My two cents - hehehe cheap wisdom!

I was filtering through some of my friends blogs on Zorpia, and i came across the following entry by a wise Filipina named Eleany:

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Happiness
Saturday, Aug 5 2006, 11:04:00 PM

What is happiness?

It is a question that has plagued the human mind for eons!

Does it even exist? Or maybe it is just something man made up to try to explain or fill in the void he has deep down his soul?

It is just a few of the questions lingering in my mind, this one hot August afternoon...

For years I have thought about it, still I haven't come up with an answer that would satisfy me.

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... to which i posted the following response. I thought my response was pretty good for something i wrote after just haven woken up at 5am in the morning on a sunday ;p

Oh well, i hope you enjoy:

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Anywho, here's what i think:

On a physical understanding, When you are happy your brain is kinda injected by a hormone thingy called endorphins which pretty much relaxes or excites (depending on the kind of happiness we are talking about) the brain. And since the brain controls everything else in our bodies, it has the power to make everything else relaxed/excited too.

On a basic level this can be observed by the more primitive animals on this planet, like a dog. When the endorphins start affecting his brain, their eyes widen, mouth opens and tongue dangles, and tails waggle. This occurs whenever you give him/her a treat, play with the dog, or just when they get to see you after a long period of time. From this, you can tell that the dogg is happy.

For most animalia, the happiness description pretty much stops there. Since there is no definitive way of communicating intelligently with such organisms, we have to assume that they themselves do not delve any further into the topic.

Because of our somewhat heightened intelligence, happpiness can be experienced in both a physical and emotional manner. While we humans share the same physical reactions as our primitive earthly neighbours, Our mighty mighty brains which can dream and imagine (ie. do not depend on a physical truth) expand what can be experienced as 'happy'. The brain can filter, sub-categorise and enhance, because it can visualise something/anything/everything out of nothing. There are multiple levels of happiness; Black and White and a mass of Grey in between. This is shown in our music, artworks, tv shows, circus rides, books on sex techniques, and even our beliefs on the being known as God.... and so forth.... there is more than one kind of happiness for the human being.

Now then, delving further into the inner intricacies of happ.... [brain freeze]... okay kids, class is over. Go home and nag your parents about buying a PS3....

- Eleany, this probably wont sate your desire to understand the process known as happiness, but at least you know have an opinon from a crazy asian, to compare any future research you may have in mind for this topic.

Actually, despite my simple use of the english vocabulary, i think i did an okay job :) i think i may post this up on my blog. I'll credit the initial thought to you :)

Ciao!!