BLOG REVISION: So what do we REALLY want?

Question: For both (or either) Adam Curtis and Sigmund Freud, is it possible to be happy? Why?

I have always been a firm believer that happiness is a choice. I have also strongly believe that although we don't always have control over our circumstances, we have control over our attitude towards them and ultimately, control over our own happiness and unhappiness. Watching Adam Curtis' depiction of humans as "happiness machines" and reading Freud's strong sentiments regarding civilization and our many discontents posed a number of questions for me: Is it possible to be truly happy? And if so, why do we always seem to want MORE? I personally don’t think that neither Freud nor Curtis find happiness to be impossible. Perhaps they are just very observant of how easily susceptible we are to dissatisfaction.

For Freud or Curtis to say that happiness is impossible would be like saying that it’s impossible to do well on a test when you have your cellphone beside you and Facebook as a chief distraction. Honestly, I think it’s INCREDIBLY difficult to study when there are so many distractions, and it is hard to set your mind on the long-term desire of getting good grades versus the short-term desire of being on top of your Facebook notifications. But it’s not impossible. To some degree, I feel as if this is how Curtis and Freud view the concept of happiness—attainable, but indefinite; a constant discernment process between short and long-term wants. 

Both Curtis and Freud emphasized that humans are driven by the "pleasure principle". We want to do things that'll make us happy. And we want to avoid situations that'll make us unhappy. I can’t really disagree. But the interesting part about life is that we can never guarantee that we’ll get exactly what we want all the time. And in a way, that conflicts with Freud’s idea of the “id” and its notion of unconscious desire. If it’s not guaranteed that we’ll get exactly what we want, how much harder is it to attain it if we don’t even really know what we want anyways? The fact that sentence is such a mouthful already feels like a reason to be discontent—that feeling of uncertainty is so awkward and unsettling.

I think that it’s human nature to crave a sense of certainty. For example, we might want to go to school so we have a higher chance of getting a good job, so we have a higher chance of having a high salary, so we have sufficient funds to pay for what we need and even enough for additional luxuries (like an extra car). That might not apply to everyone. But I’m sure that everyone can relate to the struggle to remain successful, and the frustrations that come with trying your best to ensure success with the constraints of time and money. (Not to mention everyone’s varying definitions of success). Maybe it’s easier to be upset about not having something as opposed to being content about working through hardship to get what you want.  In that sense, I could see Freud and Curtis’ point is that in spite of how much happiness we "attain", there will always be some reason why we will find ourselves unhappy.

Freud says that the main reason why we find ourselves "discontent" is because we are constantly repressed. I could agree with that to some extent. If I wanted to go out with my friends and my parents told me I couldn’t go, I would be somewhat disappointed. Yet no matter how much resentment or anger I might feel, I would be discouraged to act upon those feelings because it is wrong. Does that make it right? Does that mean I would be truly unhappy because I couldn't act upon these instinctual feelings? In this hypothetical scenario, I could consider myself to be unhappy, but not so dissatisfied that I would refuse to love my parents anymore. Maybe what Freud and Curtis mean is that we're not always going to be ecstatic, peppy human beings because we won't always get what we want when we want it. But is happiness really about HAVING?

The question may not even be whether it is possible to be happy, but whether or not we really know what we want. I don't even know if Freud and Curtis have the answer to that. And with all of this “unconscious desire” business, we might not even know exactly what some of those desires are. At the same time, I don't think we as people will ever know exactly what we want, other than to be happy—whatever that means for people.

I obviously can’t speak for Freud or Curtis in saying whether or not they think it’s completely possible or impossible to happy. But I think that they do believe happiness is achievable; they just might find it much easier to entertain discontentment.