hotchedder
05-11-2012, 01:31 AM
another great article I found.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-taran/adam-yauch-happiness_b_1501512.html
ADAM YAUCH: It's good that you're making the distinction between short-term and long-term. I think there is a big difference. Short-term could be almost anything that makes you feel good for the moment. In terms of lasting happiness, one way to look at it is that any happiness that you experience in life is the result of constructive or altruistic things that you've done. It's all kind of the karma of past actions. In the same sense, any unhappiness that you experience in the present is the result of selfish things that you've done in the past. One way to look at it is that if one wants to create more happiness in their life, then working towards doing more altruistic things or things to benefit other people is the way to get there. I don't know if that exactly answers your question in terms of the definition of what happiness is, but I'll throw that out there anyway.
ADAM: I definitely enjoy making music. I have fun hanging out with my daughter, my family, with my wife.
ADAM: I don't know if I have any good anecdotes for that. I think one of the most fulfilling things that I've been involved in was doing the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. That was pretty amazing. Seeing some of the results of that, or seeing what it meant to people, to the Tibetan people that are striving for independence. I think being involved in those concerts was pretty amazing.
ADAM: Everything we do affects other people. One doesn't have to be doing something that has some huge sweeping change on a lot of people at one time. Every way that we interact with other people, even if it's like, you're at the store and buying something -- it's the way that you interact with the clerk at the store. EVERY action that we take has some motivation of either being selfish or altruistic. All that adds up. I've heard the Dalai Lama talk about how it's important to watch your thoughts. Thoughts are what lead to actions. If you are striving to have more happiness in your life, it helps to guide your mind towards starting to recognize what are selfish motivations and what are constructive motivations. The more you look at that and recognize it, the more that's going to influence your actions.
ADAM: In terms of what inspired me to be involved with Tibet specifically is, I guess I just came across it. I was traveling in Nepal and met some Tibetans. They had just come over the Himalayas escaping from Tibet, and they were on their way to Dharmasala to see the Dalai Lama. I just got interested in why they were trying to escape from Tibet, and why they were so interested to get to the Dalai Lama. I started researching that a bit more. The more I looked into it, I just wanted to help out with that situation. Of course music is the best way for me to be able to be involved, because that's what I'm around. It just sort of made sense.
ADAM: I think I was in a place in my life where it was the right time for me to do that. I felt like I wanted to do something constructive, something that could possibly effect some positive change. It was strange for me doing it because I was very critical up to that point of musicians trying to do constructive things in the world.
A lot of times I'd see musicians out there doing benefit concerts or slinging some cause and I always felt like "Oh God, just shut up." It felt like a big risk because I knew that it would probably have pissed me off seeing someone else do it. But it just felt like something that I really wanted to be involved in, so I did it. Some people were pissed off about it. But there were some people that it had a real positive effect on. So, no regrets.
ADAM: Some people don't take it seriously. But some people do, so... It was interesting when we were on the Lollapalooza Tour, we brought out some Tibetan monks. This was even before the first Tibetan Freedom Concert. We brought a group of monks over from India and had them on the tour. There were certain times that the monks would go on stage and get booed. I remember in Philadelphia, people were throwing stuff at the monks. I don't remember if it was me, but somebody asked the monks, "Is this really worth it?" "Do you really think you should be here?" And one of them said "If this has a positive effect on even one person, then doing this whole tour is worth it." I'll always remember that.
ADAM: One thing that surprised me when I was first was meeting some of the monks and some of the teachers in the Tibetan tradition -- they have such a great sense of humor. They're dead serious about their studying in terms of their religion, but there's often a real sense of humor about life that surprised me. The Dalai Lama once tried to tickle me!
ADAM: It's pretty easy to see that wealth doesn't really equal happiness. We can, just by looking at the news you can see that a lot of people in the world who have ridiculous amounts of money are not too pleased with their lives, and spend a lot of time being unhappy.
