When Freud opens the chapter of civilization and its discontents, he does so with a vague idea of unlikelihood that people do not use false standards of measurement; ultimately opening the discussion with a personal judgement of others, rather than a blanket statement of human thoughts and ambition. Freud soon follows that with the judgment of people losing their “true value of life” in the search of these “false measurements”: that being power, success, and wealth, as well as admiring those traits in others.
These measurements however, while playing a large part in our unhappiness, are not without context. The context in question being the source of unhappiness, sources which threaten us with suffering: from our own body that is doomed to decay, from the external world and its overwhelming mercilessness, and relations with other men; it is within these contexts of suffering that the false measurements lead us to unhappiness.
Are we as humans, unhappy because we are searching for power, success, and wealth?
Or is it because we are bombarded from all sides with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty that the false measurements are the only antidotes?
Freud notes that the pursuit of happiness has two sides: a positive and a negative aim, that being the absence of pain and unpleasure, and on the other hand, at the experiencing of strong feelings of pleasure. That said, the first threat of suffering: our physical body, that which is dependent upon necessities to survive.
We need food in our stomachs, water to drink, medical treatment for when we are in pain or when we are sick, a roof over our heads in the winter at the bare minimum, and yet, it is in this world that we inhabit, that one is in need of power, success, and wealth to combat this threat.
As Freud says: “[…] so severe suffering is caused us if the external world lets us starve, if it refuses to sate our needs.” Supporting our priority in these false measurements because the priority in question is rooted in unhappiness.
The second threat of suffering is the external world, as Freud describes: “which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless forces of destruction.”, and is that not correct?
Perhaps a heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied, white man may not feel this threat as vividly as a disabled, black, trans woman who must dodge seething vitriol from multiple intersecting sources. Regardless of whether one has personal relative experience to this phenomenon, it is hardly rational to deny the existence all together. Once more, the false measurements of power, success, and wealth become the armour that will protect an oppressed person all the more in the face of this threat of suffering, although unfortunately, in this world, not remove them entirely from its destructive path.
Lastly, the final threat of suffering: our relations with other humans.
While Freud concedes that we may consider this threat to be regarded as a more gratuitous addition, he maintains that it is the most painful threat to us than any other. Once more, the false measurements graciously extend a lifeline out of the suffering; for the neglected child who grew up in poverty due to his parent’s struggle with addiction; for the woman who would leave her abusive husband; for the marginalized individual living in a society built upon white supremacist ideals that even their neighbour who earns a higher wage than them despite having the same job and who sneers at the colour of their skin. This threat of suffering is not only psychological, but physical in that the people around us have every capability of hurting us, both intentionally and unintentionally; potentially leaving both physical and psychological scars in their wake.
The conclusion, however, is that there is a catch all of these. The false measurements are—more often than not—a trap, and these threats of suffering, while the very definition of unpleasurable and painful to some degree, are inescapable.
This is because power, success, and wealth are measurements which are reserved for only a few, and too rarely does a measly peasant reach for it, and actually catch hold.
So, while these measurements may ensure our escape from suffering, and from unhappiness, they then become tools of which led to more unhappiness because we then question our worth and our ability for being unable to grasp them, convinced we are incapable, or inept in some manner. Further, it is so hard to live differently than what is prescribed to us because, in the end, we are powerless in the face of the social order that we have internalized deep in our psyches.
We will not act out, we will not stop paying rent, and we will not stop working like ants under a microscope held by some trust-fund brat on a sunny day because we have convinced ourselves that it could always be worse, therein furthering the path to happiness in our minds.
ma guarda quante stelle nel cielo 