
About happiness
- A philosophical journey
- Frédéric Lenoir
Tim press published a new book by French author Frédéric Lenoir About happiness. A philosophical journey.
What is happiness? Does it depend on our genes, on coincidence, or on our sensibility? Is it possible to preserve the state of happiness or is it consisted only of fleeting pleasures? Is happiness subjective? Should we look for it and is it possible it could grow? Can suffering and happiness co-exist? To answer these questions, Frédéric Lenoir offers this philosophical journey. This book is a challenging walk with the great sages of the East and the West, walk through the Epicurean pleasure gardens where words of Montaigne and Zhu Zhuang are echoing, where he meets a calming smile of Buddha and Epictetus, where you can feel the joy of Spinoza and Etty Hillesum. This journey, enriched with concrete examples and the latest discoveries in the field of neuroscience, will help us to live better and learn how to be truly happy.
In the conclusion the author says: "This book I started with the sociological definition of happiness: to be happy, it means to love the life you lead. If on the end of this journey I would have to give a personal definition of happiness, I'd say it simply means to love life. Not just the kind of life we lead here and now and in which we might expect some satisfaction, but life itself. A life that could tomorrow also bring joy or sadness, pleasant or unpleasant events. To be happy is to love life, all our life: with all its ups and downs, glimmers of light and dark phases, the pleasures and pains. It means to love all ages: the innocence of childhood and the fragility of old age; daydreaming and heartbreak in the teenage years and fullness and aching bones in adulthood. So love birth, as well as love death. To fully and without refraining go through grief, and also fully and without restraint enjoy all the good moments that are offered to us. To completely and openheartedly love our neighbours. To intensely live every moment. "
Frédéric Lenoir (1962) is a French philosopher, sociologist and historian of religions. He received his PhD at the School of High Studies of Social Sciences (EHESS) and is a research associate at the Center for interdisciplinary religious studies in Paris. Since 2004, he is the editor of the magazine Le Monde des religions. He has published thirty books that have been translated into more than twenty languages. His most famous works are: Christ philosopher (2007), A brief discussion of the history of religion (2008), How Jesus became God (2010), A brief discussion on the internal life (2010), God (2011), Soul of the world (2012) and About happiness. A philosophical journey (2013).
- ISBN: 978-953-8075-01-8
- Year of the edition: 2015
- Number of pages: 196
- Cover: paperback
- Original title: Du bonheur
- Original language: French
- Translation: Divina Marion
- Dimensions: 128x200 mm
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