>
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 3:11 AM, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The Greeks and pre-Christians
>>>> in general did not define "being a happy person" (Diogenes
>>>> notwithstanding;
>>>> we're speaking generally) with one's internal "feelings" at all.
>>>>
>>>
>> I think this is quite right. But what the Greeks (and Romans) meant by a
>> "happy" (well-daimoned, or fortunate, or blessed) life seems to vary
>> widely--from the phrase attributed to Solon "think no man happy until he is
>> dead" to the declaration of the Chorus in *Oedipus at Colonnus* "the best is
>> never to be born, next is to die immediately after birth..." passing by the
>> Epicurean concept of the happy life as one devoid of strong internal
>> "feelings." And then there was the role of Tuche, the Romans' great goddess
>> Fortuna.
>>
>>
>>
>
Oh, and sorry... I missed that. "Tuche" is a completely different phenomenon
from the rest.
"Tuche" seems to be more akin to an attempt at negation; the opposite of "automaton". Its far more radical. Its an exit from the "machine" of happiness and an entry into a sphere of criticism, negation, creation ex nihilo, resistance etc. Personally I don't think this has anything to do with cultural norms or happiness in any sense of the word.
Maybe "affirmation" in the Nietszchean sense, but nothing to do with any notion of contentment.