We don’t know how to define it. Seeking it makes us envious. Achieving it makes us bored and apathetic. Nonetheless, it is the expected outcome. Define it? And contrary to what Bill Clinton said, “it” does not depend on what the meaning of the word is is". Whatever the hell that means. According to the Beatles,`` it`` is a warm gun. ``It`` is ``happiness`` and according to Pascal Bruckner, a French writer and philosopher, we shouldn`t strive to be happy. Hey, I`m all over this.
Bruckner views happiness as a moment of enchantment. Many things could be defined as such for instance orgasm. (It`s only an example but if I could bottle that I would not only be happy, I would be very, very rich.) Bruckner believes Society has an unrealistic notion of happiness. Happiness, he says is ``everything we do not have``. Yikes!
The founding fathers gave us "certain unalienable rights" that among these are ``Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It`s my right damn it. But according to Bruckner, during the 1960’s we passed from the right to be happy to the duty to be happy. That is when as consumers, Capitalism was concerned about our happiness and there were no obstacles in our way to achieve it. We felt guilty to be unhappy. As a result, multiple therapies to help us find happiness emerged. We mediated and medicated ourselves and searched for the fountain of youth, believing happiness to be synonymous with survival.
So the question posed now by Pascal is, should we deprive ourselves of human pleasure and seek longevity or should we do what we like; live life to the fullest; live as if each day were our last? What will make us happy? I’m depressed just thinking about.
No comments:
Post a Comment