THIS was the week a survey revealed we were twice as well off as in the eighties, but no happier.
We can expect to live seven years longer, and not even this increases our chuckle rate.
Somehow, Utopia and our great expectations continue to elude us 21st century folk.
advertisement
In this same week in sunny/snowy/soggy Skegness, a ray of hope broke through in my holiday reading with this charming mini-tale
A man said to God: "How long is a minute to you?"
God replied: "To me a minute is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a minute."
The man asked another question: "How much is a penny?"
God answered: "For me a penny is like a million pounds and a million pounds is just like a penny."
The man paused, looking hopeful. "In that case, can I have a penny please?"
God smiled, looked at the man and replied: "Sure just hang on a minute."
God speaks into our unease, "Give me time to do things my way. Give me a minute-ish.
"Let me be God. Yes, I know you think that's risky, but give me a whirl; let me decide what you need and when you need it.
"At the next happiness poll you'll be smiles better off" (a loose but likely version of John 10:10).
Try my Spirit inside you, he adds; instead of the alcoholic spirit that's killing you at twice the rate of the eighties.
Posted by: simplysimon, burnley on 2:58pm Wed 16 Apr 08
Dear Kev,
I like the joke, made me chuckle. It's interesting how Time is different things to different Creatures.
For example, Time to a Butterfly is set at a different frequency than that of a Turtle. A Second to a Man can be a year to a Tree.
When a Man walks past a snail, it takes up only a second of the Man's Time, but to the snail it's an event that lasts for up to three weeks.
Time is a funny thing. When we are young, tomorrow seems like an age away. And when we are old, a year goes by in an afternoon.
One day of Earth time is fifty thousand years with reference to the Eternal and Fifty thousand years is one day of Earth Time with reference to Man.
Jesus was only here for a couple of seconds. He came to Sparkle for a couple of hours.
Dear Kev,
I like the joke, made me chuckle. It's interesting how Time is different things to different Creatures.
For example, Time to a Butterfly is set at a different frequency than that of a Turtle. A Second to a Man can be a year to a Tree.
When a Man walks past a snail, it takes up only a second of the Man's Time, but to the snail it's an event that lasts for up to three weeks.
Time is a funny thing. When we are young, tomorrow seems like an age away. And when we are old, a year goes by in an afternoon.
One day of Earth time is fifty thousand years with reference to the Eternal and Fifty thousand years is one day of Earth Time with reference to Man.
Jesus was only here for a couple of seconds. He came to Sparkle for a couple of hours.
Posted by: Joseph Yossarian, Londinium on 5:25pm Wed 16 Apr 08
Did you actually read the survey in full?
CAn you back up your claim that believing in god makes people happy?
Italic bits are lifted directly.....
[italic]over the last 20 years to 2006, household net wealth has more than doubled in real terms and in spring 2007, [bold]nearly 9 in 10 adults in England were very or fairly satisfied with their standard of living[/bold][/italic] Unhappy?
Maaaaybe not, maybe you are trying to mislead us again for your own purposes......
[italic]In 2005, around eight in ten children aged 14 and 15 in England agreed or strongly agreed that they were happy at school (82 per cent) and liked being at school(80 per cent)[/italic]
Unhappy?? Maaaybe not . .
[italic]so has the undoubted growth in economic performance resulted in a similar increase in well-being overall? We simply can’t say, on the basis of the data collected here in Social Trends[/italic]
So why is it that you can draw conclusions which statisticians cannot?
[italic]This is an example of the Easterlin
Paradox, following work on the relationship between GDP and life satisfaction or
happiness. The strength of the relationship between income and reported levels of
happiness declines rapidly after a certain GDP is reached. [bold]In the UK, as in the
United States and many other countries, life satisfaction overall has levelled off,
despite increasing real economic wealth[/bold] .[/italic]
[italic]Between 1991 and 2006, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK more than doubled from4,144 to 8,758.[/italic] The defintion of "alcohol related deaths" has changes and encompasses additional illnesses.
[italic]In the UK nearly four in ten (38 per cent)people believed in a God, a further four in ten (40 per cent)believed in some sort of spirit or life force and two in ten
(20 per cent) did not believe there is any sort of spirit,God or life force.[/italic]
Did you actually read the survey in full?
CAn you back up your claim that believing in god makes people happy?
