is it the architecture giving you those feelings or are they truly coming from you...I'm still struggling with finding an answer. I generally feel that certain locations trigger memories and feelings we associate with similar locations (or from times we had visited said location in the past), (meaning we are giving ourselves emotions, not the architecture) yet there are certain instances I feel that really undermine that theory. My old room for example...I never had any trauma in there...nothing bad happened in it whatsoever...yet everytime I walked in there for six years it was like hitting a wall and I was overcome with an overpowering sense of dread. Why would a room with Bunk Beds and pale yellow walls do this? I can't think of anything I could relate that to...it was the room itself almost. So ultimately, like so many things we have discussed in class thus far, I am going to say we should look to the middle and say it is a little of both...thoughts?
ReplyDeleteWilliam, I agree with you. I was totally convinced it was all an internal thing, meaning we control our own happiness and future depending on how we looked at things. And then coach Heintz's question shattered my view on that haha. It must be some kind of middle ground, because I still think that a lot of our happiness is internal, but then the beautiful (or ugly) building should not really have an affect on our happiness. I think our surroundings do affect our happiness. Maybe agreeing with both of these ideas is a contradiction in itself, but maybe there is some kind of middle ground.
DeleteAny thoughts from anyone else?
Heintz 1, Hiles 0.
Delete