Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide by Frederic Lenoir

Author:Frederic Lenoir
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781612194417
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2015-04-06T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

From Desire to Boredom: When Happiness Is Impossible

Life swings like a pendulum backwards and forwards between pain and ennui.1

—Schopenhauer

The aim of natural selection is the survival of the species, not the happiness of individuals. In order to adapt and survive, we have developed three abilities that may be obstacles to individual happiness:

Custom is an adaptive quality that enables us to tolerate something annoying and repetitive. However, it has two drawbacks: we may become accustomed to a certain unhappiness and stop seeking for happiness; and conversely, we can become accustomed to well-being and lose our awareness of our happiness.

This phenomenon is intensified by the fact that, in order to ward off dangers more effectively, we become more aware of negative events than of positive events. Our brains are made to detect problems and focus on them rather than to dwell on positive events.

Finally, dissatisfaction makes us strive constantly for more and better things: this is how human beings have ceaselessly tried to improve their lot. Now, this adaptive quality may well become an obstacle to happiness when we prove to be permanently dissatisfied.

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