Civilization's discontent

"For both (or either) Adam Curtis and Sigmund Freud, is it possible to be happy?  Why?"

According to Curtis' Happiness Machines, no, we currently are not and cannot be happy. We know at least the first of those to be true, as we know we ourselves are not happy, at least not entirely. We are too consumed by, well, consumerism to be happy, and this consumerism itself is what makes us unhappy, or keeps us that way. To save us from ourselves, apparently the animalistic and violent selves that we hide away, we are to be in a constant state of dissatisfaction. Curtis suggested that if we were allowed to be happy, this could be dangerous, as we would, sort of, 'let go' and release the inner desires and drives.

We are allowed little bits of happiness, to keep us from being entirely unhappy, but we are really never satisfied. Consumerist culture feeds on this, and we can never get enough. No matter how much we buy, how many items of clothing, jewellery, electronics, etcetera, we seem to never be completely satisfied.

According to Freud's psychodynamic theory of psychology, we have the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is our innermost desires and our primitive instincts, where our animalistic actions would come from. The id harbours our lust, glutton, and jealousy, and all other drives and desires that are meant to be kept suppressed. The ego is basically what we know we are supposed to do, it's the little angel on our shoulder, while the id is the devil on the other. If we only had an ego we would all, likely, be fantastic people, as none of our personal desires would really ever reach our consciousness. It would be like following only that little angel. Though, while we were following what we thought was good, we would never be serving ourselves, and be even more unhappy. This is what the superego is there for; it sort of mediates between the two. It takes into account what we want, and lets it come out in a way that is still socially acceptable. Instead of letting those desires be completely unattainable, we are allowed to experience them the 'proper' way in society. Not only the id is suppressed, but aspects of the ego are also, in a way, suppressed. We might, for example, not do something the ego wants, because it would hurt our pride. The superego, keeps us content, but not 100% satisfied.

It would appear as though we are doomed to an eternity, not of unhappiness, but one without ever being able to reach absolute happiness. I believe that, unless we are one of the odd few, that don't live within societal norms, and find their own ways around life, we cannot achieve absolute happiness. Although, even those living in some different way, will not be one-hundred percent happy, it is just not possible. This is kind of a sad truth, we can be happy, but there will always be something there to keep us from being completely happy.

Isn’t every human being’s goal to achieve absolute happiness? Civilization is discontent.