What's the solution to human sadness?

[Robb]

Bonus points if you can connect the idea and the person. One of them is Skinner. ;)

[Elidor]

1. Creative self-expression! Oh...and sex.

Why isn't sex a choice, you dingbat? :P

[Dookus]

2. Creative self-expression

covers sex. At least for a lot of people ;)

[Rowdyboy]

3. Some other damn thing

I'm just not sure what. Sex probably plays a part in it though.

[anti-NAFTA]

4. George Bush is the solution.

Our commander in chief conquers sadness and moves mountains.

[Whitacre D_WI]

5. Booze.

It's also the cause of a lot of human sadness. Oh, but does it make me feel wonderful!

[Goldberg]

6. Watching Gili is supposed to be a solution to human sadness?

Last I checked...critics cried at the movie theater because that movie was so bad...lol...

I like alcohol. It helps me forget everything...until the next morning.

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. The critics are fools. Gigli is hilarious!

If you don't laugh till your cheeks hurt, you are just not sophisticated enough to understand it.

[Mountainman]

7. Sadness is a part of life.

It is one of the emotions that we all have. There is no cure for it. It has to run it's course. But be careful of depresion which could be a mental illnes.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

9. Happiness is a warm gun....

Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot




Take that how you want to.

[mitchum]

10. Death...

according to Sophocles and me

[camero]

11. Sex

The only cure. :)

[populistmom]

12. Human connections and relationships

To be able to truly connect with another human being and if it's the type of relationship that includes sex (sometimes this combination can be painfully elusive for so many people), it's simply wonderful, the greatest, but sex in of itself without the connection isn't enough for lasting happiness really.
There are of course, nonsexual, loving relationships that also are extremely important such as that with your friends or your children.

edit: grammar

[Dogmudgeon]

14. "... sex in of itself without the connection isn't enough ..."

Sounds like somebody is getting plenty of sex!

If I'm going to have an empty, unconnected life, getting sex would at least break the monotony occasionally.

--bkl

[populistmom]

18. Maybe it's a gender difference?

Maybe not because I know not all women feel like I do, nor have the same experiences. I've just found that as a reasonably attractive and fairly nice person, finding someone who wanted to have sex was the easy part. I haven't been with very many people and I've only been with one person for a long time and yes, basically, my needs are met as needed, but I guess I just feel like we're more than just primal, even when we are inherently primal at times. A higher level to evolve to perhaps.

I'm sorry if I sound like an annoying, self-actualizating, insensitive clod though. :hug: I get too introspective on all this self. Enough to probably make people want to :puke: sometimes. Hell, sometimes, I make myself want to.

[Dogmudgeon]

23. No need to apologize

I have the other problem -- it has never been difficult for me to get close to women, but it has always been difficult to find the ones with sexual interest. The few who are interested are usually "safe-by-situation"; involved and/or married.

I've never personally found any kind of sexual interaction that didn't have a large amount of closeness and connection. I think it's impossible. I often wonder why so many women deprecate sex and relationships that don't "climax" in marriage.

But I've long since stopped trying to figure out the world's problems. People are generally a mess these days. Fear rules our lives. I am surprised that anyone hooks up (romantically or sexually) at all.

--bkl

[populistmom]

28. I think fear does play a large part

Perhaps in people keeping relationships that aren't healthy and avoiding the concept of getting too close to someone else. Marriage too is often something so many women strive for and ultimately I have known more than one woman who views the wedding as important without really thinking about the marriage itself and what it means. You're right, marriage isn't always the end all or be all of intimacy.

[Bake]

13. Robb is a dingbat, of course!!

What other answer could there be???

Bake

[Gringo]

15. How will you know when you're happy if you're never sad?

Most of my day is spent in a state of emotional equilibrium - neither happy nor sad. I am, however, somewhat fulfilled by my work, and always very happy & content to be with my kids.

If in 20 years, my kids have gone off on their own, and I've become a panhandler, I'd still find things to be happy about. I guess it's all about one's outlook.

[Melsky]

16. The eternal sleep of death

[maggrwaggr]

17. 24-hour reality television channel

which will, if anything, convince you that you're not as shallow as THOSE people.

[VOX]

19. Knowing that sadness is to happiness as night is to day - they go together

And cannot exist without one another. Without figure-ground relationships, human beings are at a complete loss.

You can turn on a flashlight at high noon to little effect; turn it on at midnight, and there is a strong beam of light. So, yes, light needs darkness.

The trick, if there is any, is to not fight sadness, or to become too attached to it (depression), but rather experience it and observe it, and simply know that it is part of the natural ebb and flow of human emotions.

[populistmom]

21. This one's a keeper

:thumbsup:

[maggrwaggr]

22. I can do without the mood swings

I can do without the troughs, thank you very much. I sure don't need the lows to appreciate the highs.

From what you say, everything averages out to zero, and if that's the case we might as well quit trying.

[VOX]

24. Every wave on the ocean has a trough in front of it...

And every inside has an outside.

But no, it all doesn't necessarily need to be a 50-50 wash. Sooner or later, we all learn what a hot stove feels like, and there's no need to feel it again and again.

Understandably, you don't need to experience your severe lows any longer -- you already *know* what they are about, and therefore you can fully appreciate their absence.

[imax2268]

20. legalize POT...!

n/t

[UnAmericanJoe]

26. I agree

The fact that we outlaw this way of making ourselves feel better makes me think that we deserve all the sadness we get.

[JaySherman]

25. Creative self-expression and companionship

Being surrounded by people who love you and encourage your creative expression is the golden life.

[Shanty Oilish]

27. Chocolate nt

:)

[Burma Jones]

29. Xanax, Wellbutrin, Elavil, Prozac, Valium,

or just simply ignore all the crap around you.

[NicoleM]

30. Chemistry.

My great-grandfather went through periods of depression that were so bad he wouldn't leave his bed for weeks at a time. If he'd had some sort of chemical intervention, he might have been a little more functional.

Then again, how much great art has been produced by people in despair? It's all too much for me to think about right now. The caffeine hasn't kicked in yet. :)

[HERVEPA]

31. Love. Also a major cause, however.