Valentine’s Greetings/”Fifty Shades” vs Happiness

First, a message from our sponsors!

Secondly, news of my latest BuzzFeed blog, “Fifty Shades” vs Happiness. With the Valentine’s Eve launch of the movie version of “Fifty Shades of Grey” it seemed like a good time to ask: “What really makes us happy?”

Here is an excerpt.

So, to view or not to view Fifty Shades of Grey? That is the question. But is it just a moral or scientific question? Or could there be other reasons to pause before paying to enter the world of billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson)?

For instance, doesn’t the very mainstreaming of a sensual gratification that once seemed extreme tell us something about the insatiable nature of materially based pleasure-seeking? Doesn’t it point to a pattern we might recognise from our own lives, in which yesterday’s buzz soon becomes today’s bland, tempting us to embark on a downward spiral of seeking “more and better” yet finding mostly frustration and disappointment instead?

If so, then before going to see such a movie, it might be wise to ask: “Is this really the stuff of true happiness?”…

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