# Does man’s concern for the future makes him less happy than animals?



## blazeofglory (Apr 4, 2016)

We humans are consumed by our excessive concerns for the future. It is a known, and realized fact yet few ponder this deeply and try to arrive at the  terrain of happiness. We think mostly whether our current  earnings suffice or not to run our future demands. Yes concernedness for  the future is fundamental to our future comfort and security,  and yet few can visit the future they will have to go to or will not even have to visit (for death is following us in every walk of life and can have its cold hand on us whenever we fail or our health fails to meet the criteria of physical condition. Concernedness about future happiness to some extent is inevitable but living for the future is a big blunder humans are making historically at the expense of their realistic and live present. 
  I often think quality of life is more important than the length of life and living on drugs and prolonging our physical death leeches  our potential for being happy. Our too much concerns for the future mar  our chances of enjoying what is available to us.
  And though insecure physically and in other respects animals are happier than we humans. Living or behaving on impulses or instincts take them on the path to happiness. 
  This is not a self-help type discussion. I have enough of it and want it to be of different  nature. The question as titled is: Is man with his big civilization, technological  advances, music, literature, art, pornography and the like to entertain or enhance his living conditions and styles happier than his counterpart- animals without all these attributes? 
  Maybe we can dip into the question: What can make us as happy or happier than  animal beings?  Or I do not know we are already happier and if so what evidences prove this?


----------



## escorial (Apr 4, 2016)

i've heard it said humans are the only species that know there going to die but i reckon that is just humanities need to distant itself from animal emotions...humans are selfish,self absorbed creatures who see the world as a place to give them what they need and alot more to...


----------



## dither (Apr 4, 2016)

I don't expect happiness, i mean real lasting happiness in my life. Yes i have moments, don't we all. And yes, it's all about the future.
I just go from day to day hoping that nothing very awful happens.


----------



## LeeC (Apr 4, 2016)

It seems to me that the OP's question is expressed as an individual perception, and in attempting to justify such occasions disagreement. Though I see the question as misleading in promoting a subjective perspective, I may be interpreting incorrectly, and the OP could be on the cusp of discovering the reality of life.

More objectively, we are animals and but a variation on a theme of physical life. As such we're a liminal thread in evolution's scheme of adaptation to changing conditions and share basic subjectivity with all life forms. In the natural order model of life being fueled by life, subjectivity is a necessary attribute in the continuum of physical life. 

Getting down to our own subjectivity, the so-called concern for the future postulation seems misleading also in the manner it's framed. More generally such might be seen from the perspective of our materialistic bent (a form of which is inherent in all life forms), or in the broader perspective of truly caring for our progeny in considering the world they will have to get by in. 

Our drive to not only survive but thrive can coexist with caring about the lives of our progeny if balanced. That is, if we learn to temper our excess materialistic bent in respectfully coexisting with the biodiversity that sustains our very being. 

What it boils down to is that to me "happiness" is where we chose to find it, and is relative to the breadth of our perspective   Others may find happiness in a more make believe state. The real question is if we're even capable on the whole of moving beyond "animal" instincts, and that may be in part what the OP is asking. 

In all life forms, to recognize happiness (consciously or unconsciously), one must experience unhappiness, not just suppress it. 


So ends the reading from the book of Lee for today 






PS: There's a mosquito buzzing me as I look out the window at the snowfall. What happened to April?


----------



## bdcharles (Apr 4, 2016)

blazeofglory said:


> We humans are consumed by our excessive concerns for the future. It is a known, and realized fact yet few ponder this deeply and try to arrive at the  terrain of happiness. We think mostly whether our current  earnings suffice or not to run our future demands. Yes concernedness for  the future is fundamental to our future comfort and security,  and yet few can visit the future they will have to go to or will not even have to visit (for death is following us in every walk of life and can have its cold hand on us whenever we fail or our health fails to meet the criteria of physical condition. Concernedness about future happiness to some extent is inevitable but living for the future is a big blunder humans are making historically at the expense of their realistic and live present.
> I often think quality of life is more important than the length of life and living on drugs and prolonging our physical death leeches  our potential for being happy. Our too much concerns for the future mar  our chances of enjoying what is available to us.



Maybe. But what if "what is available to you" is poverty, ill health, misery, abuse, war, as it is for multitudes. Give me concern for the future over that any day. Living for the moment is a luxury. It gets me sometimes when this discussion comes up, and the idea that not "living for the moment" is sort of judged negatively, as if people have made the choice to be miserable. Misery is relative, I suppose - and subjective.



blazeofglory said:


> And though insecure physically and in other respects animals are happier than we humans. Living or behaving on impulses or instincts take them on the path to happiness.
> This is not a self-help type discussion. I have enough of it and want it to be of different  nature. The question as titled is: Is man with his big civilization, technological  advances, music, literature, art, pornography and the like to entertain or enhance his living conditions and styles happier than his counterpart- animals without all these attributes?



We are what we are. Wishing we had simpler brains won't make them less prone to existential navel-gazing. The best we can do, in my view, is to work with what we have to the best of our abilities, and work around the problem bits.



blazeofglory said:


> Maybe we can dip into the question: What can make us as happy or happier than  animal beings?  Or I do not know we are already happier and if so what evidences prove this?



I would say it's a little bit of an apples and oranges comparison? Why compare? We are different.


----------



## Jigawatt (Apr 4, 2016)

Does heightened awareness and understanding propagate unhappiness? Based on personal experience, no. Contentment and peace are the natural states of consciousness. If anything, critical thinking is an advantage over animals driven largely by instinctual drives, because I can rationalize hardship and desire and effect a change in thinking that affects the way I feel. Self-preservation, hunger, sex, social status, identity - I perceive these drives as necessary for growth, life and happiness, but only if I master them, and them not me. I think the real secret to happiness is, participate in life within your means, but don't overindulge, and don't want too much. Death is as much a part of my life as my birth. I shall have both and be content.


----------

