Member-only story
What Nobody Told Me About Happiness
These ideas about happiness changed my life for the better.
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other — not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” — Nelson Mandela
I once paid $500 for tickets to go to a show and listen to Jordan Peterson pace around on stage and tell me that happiness was unattainable.
He wrote something similar for his Guardian interview:
“It’s all very well to think the meaning of life is happiness, but what happens when you’re unhappy? Happiness is a great side effect. When it comes, accept it gratefully. But it’s fleeting and unpredictable. It’s not something to aim at — because it’s not an aim. And if happiness is the purpose of life, what happens when you’re unhappy? Then you’re a failure. And perhaps a suicidal failure. Happiness is like cotton candy. It’s just not going to do the job.”
Jordan Peterson in that moment reminded me of the boys with half-lidded eyes that used to whisper to me love wasn’t real. They thought they were great philosophers telling me that every good emotion I felt was just a bunch of chemicals, and romance was fleeting. We were all just sweaty apes mashing genitals together. Everyone died and nothing lasted, so love was just something…
