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>Some can manage it, but for some it gets to be too much.. simple things, such simple things... most can do it, their whole lives, they just do it, why can't we
by aphextron 5y ago
>Some can manage it, but for some it gets to be too much.. simple things, such simple things... most can do it, their whole lives, they just do it, why can't we?
Because there's more to life than personal happiness. Struggle is the definition of life. It's what gives anything meaning. People have families that they support, and being that thankless workhorse for them ends up being a deeper satisfaction than personal moment to moment happiness. We could all go sit in cabins in the woods and whittle away on sticks until we die and probably be "happier". But if a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? That is to say, does a person in isolation enjoying their own happiness have any meaning whatsoever?
- swagasaurus-rex 5y agoWhy not both personal moment to moment happiness, and also be able to provide a living for oneself and a family? There are some things worth struggling against, but I see no better reason to quit than a pointless struggle.
- defterGoose 5y ago| That is to say, does a person in isolation enjoying their own happiness have any meaning whatsoever? Does grinding oneself into dust at a thankless job for a faceless corporation in the name of perpetual economic "growth" at the cost of the entirety of survivable nature as we know it have any meaning whatsoever? Because that's the flipside of what you're saying. It may not be possible for us to go back to a time before modern technology, medicine, etc (or maybe its more likely than we think), but is it any wonder that so many peoples' brains yearn for something like that? The definition of life may be struggle, as you say, but struggle without self-determination may be the very thing that kills whatever "human" is.
- RobRivera 5y agoI'm a nihilist, nothing has meaning. jk, but seriously, meaning is subjective, and nihilism is a thing. one mans isolation may mean worlds to him, and thats good enough. also, careful about shaming people for being content with personal happiness...for some thats an accomplishment.
- TheGigaChad 5y agoHave you tried blinding yourself? This way even the most mundane of all actions will be a struggle and you will get satisfaction out of going to the toilet without bumping into the sofa for example.
- blaser-waffle 5y agoNo one is discounting struggle. But everyone is discounting struggling for faceless corporate entities that do not and will never give a shit about you.
- newobj 5y agoYIKES frame this in the dictionary under “Internalized Capitalism”