The more I think about it, it seems that long-term happiness is something many people spend their lives seeking OR they believe it’s something they used to have and lost.
That makes me wonder if we are truly ever happy? Or if it’s something that is always just out of reach (in the future or in the past).
Yes. Many religious people including myself feel happy. That’s one method.
Others find a purpose in their life to drive toward or dedicate themselves to. Be it art, friends, family, work, learning etc.
I would suggest looking at what you want from life, and asking yourself what the first step is to achieving that. I find that I’m at my happiest when I’m keeping on track with my goals.
Christianity made me feel more pain in my life than I choose to remember. Please don’t just assume religion works for everybody.
Where did I say religion works for everyone? I gave it as one example of something that worked for me and clearly works for billions of others.
I’ve had awful experiences with the mental health system, but I think getting triggered by someone saying therapy worked for them makes sense. Sorry to hear you suffered.
Works in deluding them. Unless you have proof that their god and their afterlife are real, they’re being swindled. And you don’t seem to care.
If you live in the US, your whole health care system is an antechamber of hell. But in most cases, therapy is not based in millenary bullshit, so you are more likely to get results based on reality.
Most people believe in God, so you’re arguing most people are being swindled, implying they are not intelligent enough to come to their own conclusions on the existence of a higher power. That is a very pessimistic view of reality I think, especially when people such as Galileo, Darwin, and Newton were very religious themselves.
The popularity fallacy is not a good argument.
Non sequitur. Being swindled doesn’t denote lack of inteligence, but a lapse in critical thinking (or the lack of it) in the particular topic of the existence of gods. Everybody is vulnerable to lapses of critical thinking, specially for those believers who are part of communities where doubt is portrayed as dangerous and the tools for critical thinking are not only not provided but discouraged.
It would be if you didn’t misrepresent my position.
Galileo lived in a time where not being religious incurred risk to one’s life, so mentioning him is unfair.
Again, being religious and being intelligent are mostly orthogonal propositions. Critical thinking requires exercise, though, and when unused, it can atrophy. Or be totally non-existent if never taught.
If I were to quote intelligent celebrities as “proof” that religions are true (a doubtful procedure in any case, as it’s an authority fallacy), I could mention Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and current science advisor for president Joe Biden. He’s deeply religious. But he’s not using the scientific method to reinforce his belief. And he’s not less intelligent just because he’s probably mistaken about the reality of his god.
This isn’t a a debate. I gave someone a suggestion on how to be happier that has scientific basis showing it works in doing that. I even gave other suggestions.
I hope you can find peace in life if you’re this hostile to someone bringing in something you dislike. Good day.
You expressed something in a public forum. That doesn’t give you rights to remain uncontested.
Yeah, science also proves that certain drugs make you feel happy. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use them.
Nah, stop lying. You don’t care.
It’s not mere dislike. Religions are mind poison, they’re actively damaging for society. The US are turning into Giléad due to religious influence. Other countries suffer gravely due to religious nonsense.
You don’t win people over by getting upset at them. I can only hope you find peace in your life eventually. I remember being in my militant atheist phase.
Good luck.
Many of us would never consider that a valid, desirable or positive method.
Not religious, but if it works it works. Clearly there is joy in faith for some people.
FSVO “works”, YMMV, right?
So you don’t care if people finds joy in deluding themselves. Got it.