It seems no-one can answer that question. The strange thing is we certainly know what makes us unhappy. For me it was work, that’s why I’ve decided to give it up.
Now, for most people quitting a job in the middle of a recession with no alternative source of employment to jump into seems a bit of a nightmare. And, I will admit, it needs a bit of finance to make the move. I don’t even know if not having a job will actually make me happier, but I might as well give it a try.
Happiness anyway is a strange thing. I find it weird that almost all the analyses of whether we are happy or unhappy are psychological; it seems to make much more sense to look at it from an economic, political and sociological perspective.
Money does seem to buy some people happiness but it is also “the root of all evil.” Is that a circle we can square? Any economic and political investigation into happiness probably depends on your own world perspective. Do you buy the whole idea of individualism, making something of your life and reflecting your status in consumption? Then it’s pretty much taken that the modern world as it stands is a perfect fit for the way you want to live.
But if you are primarily social, on the left and understand Marx’s theory of alienated labour? Then doubts will start to appear, and after that cracks and before you know it you are not only questioning the whole edifice but taking a sledgehammer to it.
That’s where I’m at. Feeling the pressure to perform in the rat race simply to make profits for capitalists no longer fits. And as more and more (although not nearly enough) of us start to question big profits and big bonuses it is certain there must be a better way. Especially as capitalism is directly responsible for climate change and the possible long-term end of the planet and humanity.
I have laughed at all the self-help guides for improving our own lives for too long to think I have the answers. But these are my solutions, just for me.
I will only to earn enough money to survive. I will exchange my labour for cash only to the extent that it allows me to pay my bills and feed myself and my dependents.
I will offer more of my talents on a barter basis, exchanging work for skills, or possessions, that other people have and which may be of use to me.
I aim to reduce cash spending to an absolute minimum. Consumption for me, from now on, will be based only on need and not on desire (apart from my daily newspaper, two pints of beer in my weekly visit to the pub and occasional book purchases).
I want to reduce the damage I do to the environment. I will look for way to lower the amount of electricity I use and cut the amount of waste I produce.
When I read them back these seem like wooly-liberal aims. People will laugh and mock, I know, but I do want to disengage with a world I feel alienated from, full of daft consumerism, pointless desires and, dare I say it, unhappiness.
Sadly, too many people seem to know no other way. The world, it seems, has to exist on the circulation of money. People have to invest to create jobs, those workers have to be paid so they can spend money on things they don’t need so that other people can have jobs making the things they don’t need, so that they can have money, and on and on it goes.
And who benefits? Rich people. And how do they benefit? They go and consume, buying more and more things they don’t need to show off to others how wealthy they are in the hope they will gain more respect and status.
And who suffers? Poor people who can’t get jobs because economic priorities dictate that rich people can’t afford more luxuries if they employ them. Everyone, because all this madness just ends up creating demands on us that we can’t fulfil and desires that we can’t afford. Society, which goes up the spout because the pressure to succeed means we have no interest in helping others or time to see how we might need other people to make life better. And the environment. The world’s taking a pounding. The raw materials which are essential to drive forward our lifestyles get scarcer and people go to even more insane levels to find them, bringing destruction in the short term and environmental chaos in the years ahead.
What makes me unhappy ? Modern life. I’m vowing to give up as much of it as I can. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Now, for most people quitting a job in the middle of a recession with no alternative source of employment to jump into seems a bit of a nightmare. And, I will admit, it needs a bit of finance to make the move. I don’t even know if not having a job will actually make me happier, but I might as well give it a try.
Happiness anyway is a strange thing. I find it weird that almost all the analyses of whether we are happy or unhappy are psychological; it seems to make much more sense to look at it from an economic, political and sociological perspective.
Money does seem to buy some people happiness but it is also “the root of all evil.” Is that a circle we can square? Any economic and political investigation into happiness probably depends on your own world perspective. Do you buy the whole idea of individualism, making something of your life and reflecting your status in consumption? Then it’s pretty much taken that the modern world as it stands is a perfect fit for the way you want to live.
But if you are primarily social, on the left and understand Marx’s theory of alienated labour? Then doubts will start to appear, and after that cracks and before you know it you are not only questioning the whole edifice but taking a sledgehammer to it.
That’s where I’m at. Feeling the pressure to perform in the rat race simply to make profits for capitalists no longer fits. And as more and more (although not nearly enough) of us start to question big profits and big bonuses it is certain there must be a better way. Especially as capitalism is directly responsible for climate change and the possible long-term end of the planet and humanity.
I have laughed at all the self-help guides for improving our own lives for too long to think I have the answers. But these are my solutions, just for me.
I will only to earn enough money to survive. I will exchange my labour for cash only to the extent that it allows me to pay my bills and feed myself and my dependents.
I will offer more of my talents on a barter basis, exchanging work for skills, or possessions, that other people have and which may be of use to me.
I aim to reduce cash spending to an absolute minimum. Consumption for me, from now on, will be based only on need and not on desire (apart from my daily newspaper, two pints of beer in my weekly visit to the pub and occasional book purchases).
I want to reduce the damage I do to the environment. I will look for way to lower the amount of electricity I use and cut the amount of waste I produce.
When I read them back these seem like wooly-liberal aims. People will laugh and mock, I know, but I do want to disengage with a world I feel alienated from, full of daft consumerism, pointless desires and, dare I say it, unhappiness.
Sadly, too many people seem to know no other way. The world, it seems, has to exist on the circulation of money. People have to invest to create jobs, those workers have to be paid so they can spend money on things they don’t need so that other people can have jobs making the things they don’t need, so that they can have money, and on and on it goes.
And who benefits? Rich people. And how do they benefit? They go and consume, buying more and more things they don’t need to show off to others how wealthy they are in the hope they will gain more respect and status.
And who suffers? Poor people who can’t get jobs because economic priorities dictate that rich people can’t afford more luxuries if they employ them. Everyone, because all this madness just ends up creating demands on us that we can’t fulfil and desires that we can’t afford. Society, which goes up the spout because the pressure to succeed means we have no interest in helping others or time to see how we might need other people to make life better. And the environment. The world’s taking a pounding. The raw materials which are essential to drive forward our lifestyles get scarcer and people go to even more insane levels to find them, bringing destruction in the short term and environmental chaos in the years ahead.
What makes me unhappy ? Modern life. I’m vowing to give up as much of it as I can. I’ll let you know how I get on.
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