This is part one, part two to follow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-taran/adam-yauch-happiness_b_1501512.html
ADAM YAUCH: It's good that you're making the distinction between short-term and long-term. I think there is a big difference. Short-term could be almost anything that makes you feel good for the moment. In terms of lasting happiness, one way to look at it is that any happiness that you experience in life is the result of constructive or altruistic things that you've done. It's all kind of the karma of past actions. In the same sense, any unhappiness that you experience in the present is the result of selfish things that you've done in the past. One way to look at it is that if one wants to create more happiness in their life, then working towards doing more altruistic things or things to benefit other people is the way to get there. I don't know if that exactly answers your question in terms of the definition of what happiness is, but I'll throw that out there anyway.
ADAM: I definitely enjoy making music. I have fun hanging out with my daughter, my family, with my wife.
ADAM: I don't know if I have any good anecdotes for that. I think one of the most fulfilling things that I've been involved in was doing the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. That was pretty amazing. Seeing some of the results of that, or seeing what it meant to people, to the Tibetan people that are striving for independence. I think being involved in those concerts was pretty amazing.
ADAM: Everything we do affects other people. One doesn't have to be doing something that has some huge sweeping change on a lot of people at one time. Every way that we interact with other people, even if it's like, you're at the store and buying something -- it's the way that you interact with the clerk at the store. EVERY action that we take has some motivation of either being selfish or altruistic. All that adds up. I've heard the Dalai Lama talk about how it's important to watch your thoughts. Thoughts are what lead to actions. If you are striving to have more happiness in your life, it helps to guide your mind towards starting to recognize what are selfish motivations and what are constructive motivations. The more you look at that and recognize it, the more that's going to influence your actions.
ADAM: In terms of what inspired me to be involved with Tibet specifically is, I guess I just came across it. I was traveling in Nepal and met some Tibetans. They had just come over the Himalayas escaping from Tibet, and they were on their way to Dharmasala to see the Dalai Lama. I just got interested in why they were trying to escape from Tibet, and why they were so interested to get to the Dalai Lama. I started researching that a bit more. The more I looked into it, I just wanted to help out with that situation. Of course music is the best way for me to be able to be involved, because that's what I'm around. It just sort of made sense.
ADAM: I think I was in a place in my life where it was the right time for me to do that. I felt like I wanted to do something constructive, something that could possibly effect some positive change. It was strange for me doing it because I was very critical up to that point of musicians trying to do constructive things in the world.
A lot of times I'd see musicians out there doing benefit concerts or slinging some cause and I always felt like "Oh God, just shut up." It felt like a big risk because I knew that it would probably have pissed me off seeing someone else do it. But it just felt like something that I really wanted to be involved in, so I did it. Some people were pissed off about it. But there were some people that it had a real positive effect on. So, no regrets.
ADAM: Some people don't take it seriously. But some people do, so... It was interesting when we were on the Lollapalooza Tour, we brought out some Tibetan monks. This was even before the first Tibetan Freedom Concert. We brought a group of monks over from India and had them on the tour. There were certain times that the monks would go on stage and get booed. I remember in Philadelphia, people were throwing stuff at the monks. I don't remember if it was me, but somebody asked the monks, "Is this really worth it?" "Do you really think you should be here?" And one of them said "If this has a positive effect on even one person, then doing this whole tour is worth it." I'll always remember that.
ADAM: One thing that surprised me when I was first was meeting some of the monks and some of the teachers in the Tibetan tradition -- they have such a great sense of humor. They're dead serious about their studying in terms of their religion, but there's often a real sense of humor about life that surprised me. The Dalai Lama once tried to tickle me!
ADAM: It's pretty easy to see that wealth doesn't really equal happiness. We can, just by looking at the news you can see that a lot of people in the world who have ridiculous amounts of money are not too pleased with their lives, and spend a lot of time being unhappy.
This is part one, part two to follow.