pop culture smiles
The more that you experience in this world, there is something that you will realize. You realize that life is difficult for everyone who walks into this plane of existence. You realize that no matter how much or how little money you have or the number or lack of friends will be able to change that basic fact of life. It is the first noble truth of buddhism. The only reason why you may not think that life is not suffering is because that is what society lets you to think. Pop culture happiness is rooted in material symbols of worth. Having something that someone else does not provides a way of giving meaning to some moments and few lives.
Many decades ago there existed a sage, Henry Louis Mencken, who defined wealth as earning a hundred dollars more than your wife's sister husband. This idea is how society allows people to feel happy. They allow you to compare yourself to someone below you on the social ladder and everytime you purchase something it lets you experience that sensation a new again and the only way to feel that feeling again is to keep purchasing something bigger and better. This also happens to be the definition of an addiction and that feeling of satisfaction lasts as long as the downward comparison is new.
Some may ask, "even if its wrong to compare, does it not still feel good?" The answer is yes, the perspective of a comparison does feel good, but the point is that the feeling of that moment does not last. Its the same reason why everyone talks about Mona Lisa's smile. Everytime you start moving your eyes away from the painting, it seems as though Mona Lisa is starting to smile. We keep looking back to see if the smile is still there, which is the same as today's pop culture smile. A new purchase and a new comparison down feels like a smile but as soon as we look back on it, happiness is usually not there.
Imagine being stranded on a deserted island, would the size of your house, the type of car you drove, the brand of clothing you are wearing even matter? The reason why it does not matter, is that you would no longer have the ability to see and compare yourself to society. You would not have a measure to compare yourself against and no longer have a method to get your easy fix of happiness.
A brand of happiness that tends to last for longer is comparing yourself to your parents. Have you ever asked yourself if you are happier than your parents? Is that not the dream of every parent? To give their child a life of experiences that allows an extension of their soul to be happier then themselves? Most of us are better off financially than our parents, but the happiness of this generation does not reflect that. Are you happier than your parents?
Many decades ago there existed a sage, Henry Louis Mencken, who defined wealth as earning a hundred dollars more than your wife's sister husband. This idea is how society allows people to feel happy. They allow you to compare yourself to someone below you on the social ladder and everytime you purchase something it lets you experience that sensation a new again and the only way to feel that feeling again is to keep purchasing something bigger and better. This also happens to be the definition of an addiction and that feeling of satisfaction lasts as long as the downward comparison is new.
Some may ask, "even if its wrong to compare, does it not still feel good?" The answer is yes, the perspective of a comparison does feel good, but the point is that the feeling of that moment does not last. Its the same reason why everyone talks about Mona Lisa's smile. Everytime you start moving your eyes away from the painting, it seems as though Mona Lisa is starting to smile. We keep looking back to see if the smile is still there, which is the same as today's pop culture smile. A new purchase and a new comparison down feels like a smile but as soon as we look back on it, happiness is usually not there.
Imagine being stranded on a deserted island, would the size of your house, the type of car you drove, the brand of clothing you are wearing even matter? The reason why it does not matter, is that you would no longer have the ability to see and compare yourself to society. You would not have a measure to compare yourself against and no longer have a method to get your easy fix of happiness.
A brand of happiness that tends to last for longer is comparing yourself to your parents. Have you ever asked yourself if you are happier than your parents? Is that not the dream of every parent? To give their child a life of experiences that allows an extension of their soul to be happier then themselves? Most of us are better off financially than our parents, but the happiness of this generation does not reflect that. Are you happier than your parents?
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