Truth-Out - 12/05/13, JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Anyways, the point is that Americans are easy targets. The commercial world sells the illusion of happiness: the more you buy and have the happier you'll be, right? Wrong, observed the poet, Charles Bukowski:
the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill
But Americans fall for it every time, including the super rich who also believe that being happy has something to do with excessive wealth until they too fall into debt, not to mention how miserable they become from the ugly competition and the sick addiction to money and the material world.
The meaning of happiness is an ancient and still very relevant question to think about these days. Socrates believed that a happy life and a virtuous life are synonymous. Likewise, Epictetus taught that what matters most is what sort of person you are becoming, what sort of life you are living. Spinoza said that true happiness has nothing whatsoever to do with the acquisition of things and wealth.
But in our society?—happiness is all about conditioning, advertising and marketing.
More: Truth-Out.org
