Against Happiness

 Against Happiness: The Most Facile Emotion   

       It is obvious if you open your eyes, that happiness is the most facile and naive of emotions. Infants, puppies and kittens, in fact most animals show signs of happiness and joy almost from the moment of birth. Foals run around, kicking and bolting at the wonder of their legs and no one would deny that one feels joy at the sight of a gamboling young animal. The happiness is infectious, contagion spreads through smiles and laughter. A simple emotion can crowd out all worldly concerns, at least for the moment. But that is long enough for most. Long enough to enjoy a laugh and turn away from the problems we produce daily. Happiness and willful ignorance are allies, supporting each other through a denial of gravity and urgent attention to unpleasantness.
     Be happy. The world is obsessed with this absurd longing. I know I am not alone in seeing the temporary and spontaneous nature of this emotion. I know that other adult humans talk about happiness as truth, as self love, as the point and purpose of life.  The obvious absurdity is treated as a prize or gift, "I am happy" says my companion. I look and see the same person next to me as 5 minutes ago, when he was complaining about some problem he had. Now he is magically transformed by a pleasant greeting, a smiling face and tossed hand waving drive all complexity of life away like scattered sheep.
     I believe human dignity requires a degree of seriousness. One does not resolve challenges by simply smiling at them; one addresses them with calm composure in some cases or with frantic action in others.        But happiness makes this approach impossible. Happiness requires that we notice only what is pleasant. It is a peculiar talent that translates pain into pleasure and of it produces satisfaction and a degree of joy. Most humans eschew any relation with the painful and unpleasant, running at the first sign of difficulty and complexity, 2 qualities found in ample supply in human affairs.
Among the issues with happiness, this last point shows the risks involved in ignoring the unpleasant. Things go unattended, the center does not hold and chaos ensues bringing untold misery in its wake.
Running away does nothing to make a bad situation better. Distance is denial, indiscipline and irresponsibility when presence, composure and a clear head are needed. The denial compounds the errors, the problem grows with each face turned away. Like magpies who collect shiny objects, humans generally horde happiness, repeating the pleasant and facile, this joy is artificial. This is willful ignorance, a bouquet of failures of immaturity, insincerity and irrationality. It is found in  "team spirit", sophomoric playing and risk and adrenaline sports... (to be continued.)



"Quo Vadis?", ink on paper, EXGomez   2025

 

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