Happy Like God By Simon Critchley

A Balanced Psychology and a Full Life:

This passage starts off by talking about a balanced psychology and what it was before World War II. Researches after the war turned to study mental illness because that was where the funding was. Because of the studying of mental illnesses, psychologists and psychiatrists are able to say that thy can “make troubled people less miserable” (pg. 539). Then the passage goes on to talk about what happiness is and how science cannot be used to define it. The routes to happiness are to increase positive emotion, the pursuit of ‘gratification’, and giving life meaning. It also talks about finding flow like Csikszentmihalyi talks about in his story, which is what I use to find out what gives me happiness. Next, the passage talks about Interventions to Nurture Happiness. We have designed and used interventions for each of the three routes to happiness. Which, to me, makes since because we measure our happiness or depression based on the actions that occur in our life.

Happy Like God:

He uses an excerpt from Rousseau’s autobiography on his description of happiness. I think he uses an accurate description of it and how he relates the experience to floating in a boat. Critchley further discusses how water can relate to happiness and I feel that I can relate to what he says. “The never-ending drone of the surf, sitting by the sea in fair weather or foul and feeling time disappears into the tide, into the endless pendulum of the tidal range” (pg. 561). This is an example of solitary happiness, but happiness cannot always come from being alone. Critchley then talks about how it all has to end and we have to go back to real world with all its