Happiness is for Sheep

The hyperaware are obliged to suffer

Image by Quang Nguyen Vinh, from Pexels

Are you happy? Striving to be satisfied with your lot in life, as dictated by what William Davies calls the “happiness industry”? Are you consuming as much as possible so as not to miss out on the latest social media trend?

I sincerely hope not.

The Happiest Creatures

Ask yourself which creatures on earth are generally the most content with how their life is going. You can eliminate the wild animals, since they evolved to be paranoid, constantly looking over their shoulder either for predators or for competitors within their ranks. Even the happiest wild animals, the top predators, are increasingly stressed by human encroachment, as we expand our artificial zones and drain the planet’s resources.

Insects and one-celled organisms can be disregarded in that context, since they lack the brain power to feel much in the way of pleasure or contentment.

We can eliminate also our species from the list, since we’re generally too hyperaware and self-centered to be at peace, as the Eastern religions make clear. We’re so narrowly focused on our exclusive welfare that we’re easily affronted by even slight impediments to our state of pseudo-Zen, as when the power goes out and interrupts our time with Netflix or when…