this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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I’ve gone through a lot of crap to learn and really believe that happiness and contentment can only come from within. The outside world has a lot to offer, but it will never give you that.
Unfortunately the outside world and circumstances CAN make it pretty damn difficult or impossible.
It’s a cliche to think of a monk or philosopher saying stuff like “if you want to be happy, be happy,” but that’s a lot of how I I’ve come to see it. And obviously it’s not that simple, we are pretty damn complicated, but that’s the spirit behind it.
I get what you're saying. There are ways to think that can help people feel happier or better on a personal, individual level. Thats more or less what some forms of therapy can do for people, and its a very good thing, again on an individual level.
But the context in that piece, and where i would put the emphasis, is that its an example of capitalist alienation and atomization. There's no individual answer to that. It's something that is pushed onto all of us through our relationship to capital, and to truely end that malaise, we need to work toward ending capitalism itself.
There is a correct amount of resources. Too much and you lose touch with reality. To little and the weight of reality is too much to bear. Happiness comes from within but unhappiness can very much come from outside forces.
Ignorance is bliss. It's also the problem.