Why Everything Is Wonderful But Nobody’s Happy, And What To Do About It Never before in human history have so many, with so much, been so miserable. See, happiness requires the risk of unhappiness. The alternative to loneliness is the risk of heartbreak.By Nathanael Blake
August 28, 2018 We were supposed to be happy. Americans live in a time of comparative peace and unprecedented prosperity, with technological wonders and remarkable personal liberty.
For most of us, the old indignities of life are gone or greatly reduced. We have light and water—hot or cold—on command, our bodily waste is flushed away, and we live with central heating and cooling. Indeed, for many of us, sweating, stinking, and suffering are what we do for exercise or recreation, not inescapable features of life. Endless entertainment and nearly boundless education are available for the price of a smartphone and an internet connection, or just a library card.
Yet the symptoms of civilizational despair are persistent and worsening. The doleful litany is familiar: Fertility and life expectancy are down; suicides are up; overdose deaths are way up. The press recently informed us that deaths from alcohol abuse are up. The comforts of modern life have not made us happy, even as material comforts that were once exclusive to the rich have become the norm. Never before in human history have so many, with so much, been so miserable.
Nor has sexual liberation, the last, best hope for materialist pleasure, brought general happiness. In a prescient essay, Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, “Sex is the only mysticism materialism offers, and so to sex the pursuers of happiness address themselves with an avidity and dedication seldom, if ever, surpassed.â€
Sexual pleasure seems to offer a glimmer of transcendence, so we try to cheat the reaper with each petite mort. But widespread sexual indulgence has left our culture so far from sexual bliss that even The New York Times is running columns lamenting our sexual dystopia.
With Greater Desires Come Greater Corruption<..snip..>
http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/28/everything-wonderful-nobodys-happy/