MG: i'm trying to answer her question for the last 2 hours and by now i can say that i've failed
No, I don't think you've failed. I failed to understand, MG. I'm trying to find out in which context you mean "contentment" - as I am fascinated by the Buddhist view of this word. I think, it's called "satisfaction", but I only read this in German, so I'm not sure. I have the feeling, you mean the word in Sartre's context - or are using a socially defined direction. If you could name the philosopher/sociologist you might be referring to, I can make an inner connection. Kiya <just very curious, I hate it if I don't understand. Maybe your meaning could add to my knowledge fragments, you see?>
Csiksentmihalyi (sp?) has described the word "flow" in his book. A way of being what you do, being totally absorbed with something, taking what comes fully - similar to Zen. Seligman means this IMO <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />- and C. thinks that this "flow" is the way to happiness as well. No, distinction, no comparison, no yearning for what I don't have, no dualism - just being and taking what comes. Small children are supposed to be born with this, we adults seem to lose this on the way. Bernard Benson has described this as well. In the way you described "contentment" I thought about "dualism", thus giving/taking/restricting/defining contentment vs happiness. And I'm trying to detect my own restrictive dualism - so, my failure to understand could be because I'm on the track for own inner blindness. So, your explanation could help me, see?