Italic bits are lifted directly.....
over the last 20 years to 2006, household net wealth has more than doubled in real terms and in spring 2007, nearly 9 in 10 adults in England were very or fairly satisfied with their standard of living Unhappy?
Maaaaybe not, maybe you are trying to mislead us again for your own purposes...... In 2005, around eight in ten children aged 14 and 15 in England agreed or strongly agreed that they were happy at school (82 per cent) and liked being at school(80 per cent)
Unhappy?? Maaaybe not . . so has the undoubted growth in economic performance resulted in a similar increase in well-being overall? We simply can’t say, on the basis of the data collected here in Social Trends
So why is it that you can draw conclusions which statisticians cannot?
This is an example of the Easterlin
Paradox, following work on the relationship between GDP and life satisfaction or
happiness. The strength of the relationship between income and reported levels of
happiness declines rapidly after a certain GDP is reached. In the UK, as in the
United States and many other countries, life satisfaction overall has levelled off,
despite increasing real economic wealth .
Between 1991 and 2006, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK more than doubled from4,144 to 8,758. The defintion of "alcohol related deaths" has changes and encompasses additional illnesses.
In the UK nearly four in ten (38 per cent)people believed in a God, a further four in ten (40 per cent)believed in some sort of spirit or life force and two in ten
(20 per cent) did not believe there is any sort of spirit,God or life force.
Posted by: simplysimon, burnley on 1:50pm Thu 17 Apr 08
Satisfaction is not the same as economic comfortability. Real Satisfaction is a feeling, it isn't a feeling in 'association' with other factors.
It's just a feeling. It isn't 'relative' to anything else. That is the problem with Religion it does not ascribe or merit that feeling as being of value unless it is 'associated' with the Gods of Religious Dogma.
That Pure Feeling has been polluted with Religion. It has been polluted and made a secondary consequence of something. It has been reduced to being a 'result' of something.
[bold]Perfection[/bold] is not a 'result' of anything. Either a person is simply able to experience it or a person is unable to simply experience it.
Even God couldn't experience it for you. Nobody else can experience it for you. You either need that experience in your life or you can get by fine without it.
It is either 'optional' "I can wait until I am Dead". Or Vital, "I don't want to wait another Moment!"
God never said "wait" Jesus never said "wait"
It does make me wonder, what is it that Mankind is "waiting for" ? Are we all waiting for God to come, for Jesus to come, for Mohammed to come, for Heaven to come, for the winning ticket to come, for the new Leader to come. A New Age to come ?
Who ever heard of anyone 'waiting' to be Content. Is it not possible, a Person might just [italic][bold]want[/bold][/italic] to be Content.
Regardless of his/her economic or geographic or health/birth/death and doctrinal circumstances.
Satisfaction is not the same as economic comfortability. Real Satisfaction is a feeling, it isn't a feeling in 'association' with other factors.
It's just a feeling. It isn't 'relative' to anything else. That is the problem with Religion it does not ascribe or merit that feeling as being of value unless it is 'associated' with the Gods of Religious Dogma.
That Pure Feeling has been polluted with Religion. It has been polluted and made a secondary consequence of something. It has been reduced to being a 'result' of something.
Perfection is not a 'result' of anything. Either a person is simply able to experience it or a person is unable to simply experience it.
Even God couldn't experience it for you. Nobody else can experience it for you. You either need that experience in your life or you can get by fine without it.
It is either 'optional' "I can wait until I am Dead". Or Vital, "I don't want to wait another Moment!"
God never said "wait" Jesus never said "wait"
It does make me wonder, what is it that Mankind is "waiting for" ? Are we all waiting for God to come, for Jesus to come, for Mohammed to come, for Heaven to come, for the winning ticket to come, for the new Leader to come. A New Age to come ?
Who ever heard of anyone 'waiting' to be Content. Is it not possible, a Person might just want to be Content.
Regardless of his/her economic or geographic or health/birth/death and doctrinal circumstances.
Posted by: Simplysimon, burnley on 3:14pm Thu 17 Apr 08
[bold]What is so terrible about YOU having the Power to make YOU feel content.[/bold]
Or is that just going too far without the crutch of Religions and Government instructions.
What is so terrible about YOU having the Power to make YOU feel content.
Or is that just going too far without the crutch of Religions and Government instructions.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
