On Misery

I've decided that I agree with Jordan Peterson.

No, not that socialism is bad and inevitably leads to totalitarian regimes that commit mass murder and other atrocities. I think that's deeper than a system of government and is rooted in billions of years of human evolution. See Rome transforming from republic to the rule of Caesars, or the German republic of the early 1930's. Additionally. most of what American's are arguing for is not socialism, per se, but what the right brands as socialism to scare us out of the idea that, to use a football metaphor, we can beat the hell out of each other on the field of play and still make sure there are medical professionals there to help our opponents off the field, and that we should all be playing by roughly the same rules.

No - I agree with him that live is suffering, and you're not going fix that. If you find a moment of happiness, GREAT! Soak it up. You're a lucky, lucky bastard.

For the most part, though, you're not going to be happy. I think we're programmed to be unhappy, and no matter how good things get, to always be looking for something better.

(This serves an obvious evolutionary purpose that I can explain in comments on the off chance that anyone is interested. )

What we need to do is find a way to make our lives have enough purpose to justify the misery.

The real misery of my life is not in the details of my life. The details of my life are amazing. It's in the lack of purpose or feeling like I serve any function more useful than to make money for someone else.

I've found purpose over the years working with young people, but I always allow myself to start to feel overwhelmed and pull back. At 51 years of age, I suppose I should accept that as my nature and just ride that cycle.

So, recently (well, within the last couple years at any rate) I got overwhelmed and pulled back. Now I'm feeling the pointlessness of my existence. Guess it's time to find some meaning again.