The Happy Iconoclast

2300 years ago, the Greek Philosopher Epicurus declared:

Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness.

--- BUT

2300 years later, we are still searching for tranquility and happiness.

Only recently has man developed the tools and the knowledge to achieve lasting happiness in the spirit of Epicurus.

NEW

My new book is now available as a free download

How Life Really Works:
Happiness in an Unhappy World

For a book outline and to download the book,

click here

How to find Happiness in an Unhappy World

Man's life is a perpetual quest for happiness -- and yet, as Henry Thoreau astutely observed: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

What went wrong?? ----- Have we lost our alignment with reality?

Have we allowed too many erroneous concepts to usurp our perception of reality?

Is it time to re-examine obsolete concepts -- icons -- and to take a new look at the way the world really works? Shall we aspire to become what the Greeks called "Iconoclasts": The breakers of Icons?!

The Path to Lasting Happiness:

Happiness rests within us. If we wish to be happy, we need to take full responsibility for our emotional response to all events in our life. No other person has the power to make us happy or unhappy. We, alone, can choose to be happy, or unhappy.

Intrigued? Why not check out the "Happiness" Page and its Sub-pages?

If we wish to achieve happiness, we must strive to see Objective Reality as clearly as humanly possible: We must understand and align ourselves with the true nature of objective reality, without blinders and without fudging. Scary? Maybe, but well worth the effort.

A few Glimpses of Objective Reality?

Intelligence	The Nature of Intelligence. Nature or Nurture?
The Universe	A New Perspective
Money	Investment Strategies
Optimal Living	Optimizing instead of Maximizing
Morality	The Nature of Good and Evil

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The following reflections may provide new insights in ancient human issues, dilemmas and conundrums.

The Universe: Galaxies Galore: A new perspective on Man and his position in the universe. Epicurus would have marveled at these images!

Murphy's Laws: A view of the lighter side of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, illustrating the precarious nature of human endeavor.

Entropy: The ultimate and most pervasive of all Laws of Nature. Why things not only will go wrong, but why they must go wrong.

The Paranormal: A light-hearted view of the world of paradoxes, illusions and pseudo-scientific assertions. A review of the world of the "Para-normal", from UFOs to the Bermuda Triangle to Life after Death

Art: A rational juxtaposition of Modern Art and Fine Art. Epicurus disdained pretence and espoused honesty in all aspects of life. He would have enjoyed mocking the fallacious sophistication of modern "art".

Painting: Duerer vs. Chagall

Sculpture: Donatello vs. Moore

Foibles and Follies: Man's Foibles and Fallacies. The lighter side of human nature.

Desiderata: A collection of simple poems reflecting iconoclastic values, epicurean philosophy and just plain Common Sense, including "The "Desiderata of Happiness"

Optimal Living: Epicurus had the right idea: Maximize happiness by optimizing and simplifying our environment. Too much "stuff" is adverse to our happiness; too little "stuff" can be even worse.

Happiness: The theme of my book and this Chapter represent a synthesis of Epicurean ideas, rationality and evolutionary psychology.

The Meaning of Life: Is there a purpose to human existence? Yes, there is a definitive answer.

Morality: What do we mean by "Good and Evil"? Morality as seen from five different perspectives.

Free Will: Are we free agents or are we puppets on a string, the prisoners of causality?

Religion: An exploration of the Supernatural. Why so many people are religious. What is the role of evolution in religion. Is religion still appropriate in the third millennium?

The Face of Wars: Why we kill each other in vast numbers. Are all wars economic in origin?

Government: The foibles and fallacies of politics and the role we play in this charade.

Intelligence: Nature or Nurture? Why did Athens bloom and then collapse, never to recover.

Prisoner's Dilemma: Intriguing insights in the way man uses his rational mind in order to find order in a mystifying world. What Epicures did not know. From the "Game Theory" to the cause of the "Big Bang".

Sleep and Dreams: Most of us ask "how" things are they way they are. Here we explore the "why" behind the "how". Why do we sleep and dream?

How to get Rich: All about the stuff that makes the world go round (right after sex). What are the real causes of booms, inflation, recession. depression? A collection of intriguing insights in the world of money, finance and economics. Explore some of the Sub-Chapters:

What is Success? The origins of money and its inherent qualities. We need to understand how money works in order to make it work for us.
How to get Rich: "There is a system to this madness!" There is no fast way to get rich. Here is a better way to riches: Slow and steady, but surely

Does God Exist? Iconoclastic perspectives on the existence, or non-existence, of a god or gods.

Smell the roses while you can

"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."

The Essence of Happiness

This site is maintained solely for my own enjoyment. It provides me with a forum for my ideas. I will always respond to your e-mail comments or criticism.

Your feedback is appreciated

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Last Modified 07-08-06

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