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by gsk 4661 days ago
Graham Greene said: "Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil - or else an absolute ignorance."

This world isn't built for maximising happiness of humans, this is true whether you follow scientific rationale or religious faith. When you pursue happiness, you are working against the system. There in nothing wrong with it, however it does tell you why Graham Greene concluded the above.

3 comments

Consider Mathieu Ricard :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthieu_Ricard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXZqQINH9O0

I wouldn't paint him as either egotistic, evil or ignorant. I consider myself an atheist and his books have significantly changed the way I view the world.

What do you think the world is built to maximise?

Edit: clarity

Life is built to maximise survival, I suppose. Note that Life is not the World (I refer to the physical non-biological things as world). I would say, as far as science can probe, world isn't there to maximise anything.
Entropy? ;)
Selfishness and having a positive impact on others/your surroundings are far from mutually exclusive.