Real Happiness

“Happiness is a state of being, not a state of having, and still today, as it always did, it depends on strong and stable personal relationships and a sense of meaning and purpose in life.”

“It is only in face-to-face encounters that we engage in empathic relationship, much of which has to do with personal presence, body language, facial gestures, touching and so on. Second Life is not real life. Virtual communities are not real communities. You can substitute electronic objects like e-books for their physical counterparts, but you cannot substitute e-people for living, breathing family and friends.”

The Great Partnership, Chapter 10, p. 177