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Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them. The study demonstrates that experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased satisfa...
There's absolutely nothing stopping a sociopath from concluding that contentment requires internal work and pleasure as separate from it. Whilst pursuing their pleasure separately.
9:35 PM
Oh yes, the experience in this case is the abuse of other people with your money and power, make no mistake. It has nothing to do with simply being in power.
Everything I have ever read on the topic says possessions and wealth are horrible ways at building happiness, that long term happiness is best built by having experiences, planning them in advance, and sharing them with others.
Sociopaths still crave connection with other human beings and to be important to them, and it's generally a major component of their suffering that their actions cause them to be unable to attain that.
The psychopath has the image of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?
I know Im off topic by now but let me also mention that even though I said "theres nothing wrong with lovers, possessions or any other pleasure", spiritual seeking almost always includes a "dark night of the soul" phase where the things that previously brought us pleasure no longer satisfy us in the same way, precisely because we're starting to recognize that pleasure cannot provide lasting contentment. In fact thats where I feel Ive been for the last year or so
Well, then I guess we don't have anything more to talk about until I get time to do further digging.
But I still haven't seen anything suggesting this is possible. It seems like a fairly consistent human phenomena.
Again, I ask you to question why you're making that conclusion? Do you just not want to believe it's possible for someone to be happy doing bad things?
Those things are empty to a sociopath. Gratification comes from positive stimuli, and a sociopath will need to seek their kicks somewhere. Now by default I would presume that all humans will behave neurotically and without contentment - but it isn't difficult at all for me to imagine a sociopath who has realized this as well who continues to pursue what they enjoy whilst having established contentment.
9:49 PM
The pursuit of power isn't by itself mal-adaptive.
Zen
Again, I ask you to question why you're making that conclusion? Do you just not want to believe it's possible for someone to be happy doing bad things?
I definitely believe it's possible to be happy while doing bad things. But the sort of bad things that exist in grey areas. No one is happy who consistently does nakedly bad things is my contention. In part because of the nature of doing it that frequently, it always is obvious enough to erode relationships, it attracts the wrong people, and it generally seems to be a symptom of heavy discontent to begin with.
Zen
The pursuit of power isn't by itself mal-adaptive.
it generally seems to be a symptom of heavy discontent to begin with
Why?
Let me give you a side by side comparison of behaviours. One which is indicative of discontent and one which I'd argue is not.
We've got someone who as you say, probably kills people in gruesome ways in order to exert that need for power. I would say that such a person has essentially failed to find contentment and is probably obsessing over extreme ways of achieving gratification.
Then we've got someone who's patiently become a politician. Cultivated an image of perfection. Holds real power to end people's careers on a whim, and so on. And this person abuses this power to get his kicks, blackmailing and doing whatever else to people under threat that their lives will essentially end if they speak up.
Why is the second a sign of discontent? It seems like you're only looking at the kinds of behaviours that lead to homicide, which is rarely adaptive to society.(edited)
Id say it doesnt have to be a sign of discontent, but probably is, considering a) the amount of effort likely involved in attaining the described pleasures, versus the effortless contentment that can be found within, and b) that 99 % of humanity (let's be generous and say 95 %?) are not content.
I do as well. Partly because I don't want to go to jail. Partly because causing pleasure causes me pleasure in the form of reveling in my own competence.(edited)
Domming subs is all fun and games but Ill pick a hollowbody electric guitar with flatwound strings into an overdriven clean channel into an 8-track cassette recorder any day of the week
My #1 is either acquiring knowledge and skills, or acquiring experiences (with kinky things being the predominant type), with the other at a very close #2.(edited)
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