Are You happy?

Soon we must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy.

There is a general tendancy to simplify the world we live in, because the complexity of the overall dynamic of human society is overwhelming. If we can move to a single premise as a starting point, then that would probably be that Freewill is an absolute. Despite our many differences, and despite varying degrees of Freedom and Liberty found throughout the world, at some basic level every individual is endowed with the sense of self as independent from the world in which they live.

Yet even this premise is a simplification, for the self is immediatly compromised by the many roles in which the individual finds themselves in the transitioning of society. At one time, a son or daughter, the next moment the guise of Mother or Father, and then as Grandparent. These roles while exclusive to each other, may be found in an individual simultaneously, as well as the role of commuter, employee, consumer, and so forth. It is through this that the sense of self is transfered to many senses of self.

At the next level the sense of many selves finds itself in interaction with the outside world by the necessity of life itself. In order to survive, there is the need to gather the basic resources to sustain life. Through this interaction, both cooperative and competitive, alliances are formed with the outside world, which lend to the sense of tribalism.

As society progresses in its ever widening circles we find cultural identities such as nationality, religion, minority demographics, political parties, families, corporations and so forth. Yet these sociological identities are ultimately comprised of individuals, and as such they manifest the strengths and the weaknesses inherit to the individuals they represent.

To evaluate then the inner-nature of man from a Bibical sense, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1
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They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips
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and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.
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They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
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Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

From a pschycological sense one need only to look at the writings of Sigmund Freud.

The human pshyce is split herein to three basic levels, the Id, or the pleasure principle, the Ego, or the Reality principle (defined as what is ordinarily called problem solving or thinking) and the Super-Ego, which is the moral or judicial branch of the personality.
When removed from the subjective sense of self and placed into the objective state of society, we see that the primary impulse of a community is to satisfy the pleasure principle, and yet to do this requires a course of action. This process leads to the formation of an ideology to justify the action so as to satisfy the needs of the inner-child.

It is for this reason that we say that torture is justified if it saves lives. The conscience is herebye justified that it has served the greater good, the ego satisfied that its course of action is logical in obtaining its end through logical means, and the Id satisfied that it has punished its oppressor.

Now in fairness, while my criticism was made in regards to the right, it is equally true of the Left. I for one do not consider myself immune from the follies of mankind. There are many things I have done that I regret. In this I would only justify with the knowledge that no-one holds a monopoly on truth, superior virtue, or the concept of right and wrong. (Including myself)

This at last brings me to the question of Happiness. As a utilitarian I hold that good is what promotes the most happiness to society abroad, evil is what promotes misery and despair to society.

In reference to this, I have been challenged on my support of Freud. The general criticism that his writings are perverse. To this I agree, because the human mind is perverse. Hence the conclusion that how can good promote happiness, if humanity is perverse by nature?
This is a good question, however it is based on a misunderstanding of happiness.

From a platonic sense there is the illusion of happiness, and the reality of happiness. For instance while smoking might give someone a tempory sense of satisfaction, in the long run it is harmful to the individual, both from a health perspective, and financially. hence the conclusion that smoking does not in fact promote happiness.

From a more pragmatic sense, this rational could be said to justify war if it is in defense of the weak and the innocent. The problem with this rational is that it does not calculate the perpetual cycle of violence that is facilitated by the state of war. Even if all goes well in our current war with Iraq, and we leave the region with a stable government, will this stop the next war? The United States has been in a state of war almost every 20 years since its inception. No victory has changed that, so it is safe to assume by our track record, that we will soon enter another war. To this end, diplomacy serves the greater happiness than war.

Today we face important issues as a nation. The War on Terror, Immigration Reform, Poverty, Medical insurance, Dollar hemegony, a sky-rocketing Defecit, Crime, our Education system, and so forth.

It is time that we as a society start working together to solve these important issues in such a way so as to provide stability to our nation, and our world to promote this concept of the greatest happiness or good.