The human pursuit of happiness

Sigmund Freud

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A recurring idea throughout the new, Civilization as well as its Discontents, is definitely the dogged objective of the human race attempting to attain happiness, although always struggles. “Life, even as find it, is too hard for us, it offers too many discomfort, disappointments and impossible tasks” (Freud 41). Many live out their lives seeking joy through their gods, people, and by striving to maintain fulfillment throughout the several facets of their lives. Kind of products they learn the fact that satisfaction is merely temporary and the displeasures anytime always build up and reduce their state of happiness. “The contention keeps that what we call our world is largely accountable for our unhappiness, and that you should be much more content if we gave it up and returned to primitive conditions” (Freud 58). While this is certainly believed by many, it is not a legitimate statement. Even though our current civilization has its set of unique problems developed by the developments in technology and the tips of the current inhabitants of Earth, previously civilizations as well had a specific set of conditions that deterred all of them from their best state of happiness. Various extremely varied societies on the long time period have tried to overcome this problem of disappointment with no accomplishment. No matter the form of civilization, person will always need more and have the desire to come out on top of his competition: his neighbors. The purpose of all civilizations is to achieve a lasting delight, however , mankind will never be in a position to truly preserve this happiness because of the complexities of existence and nature as well as the method that humans interact with each other when placed in society.

The Communist movement a new goal to obtain and maintain a long-lasting happiness simply by creating an ideal society in which everyone was viewed as equal, but as one can determine, they did not really pass the test of time as they are certainly not currently in power in many of the world. The Communists believed that they acquired found the recipe to get solving the unhappiness of mankind although abolition of personal property: “If private home were abolished, all wealth held in common, and everyone allowed to share in the enjoyment of it, ill-will and hostility would disappear amongst men” (Freud 97). Their very own movement could gain momentum quickly since, instead of the fraction revolting, the significant class, which has been the majority of the population, now wanted this change. Their pitch, however , did not last long and fell short of this aim of finish happiness even though humans will be wired to be competitive and aggressive with each other.

“Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, junker and serf, guild-master and journeyman, more simply, oppressor and oppressed, position constantly against each other, continued an uninterrupted combat, now open, now concealed, a rivalry which always finished either in a revolutionary transformation of the whole of culture or inside the common wreck of the contending classes” (Marx Engels 126).

As property and items that identified class were shared among the citizens of the Communist get together, the Communists determined that there could no longer be cultural classes. Your competitors that came as social rates of the individuals would obviously just vanish because everyone would have the means to survive. This theory is also completely wrong because, although it may work in a short time, it is human nature to be greedy and have the desire to be one step ahead of their neighbors. “We wish simply to suppress the miserable personality of this prise, by which the worker only lives in in an attempt to increase capital, and only lives so long as the interests from the ruling class demand it” (Marx Engels 137). The “other” that Freud famously refers to in the book, Civilization and its Discontents, relates to the ruling class that Marx and Engels refer to in their manifesto. This idea of all the different types of residents uniting to face this ominous “other” could keep everyone together in a happy, effective society for some time. It would not really last forever although because at some point, when they eliminate the “other”, the human characteristics of competition would present once again and there would no longer be a great enemy uniting them all for any single trigger. The residents, especially the earlier upper class residents who yearned for capital gain, could retaliate in order to find ways to gain just the slightest advantage above their peers. This would sooner or later cause the demise with the Communist country because the joy temporarily obtained by doing work for the good with the state and not having to worry about rendering the basic ways of survival for your own family could crumble as select individuals became more efficient over other folks as they received the small advantage from normal competition and greed.

In the novel, Reading Lolita in Tehran, the regime attempted to create a culture that exhibited their opinions of a excellent world to be able to achieve delight, but they had failed. “In the initial photograph, position there inside our black attire and neckties, we are as we had been shaped by another person’s dreams. Inside the second, we all appear even as we imagined ourselves” (Nafisi 24). The initially picture represents a dream that the official ayatollah had arrive to make a fact when he reached rule and tried to generate his ideal world. This kind of society oppressed women and achieved it required by law that they wear the veil. Although it was at one time a symbol to symbolize one’s loyalty to her religious beliefs, peace, and happiness, it was now a great oppressive symbol, created from the dream of a person who had no reverence for females. This oppressive society does not work out at creating happiness because, although a majority of the male residents were content and flourished in this program, all females citizens was required to live in dread and would not have even the slightest possibility to be happy. “The revolution features emptied their very own heads of any contact form or believed, and our intelligentsia, the cream of the crop, is not a better” (Nafisi 200). The new revolutionized world made almost all of its people blind that they were genuinely unhappy and persuaded these to believe that that they had it good and were lucky. That taught these people that outside nations, such as the United States of America, had been very immoral, awful areas to live and should be ruined so that they might not influence the citizens with this new contemporary society. “Living in the Islamic Republic is like having sex with a person you loathe” (Nafisi 329): Nafisi is placing the action of moving into this constricting society about the same disgusting level as afeitado. This displays just how disappointed and handled the minorities are from this twisted society created by the ayatollah. Males had cost-free reign and may do quite simply whatever made them content. They would have multiple girlfriends or wives, control every major decision their spouses made, as well as beat all of them when they had been unhappy with them. This type of society plus the happiness that brought to a pick few, of course , could not last forever, those who felt as if these people were being oppressed would at some point take action and little by little take back the culture they when knew to be able to attempt to get their fleeting happiness and destroy the tasteless happiness of their oppressors.

Many societies have come and gone, but the one thing that can relate every one of them is their never ending struggle pertaining to eternal happiness. Some possess turned to different gods, social structures, as well as the oppression of different sets of people to find this joy, but it is usually temporary. The Communists tried to achieve joy by setting the playing field equal for all contenders in life, even though the Islamic Republic went relating to this task simply by raising up the men and looking down on women and other countries. While there was happiness for a short period of time, it sooner or later died out once human nature kicked in. People slowly begun to have desires to succeed of their friends and neighbors and be hostile with one another. These kinds of urges led to people who were discontent with life and wanted serious change. Thereby, as hard as people try to achieve a lasting pleasure, they will by no means be able to fully grasp this because of the way these were wired when they were made, they will always be looking for the next greatest factor to save them from the tough reality of life, but to no avail because, regardless of what they choose, it will constantly fail to supply them with eternal delight.

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