Words of Wisdom?

Recently a friend asked me how I remain happy in today's world. This is my quick response.

It is my belief that Americans are brainwashed to be consumers. We are told that we must have this life or that life in order to live a good life. Of course, that good life usually revolves around stuff. This has been drilled into our heads since birth and it is part of who we are. We have been told that we should have everything we want otherwise we will not be happy, so you better go get those things if you don't yet have them. These things are not only material objects or consumer goods but wealth and "love." We are told we need to be happy but how can one get happy, they get stuff to make them happy, but what if they can't get that stuff? Now they aren't happy and they were told that they are supposed to be happy so this leads them to be even unhappier. It is a vicious cycle.

So what is one to do? Like addiction recovery, one has to admit that they are brainwashed. It isn't the easiest thing to do because it started in infancy. My parents didn't have TVs until they were around five years old, and had been able to have some quiet time for mental development, and even they ended up brainwashed. So for us people who were brought up around the TV it is wired into our brains. Repudiating the television and its message is not easy. It's much like an abused child not wanting to admit that they have been abused but we have been. Everything the TV and our culture have fed us, in regards to the good life, has to be discarded. In order to rid oneself of its brainwashing one might have to attack it or abandon it until one is on the path to recovery. I am saying this with all seriousness. I am not being tongue in cheek.

What matters in life? Figuring this out is paramount to being content. I think happiness is an illusion. It is a fleeting thing. People come into it periodically as positive things happen but just as everything else it goes away. As I wrote earlier, the television has got people to think that they have to be happy when it is, really, unachievable on the scale and length they imply is possible. Actually, not "possible" but expected instead. I think it was Kant who made the claim that sustained periods of happiness are not achievable. So ridding oneself of the notion that they should be "happy" is necessary. That too is a hard task for someone growing up and living in this culture.

But back to the question, "what really matters in life?" I think that if one really thinks seriously and honestly about that, the answers will come pretty easy. For example, my answer would be, my loved ones and friends, my health and well being, knowledge and truth, ethics and fairness, and a roof over my head. Sure iPods and toys are cool and everything but they really don't matter. They can make life a little more enjoyable as entertainment but they have no real value, except the hundreds of dollars Apple charges.

Don't get me wrong, iPods are nice and the ability to have them is even nicer. By living in America, at this moment in time, we are some of the luckiest people to have ever lived. We have absolutely no problems finding enough food today since one can find a full meal for three bucks or less. Our health and well-being is unlike any time in history and should only continue to improve up until the Superbugs begin to emerge and kill us all. We have heat, electricity, tons of toys and a smidgen of basic rights guaranteed to us. (Hi Vice President Cheney)

Sure it is also depressing that living in America, at this time, makes us the meanest, greediest, most imperialist bullies. We are okay with torturing people, invading nations and flaunting international norms but things change. It sometimes requires action but things do change for the better. Never before had a war been protested before it began, even if it didn't stop it.

The basic level of freedoms we have is amazing and taken for granted. All one has to do is look around a world map and they will find that there are few countries where people have the rights, got through popular struggle, that we in the West have. We can basically do and say whatever we want.

I think Bertrand Russell was right when he said that time enjoyed wasted is not wasted time. I think too, that he argues in In Praise of Idleness that whole point of working is leisure time. Do what you enjoy as often as you can and see work and money as means not ends.

Of course it isn't possible to never be upset or depressed. Humans have developed the emotions we have for a reason. Unfortunately they can be destructive if not managed so we need to be able to recognize them. It may not be the easiest task but we should try to be able to look at ourselves in the third person.

None of this is easy. It is constant work. It isn't like you flip a switch and you now have a new outlook on life and "job over." Life is difficult and it continuously throws shit at us that we don't like. Our culture is a toxic one. We are forced to work too much and under too much stress but we have to keep in mind that we aren't making shoes for Nike in Indonesia. If we just sit back and expect that we won't be affected by the outside world we are headed for disaster. Again, Russell said, "The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible." We have to acknowledge it, overcome it and try to live a content life.

Oh ya, and listen to punk rock.