Without Knowing What Pain Is
What is happiness? I've thought about it. I've studied hard, loved art, and lived my life that way, but isn't it true that the harder I try, the further away I get from the average? Acquiring intelligence and culture, and engaging with the world with a delicate artistic sensibility, can that make me happy? Politics and elections might be similar. I think populism is bullshit, but the public opinion expressed in a democracy is nothing more than an average. Studying sociology and political science, harboring noble ideas that deviate from the average, only to vote for a minority party that can't win, only to always end up defeated, fed up with the majority and accumulating stress. Is that really happiness? If that's the case, perhaps I could live a happier life by distancing myself from production and spending my life as a consumer, living a vague life without thinking too deeply and with values that don't stray too far from the average. If I could live without knowing what pain is, that might be happier. I'd also be less likely to despair. I think about it, but in the end, ethics and conscience take over my mind, and I'm reminded of Huckleberry Finn.