Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/07/ditch-the-pursuit-of-happiness-and-seek-out-wonder-instead.html
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Three things we were supposed to teach the younguns:
- wonder (chiefly of the amazing non-human bits of the cosmos)
- selflessness (perhaps the trickiest, but probably the most important)
- doubt (or skepticism, as there will be agents that will try to sell them crap)
it was said that if they could be inculcated with those and drive the tractor that you couldn’t be judged a bad parent. (used to recall those in the original German, but that was so very long ago, …uh, wunder, selbstlosigkeit, and skepsis (maybe?))
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Wait, why can’t I do what makes me happy? I don’t enjoy napping, meditating, or writing in a journal. I like to work with my hands, solve puzzles, and fix mechanical things. Why do I have to do what this author likes to do instead to live a fulfilled life? Wonder is fine, but simple non-wonderous things are fulfilling too, for me at least.
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Wonder and stuff aren’t contradictory. If I had a good telescope I could get even more wonder out of a clear night sky than I do now.
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Wonder = Happiness in my head, anyway, so what’s the diff? Learning gives me a massive dopamine rush.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for “wonder,” “miracle,” and “oracle” is interesting.
From Think Like an Egyptian: 100 Hieroglyphs by Barry Kemp.
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