“Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreed to have a battle. For Tweedledum said Tweedledee has spoiled his nice new rattle.”
Like Lewis Carroll’s crazy twins, two complementary quirks haunt human nature. They are connected in a weird symbiosis, “agreeing to have a battle”. One quirk is the pursuit of paradise. The second is the panic of paranoia.
One is a sweet sickness and the other sour.
The Pursuit of Happiness
The desire for paradise is humanity’s default setting. We want to be happy.
Indeed, in the land of the free and the home of the brave we are guaranteed “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The problem is in our definition of “happiness”. True happiness is the serendipitous result of self discipline, hard work, a deep awareness that each human life has eternal significance, and a way of life which expresses that awareness.
Unfortunately, we mistake pleasure for happiness.
In our pursuit of paradise we’re always looking for shortcuts. We opt for the quick fix, and because it never really satisfies, the search for nothing more than pleasure leads to addiction. We need that high. We need another hit.
Sure, the instant nirvana of drugs, drink or sex lets us down, but lest anyone…