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wishes forum


    If you had three wishes, what would they be?



    EUGENE: win the nobel prize, achieve eternal happiness, become one with the universe .

    JANET: i can’t help but think that achieving eternal happiness would encompass all of the other wishes you could possibly have, you know what I mean? What does becoming one with the universe entail?

    EUGENE : Well, I hope to accomplish these things in that order.... becoming one with the universe would be a total understanding of all things around me at all levels and at all times...of course the drawbacks would be awareness of evil and destruction, but maybe my omnitoence could eliminate some of that. Of course, there’s no stopping nature.... I realize that 2 and especially 3 are not likely attainable, but if it were a magical genie, maybe i could get no. 3. You have to earn the Nobel, otherwise, what’s the point?JANET: Well, shouldn’t all happiness be earned? I mean, if someone kept giving you money and you didn’t have to earn it, and people liked you without knowing who you are, wouldn’t anything that would make you happy lose at least some of its value? That’s what makes your first apartment and your first love so grand - because you earned it, not because you wished for it.

    EUGENE: Happiness isn’t earned, it’s something that you find, often without looking for it, even if that means being able to accept that things simply are the way they are...to find yourself you must first lose yourself. Therein lies the dilemma, that we must achieve the often lofty goals we set for ourselves or that others set for us, lest we never find true happiness. Happiness can be completely separate from accomplishment.

    JANET: How? I don’t understand. If someone does something nice for you, they do it because they care about you, and you earned their friendship. If you get better pay for a job, it is because you do good work and earned the raise. If you get something that can bring you toward happiness without earning it, it is luck, pure and simple, and won’t be constant and will not provide long-lasting, happiness.

    EUGENE: Achieving goals can be a source of happiness and love and kindness likewise, gratification is achieved through work and determination, but not necessarily enlightenment. (By the way, I never said I wanted happiness to be dropped in my lap, but this makes for an interesting discussion.) You can achieve tremendous wealth and power of your own accord and still not be happy.

    JANET: No, but earning things - working toward goals, whether monetary or pertaining to people and their relationahips or personal - is what makes you happy, isn’t it? If that working and earning means studying texts and learning until you become “enlightened,” I’m sure it would be a better method of achieving enlightenment than say having a chip inserted in your brain and you just getting “enlightened,” for example. Know what I mean? It seems to me you always want fortune (i.e., happiness, on whatever level) dumped in your lap, earned or unearned. And I don’t understand how that could make you happy. Is it that you don’t know how to earn it?

    EUGENE: No, enlightenment can not be inserted, it is the result of life (learned) experiences. Fortune just makes the path easier to navigate, regardless of means of acquisition, although theft would not be good. Winning money should not necessarily be considered cheating if it is used appropriately to further achieve goals. I’m not looking for an easy, path made of gold, just one where I don’t get ambushed around every curve. Working towards goals makes you who you are, gives you substance, individual worth.






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