So far we have discussed happiness as if were largely a product of material factors, such as health, diet and wealth. If people are richer and healthier, then they must also be happier. But is that really so obvious? Philosophers, priests and poets have brooded over the nature of happiness for millennia, and many have concluded that social, ethical and spiritual factors have as great an impact on our happiness as material conditions. Perhaps people in modern affluent societies suffer greatly from alienation and meaninglessness despite their prosperity.
現(xiàn)實生活里確實不乏這樣的例子彻秆，暫且不說別人莫瞬，我的爸爸，我的弟弟琅坡，都處于這樣的一個狀態(tài)歉摧，在我看來撵摆，一種虛無籠罩著他們蜕衡，可能他們習慣于這樣空洞的生活覺得并沒有什么不妥李滴。我也曾跟朋友討論過這樣的問題突硝，會覺得空洞的生活簡直難以忍受测摔，在討論中才發(fā)現(xiàn)，這不僅僅是個別家庭的現(xiàn)狀解恰，似乎是很多家庭里的現(xiàn)狀锋八。停下來的時候會問自己，我想要的幸福到底是什么护盈，為什么總感覺不是那么幸福挟纱。然后自嘲起來，別陷入了終極三問類的怪圈里腐宋。而只有心無雜念地把自己投入到浩如煙海的知識里或者走進讓你舒適的圈子里的時候紊服，才覺得有那么一些充足感和滿足感，可以說胸竞，是happiness.羅素是這樣概述他的狀況的欺嗤，同樣的"I was not born happy…and I felt the long-spread-out boredom ahead of me to be almost unendurable. in adolescence, i hated life and was continually on the verge of suicide, from which, however, i was restrained by the desire to know more mathematics…now, on the contrary, i enjoy life; i might almost say that with every fear that passe i enjoy it more. this is due partly to having discovered what were the things that i most desired and having gradually acquired many of these things. partly it is due to having successful dismissed certain objects of desire. but very largely it is due to a diminishing preoccupied with myself."
看作者又是如何定義幸福的呢
The generally accepted definition of happiness is“subjective well-being”. Happiness, according to this view, is something I feel inside myself; a sense of either immediate pleasure or long-term contentment with the way my lifeis going. If it's something felt inside, how can it be measured from outside?
One interesting conclusion is that money does indeed bring happiness. But only up to a point, and beyond that point, it has little significance.
所以整個社會里的大部分都在無窮盡地追求金錢是為了什么，是為了幸福過活還是為了其他卫枝？當金錢不再帶來所謂的窮極畢生去追求的幸福反而是各種"天災人禍"時煎饼，我們該何去何從該做何選擇。不想問自己終極三問式的思考校赤，當沒有足夠多的知識儲備和思維儲備時過多的思考讓人陷入一片混沌和黑暗之中吆玖。
Family and community seem to have more impact on our happiness than money and health. People with strong families who live in tight-knit and supportive communities are significantly happier than people whose families are dysfunctional and who have never found（ or never sought）a community to be part of Marriage is particularly important.
如果作者所陳述的是經(jīng)得起考究的事實的話淤袜，這不得不讓人引起對家庭和婚姻的重視，經(jīng)營好一個幸福的家庭遠比追名逐利的幸福要持久得多的話衰伯，是否要把重心偏向于家庭，（當然是在以追求幸福為本質(zhì)的前提下积蔚，不排除有其他不為追求幸福而生活的人）雖然這兩者可能并不沖突意鲸。
We can choose our spouses, friends and neighbours, but they can choose to leave us. With the individual wielding unprecedented power to decide her own path in life, we find it ever harder to make commitments. We thus live in an increasingly lonely world of unravelling communities and families. ? ? ? ?
暫用網(wǎng)絡一句段子來表達此時的心情"我能怎么辦哩，我也很無奈啊~"我們無法給任何人作出永遠的承諾尽爆，別人也無法對我們作出永遠之類的承諾怎顾，誰也都有可能隨時會離開以及所附帶的熱烈也一并帶走，且行且珍惜漱贱。如果說人的一生槐雾，可以通過選擇、運氣幅狮、基因躲過很多事情募强，孤單與死亡是無論如何都躲不過的。
? ? But the most important finding of all is that happiness does not really depend on objective conditions of either wealth, health, or even community. Rather, it depends on the correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations.
所以呢崇摄，如果我永不滿足擎值，我也將不再擁有happiness嗎？When things improve, expectations balloon, and consequently even dramatic improvements in objective conditions can leave us dissatisfied. When things deteriorate, expectation shrink, and consequently even a severe illness might leave you pretty much as happy as you were before.
敲黑板敲黑板逐抑，顛覆認知的觀念來了鸠儿！
Biologists hold that our mental and emotional world is governed by biochemical mechanisms shaped by millions of years of evolution. Like all other mental states, our subjective well-being is.not determined by external parameters such as salary, social relations or political rights. Rather, it is determined by a complex system of nervess, neurons, synapses and various biochemical substances such as serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin.
可以接地氣地這樣理解:Nobody is ever made happy by winning the Lottery, buying a house, getting a promotion or even finding true love. People are made happy by one thing and one thing only----pleasant sensations in their bodie.
以及對婚姻幸福與否的看法,認為婚姻本身并不能給人幸福，而是…It is true that married people are happier than singles and divorcees, but that does not necessarily mean that marriage produces happiness. It could be that happiness causes marriage. Or more correctly, that serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin bring about and maintain a marriage.
但是厕氨，也別覺得婚姻在幸福這個點上起不到作用进每，作者指出:Somebody born with an average of level five happiness would never dance wildly in the streets. But a good marriage should enable her to enjoy level seven from time to time, and to avoid the despondency of level three.
總之:Nothing captures the biological argument better than the famous New Age slogan;"Happiness Begins Within". Money, social status, plastic surgery, beautiful houses, powerful positions - none of these will bring you happiness. Lasting happiness comes only from serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin.
當然，作者也指出了一條方法論; the key to happiness is to know the truth about yourself - to understand who, or what, you really are. Most people wrongly identify themselves with their feelings, thoughts, likes and dislikes.
