Can there be happiness without sadness? Pleasure without pain? Peace without war?

[User92]

[HaveQuestions]

I believe you cannot have one without the other. All life is balance. Down to the most minute level, even molecules are a balanced process. The universal law IS, balance. If you do not have one end of a spectrum, you simply have an adjusted baseline. If "happy" existed without "sad," your baseline would be "happy," and therefore, the "0" on the axis of measurement.

But the universe never has existed without cyclical functions. Birth/death, creation/destruction, etc. What you're talking about are some of the human analogs of that grander scale of cycles. We are not static, neither is the universe we occupy. We mimic, in a human way, the basic laws of all existence. We are what we are, and can be no more, and no less. There's beauty in that.

Humans also possess the capability to learn from others. We read others experiences, empathize, have the ability to shape our own thoughts based on external/not first-hand states. That's one of our great gifts, our ability to learn. We don't need to personally experience all aspects of a spectrum to have awareness of them, comprehend their existence.

I also believe fully that there is a certain clarity to experiencing devastation. Humans desire meaning. Above all things, in our core, we want to understand the "why?" Hurt, suffering, life, death, love, freedom, pleasure... in all things, we seek to understand why. We are unique (as far as we know) in possessing metacognition. We cannibalize our own thoughts and experiences, analyze them, turn them over in our hands, looking for the why. It's the basis for all inquiry, science, literature, etc.

The search to find meaning is one of putting the pieces together to make a comprehensible whole. People depend on religion, science, travel, news, to seek answers to parts of experience they don't have. Filling in pieces of the puzzle, finding meaning. We define ourselves based on the construction of a coherent, linear, "story" that is rooted in meaning. Why do the elderly, or people who have had a hard experience, repeat stories? To integrate them into their overall coherent, meaningful, "whole."

The existence of any of those in isolation would be to deny the basic fundamental workings of the entire universe. There is a cyclical function, and without it, there couldn't exist anything at all. So called "negative" experiences are truly a part of a larger scale whole. And the whole is DIFFERENT (not greater) than the sum of the parts, because of the dynamic nature of systems.

[HaveQuestions]

Thank you for mho 😊

[SassyPinkLittleRWR]

Well in the case of the concepts that we created the easy answer is no. Most adjectives refer to something that is somehow different than other things by comparison. One answer to the problem of evil (1. God is an omnipotent being. 2. God is all good. 3. There is evil in the world. Therefore God can not exist; as a being capable of anything that is also completely good he could not be considered such by allowing evil to exist.) Is that there must be evil for good to be compared too. There is a certain dichotomy between the light and the dark as though they rely on one another. Though still, this is only language that we use to describe states of ultimately subjective experience. Thomas Aquinas would declare that evil is parasitic on good and can not exist without good first existing. Further, all that we consider evil is actually just different levels of good, though it appears to us otherwise because we are used to a heightened state of good to exist. And true evil is just an absence of good; imagine the most beautiful vase you can think of and close your eyes... Now imagine a giant crack down the center... What I'd the crack? It is only an absence of vase... Though it disgusts us as it otherwise ruins a perfect thing.

[JDavid25]

Actually evil cannot exist without good.. Good obviously came first if you believe in God.. God, anything that is opposite of God is evil.. That's how you define evil.. Just like darkness cannot exist without light, Evil is simply the absence of good..

[mjz00]

hi and wow what an intriguing challenging thought provoking question, i have a zillion thoughts ranging from animal states of mind, the human brain and its chemical functional ability in producing mood enhancing drugs, these are more and more so becoming imbalanced in the worlds populations creating behaviours involving depression and anxiety, buddha type spiritual goal of achieving detachment from these wordly bodily reactions to achieve a great connection with a higher place. for this right now, ill avoid the war scenario although ultimately linked. the universe is total and energy within is as it is, this energy can change, evolve etc it is pure in a sense, in you or i we can use energy and emit or display positive or negative behaviours or actions, this is in reality is coming from your inner self and believed to be what you feel, then i could take it completely differently and so could others. We dont see things as they are, we see them as we are. So as much as we could bicker all day, is everything just from each individual soul? ok your turn... lol xx

[starbucksjr69]

It's pretty complicated. If people never felt sad, then how can they understand how happy they are? It's kind of like; if there was no bad in the world, how can we tell that something is good when there's no such thing as good because bad made us understand how to feel good in the first place. I don't know how to really explains it into words because you have to imagine it and the chain of events it would effect us if feeling bad never existed.

[BasicFlake]

I guess that the point is about extremes, whether one can exist without the other. We could have contentment and then happiness could be distinguished from that. We could have the absence of pain or pleasure and then pleasure would be noticeable. We could have mild turbulence rather than war.

[i_research]

I don't think so. We get to feel grateful and happy after we experience sadness. To be honest, without sadness etc life would be dull. I think. As long as sadness is not taking over our life. Once in a while, I think it may be healthy... like jealousy. A little bit of it, is good, but if it goes out of hand, it's bad.

[JDavid25]

Yes, it could be.. I don't believe the world runs on what people believe is "balance".. I think Humans just f-ed up, and continue to make this world a sad place.. But, Happiness, Pleasure, and Peace can definitely exist without those..

[JDavid25]

Happiness is not triggered by the same neurochemicals as sadness so using the law of eventuality someone's brain has been or will be damaged likely at birth to prevent them from being able to properly be "sad". As such it is theoretically possible to never feel sad. This is no different than "pain" and "pleasure" which again are a pair that humans put together but are not biologically paired; there are people alive today who cannot feel tactile pain but have no problem feeling pleasure.

[BasilBrushSays]

No there'll be always the two binary opposites. One of the universal laws is the law of balance. The only aspect you can change is the volume/level of let's say good and evil.

[Anonymous]

Famous lyrics from Kamelot! "You would not feel sadness if you never tasted joy. That's the curse of humans more than passion you destroy". You kinda need one to have the other, and from years of muting emotions I can tell you than it's true.

[MaelaK]

No, because we always need something to compare with.

[LeahRabbit]

No. How would you know what happiness is if you have never been through sadness?

[genericname85]

to define a thing you always need the thing that separates it from itself also. so no you can´t have nice things without bad things, cause the bad things define the nice things.

[Maxemeister]

The world experienced tenfold the sufferings we do now centuries ago, and yet there was plenty of happiness.

The first two are impossible, but war is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Really, it is. It's been a boring 21st century for combat.

[Anonymous]

Obviously, you just won't have the opposite to compare it to, but that doesn mean you can't have it or know what it feals like.

If you say no, that's like saying "how do you know what it's like to have black skin if you've never had white skin."

[Cloudy25]

No because everything is relative. Without anything to compare it to, it would just "be".

[absyboo]

No. In this world there will always be heartache. I look forward for the day when it becomes nonexistent.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

No to all of them. Happiness wouldn't feel that great without sadness. And there can't be peace without war because humans are evil and like to kill and cause pain.

[Ben_Dover]

Yes there can, but you won't realize it because you've never known different

[Anonymous]

interesting metaphor. The latter was created to stroke the egos of politicians and war mongers who believe that war is the answer to everything. War is the most patriotic thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Yes but how do you then truly know it's depth and meaning?

[Wontstop]

yes but not on this earth

[Adam22]

when the sun be without moon !

[JordanBo7]

honestly, is like impossible

[Anonymous]

I think so, we would just take it for granted more

[Midget_Hug]

Yes.