Satisfaction

I have previously talked about happiness and how it is linked to pleasure (or lack of negative-pleasure) but not satisfaction. If I had to define satisfaction it would be a lengthened state of pleasure, almost a synonym for happiness. We know what can give us pleasure, and most of these are temporary and usually quite short lived. An orgasm for example or being told your great. More useful for long lived satisfaction is a correct mindset. Again I touched on this before but I feel this actually simplifies it. Different mindsets allow us to interpret the world differently. I personally dislike buses, whereas I know several children who love them. The only difference is how we interpret the evidence. If I associate buses with other great things or convince myself I get something good out of riding a bus, I begin to like it.

What prompted this thought was that I was thinking of the almost unparalled way that religion can make us feel great. It's a mixture of security (Gods got everything sorted) and self praise (aren't I good and humble and moral etc). Its something that until now I havent been able to figure out. My secular version of this is to think etherially. Life is meaningless and irrelevant (so I can do what I like) and im awesome (aren't I so clever and able to do anything). Maybe its immoral or naive, probably both, but I don't care... I'm happy.

Community Spirit

Having Seen a little bit of "Making Bradford British", I was really drawn to the sense of community that a mosque provides for local muslims. I thought a traditional english parallel maybe a church, but in the majority of areas this doesnt hold true, with attendance so low and catchment areas huge. Perhaps then a more modern equivalent is the pub. But even this doesn't ring true, the majority of pubs are filled with more elderly people, whereas the younger flock further a field to the bigger and brighter city centre nightlife. The only sense of community I have is my college, here I feel part of a vibrant, friendly group of people; I know a large proportion of them and really feel at home. I've not been on this planet for long, but I can tell you it's a nice feeling that shouldn't just be swept under the carpet. Of course, we have the feeling of belonging to a group of close friends but there is also the wider sense of community that is woefully lacking.

I barely know anyone on my street, I've certainly never done anything with them. It's perverse and naive but maybe there's something to be said for living in 4 metre square tin shacks; at least then I'd know my neighbours, perhaps a little too well...

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

We watch TV programs for different reasons. Some are gritty and realistic, some are factual and interesting and some are plain bonkers and entertaining. Dirk Gently fits very snugly in the last category. It is an hour of running around the place doing random things and causing chaos. Eventually the random things are given meaning, and it turns out Dirk was always right (ish). Viewed realistically, it makes no sense, Dirk is armed with little more than charisma, confidence and a bucket load of bullshit. The fact is, we want the bumbling fool to be right because he smiles at the camera and does endearingly random things. Realistically again he must be God, or just the luckiest man in the world. No one else by doing random things gets the right answer. This just makes it even more entertaining when he debunks horoscopes. Here's a man that believes so much in himself that he does whatever tickles his bizarre sense of logic, like Zen navigation (watch it, it's hilarious). It's silly, but ridiculously entertaining.

To laud more praise on it, Dirk (Stephen Mangan) is played  brilliantly. His idiosyncrasies are endearing, his behaviour erratic and charm spot on. I'm not sure whether it's the writer or the actor I should thank for these but either way, it's great. Furthermore, the whole tone of the program is very dapper and tweed.... quite English in fact. He reminds you of the eccentric and carefree teacher with the crappy car, even if you didn't have that teacher, you can still imagine him. All in all (holistically) it is brilliant, 5 out of 5.