• LiveAnotherDay
    3
    Is it essential to have others (animals, things, humans) in your life to be happy? Or is it possible to be happy without them?
  • Jack Cummins
    5.3k

    That is a good question but obviously depends on individual psychology. Personally I sometimes feel able to enjoy my own company but do spend my time reading books by others and CDs which are made by others, so I am not really an island. I do have a friend who can go for weeks with no conversation apart from getting served in shops and cafes. He really enjoyed lockdown and perhaps lockdown.
    Perhaps the lockdown is the best way to judge this if you live alone. I lost my job and had to move in lockdown and had to move into new accommodation. I am currently living with a group of boys who deliver food on motorcycles and English is not their first language. They were puzzled by me moving in with my piles of books. I have barely seen friends for 6 months and have only seen my mum. It is probably why I end up tinkering around on this site.
    So, my general conclusion would be that most of the people who are replying to threads are looking for some happiness through human contact even if it is relating to philosophy. I once had a tutor who said that ideas do not exist if we keep them in our heads without other people.
  • Judaka
    1.7k

    Personally, I'm confident the answer is no.
  • Outlander
    2.1k
    We're intrinsically social creatures so, usually. What do you mean by things? Any non-entity aside from food, water, and shelter?

    They say only you can create happiness as it comes from within, seeing how the only common element is- you. Anything else is simply a fleeting distraction from monotony and/or misery.
  • Kenosha Kid
    3.2k
    I think the first. For most people, even those in prison surrounded by murderers and rapists, solitude is something to be feared. I think that, on a psychological level, much of our sense of self derives from our interactions with others. People have been driven bonkers through solitude, and loneliness is a major cause of suicide.

    There are doubtless those who find social interaction so difficult that solitude is preferable, but that's one disorder trumping another.
  • Gus Lamarch
    924
    Is it essential to have others (animals, things, humans) in your life to be happy?LiveAnotherDay

    Is it essential to have others (animals, things, humans) in your life to be happy? Or is it possible to be happy without them?LiveAnotherDay

    Potential objects external to the egoist have only one total certainty – that of pain. To be more direct:

    If you want to be "happy" - whatever that means to you - you need nothing but yourself.
    However, if you want guaranteed pain, anguish and suffering, live and enable the external factors.
  • Kevin
    86
    I'd prefer it if everyone in my life was happy. :-)
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