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My Impression:

‣ Happiness, it appears, comes from serving one’s individual needs and wants – even if this personal necessity is met momentarily by helping others or doing good. Meaning appears to come from existential dedication to the service of other people or a greater good, even when this commitment is at the expense of one’s own benefit and wellbeing.

‣ Happiness considers the present moment and whether it gratifies our feelings. Meaning considers a broader period and how it satisfies our sense of being.

‣ Both happiness and meaning are healthy pursuits… I don’t think it need be a case for extremes: happiness without meaning is vanity, and meaning without happiness is agony.

‣ Happiness brings ease and pleasure. Meaning brings accretion and contentment.

‣ Happiness is fleeting: doses eventually wear off, leaving one to regularly pursue the next source or some elusive ultimate joy. Meaning, on the other hand, is persistent and lingers much longer – bringing with it, however, a full weight of both misery and bliss.

‣ The world is not a place for Meaning alone or a place for Happiness alone no more than it is a world of just science or art alone. Neither is innately better simply for its own sake. Both realities must interact and continually find an equilibrium in their ever-shifting relevance to life.

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