An equal amount of emotion for all

Ok, so before i start, if this doesn't belong in ATS then you can delete it, i dont mind. All right, there is an idea i have had for a long time. It is that over the course of everyone's lifetime, their happiness minus their sadness is always the same for everyone. For instance, if someone has an excellent childhood, they would have a bad adult life. This has been mentioned in a famous book, The Body of Christopher Creed. they describe life as "A deck of cards". They say that if you get the aces in the beginning of your life, you are bound to get the two sometime. So, that's my idea. Does anyone else think this way? If you don't understand, i will be glad to elaborate. Thanks!

reply to post by youwontfindme


I find the theory interesting but falling far short. What about those people who have a terminal illness from birth? Where are their aces? I mean, maybe they get all aces in the afterlife, but from my interpretation of your OP, you are speaking about a deck of cards played out in your life on earth. I think you have more influence on the deck of cards and how they are played than your post alludes to. For one, I am sure my deck has more than 4 aces

reply to post by UdonNiedtuno


lol good point! remember though, the deck of cards was an idea from the book, it was not my idea. In my idea, those with a terminal illness.... um..... good point. anyone have an answer to that?

reply to post by UdonNiedtuno


okay, apparently no one else has an answer, but my best guess is that in the short amount of time that they lived, their total happiness minus their total sadness (both being very small) equals the "base" amount.

reply to post by youwontfindme

I like the dressing that is put on the idea, the deck of cards image is fun, but may I suggest a more boring approach.

There is such a thing as a normal amount of happiness. "Normal" in this case means "happens most often." If you're familiar with normal distribution curves, you'll remember that the middle of the curve has the most events. There will be some people at the really unhappy end, and some at the really happy end. But for most of us there's some of each.

And just like you wouldn't expect to flip heads a hundred times in a row, you shouldn't expect all your happy events to happen in a row, they'll be mixed.

It's not all chance, you can control the curve of your life to some extent so that things get better, in general. But I don't accept the "everybody has the same amount of happiness" idea.

reply to post by charles1952


Good point. You could be right. Lol but again, the deck of cards thing was not my idea, it was from the book

Interesting concept.

What about babies that are born only to die hours or days later? Unborn children? I wonder how this belief applies to them.

reply to post by ofNight


That's a similar idea to another reply, and the answer to his was that the total happiness (very little) minus the total sadness (also very little) will equal the "base" amount.

Originally posted by youwontfindme
reply to post by ofNight

 

That's a similar idea to another reply, and the answer to his was that the total happiness (very little) minus the total sadness (also very little) will equal the "base" amount.

Thank you for the explanation.

That makes a bit more sense now. I'm still unsure how I feel about it, but I appreciate the response!

You are assuming that everyone gets a certain amount of happiness or sadness..a belief I wholeheartedly dispute. Whether one is happy or sad isn't dependent on how much of one or the other one has, but how one reacts to circumstances. happiness is more a state of mind and perception than anything else. If I look at something in the right way, I can be just as happy in bare 4x4 cell as I could be on a beach surrounded by puppies. It's all about t a state of mind. Now, of course, there are going to be those bleak spots in life, where sadness creeps in - the passing of my brother 2 years ago, for instance - these do bring sadness and discomfort in their wake, but they can also bring opportunities for joy. I was sad I lost my youngest brother - but joyful of the time I DID have with him.

At any rate, just my thought on the subject, hope it makes sense to you as it does - somewhat - to me. God bless.