Wherein lies man’s happiness

Peter Kopa, 30.5.2022, essay, – The English version follows below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkysPxt0MZU

The fundament of natural law

No one came into the world of his own free will, and no one can avoid death. By natural law, what the human person most desires is to be truly happy, pursuing the good according to the dictates of his conscience. And he knows, by a healthy instinct, that the happiness of the man of today and of always cannot depend neither on money, nor on greater or lesser intelligence, nor on titles and positions in society, but has to do with paternal and filial love, with the appreciation of relatives and friends.

If this were not so, the natural order would be unjust and ‘undemocratic’, because the highest realization would be dependent on random factors that man cannot control. This we are told by the ancient wisdom of the great Greek and Judeo-Christian philosophers, nurtured for four thousand years. According to my observations and experiences I believe that most men are happy, without knowing it, although so many times the problems and sacrifices of everyday life give them the impression that they are not.

Moreover, man has the intuition that there is something else behind the stars and time, an infinite and eternal transcendent person as the cause of the universe: this universal conviction gave birth to various natural religions in which the person longs for and worships God. According to the Judeo-Christian faith, God made himself known in revelation, which gave birth to the Judeo-Christian civilization, which set the conditions for its flourishing four thousand years ago.

The vision of Jordan Peterson

This great intellectual has opened new horizons of knowledge and millions follow him in the media. However, it seems to me that he insists too much on the fact that every human life would be full of suffering. I believe that, in his process of approaching the Christian faith, the moment will come when with great intellectual joy he will accept the reality of the joy that man has in the supernatural dimension of divine filiation.

The problem of materialistic rationalism

However, we must agree with Jordan Peterson regarding the generalized suffering, if we start from the unfortunate fact that a great part of people today have blocked access to God, due to rationalistic materialism. It is not enough just to have information about God, but the personal relationship with him arises on the basis of examples from parents and then from so many other educational instances, within a cultural atmosphere open to the divine.

The greatest catastrophes that have existed in all times take place within the souls that do not want to or cannot make the leap to the transcendent sphere of God, in spite of their own conscience inclining them to do so. This real drama has multiple manifestations in history and always makes others suffer as well: lying, infidelity, theft, sensual debauchery, alcohol and drug abuse, etc. However, not few manage to free themselves from this situation if someone offers them a hand and if they have the firm desire to profoundly reform themselves in their inner world.

The wonder of technical and scientific progress

But I think it is a prejudice to think that our way of life, so full of images, media and advertising seductions, is worse than it was a few centuries ago: it is believed that then life was a kind of idyll in a pristine nature in the midst of morally healthier people. The fact that rapid technological advances continually place us before new morally relevant circumstances demands of us a constant training that enables us to be strong in the face of seduction. This means above all a hierarchy of values oriented towards the fulfillment of the natural law summarized in the ten commandments.

With this inner formation, technical developments, the comfort and efficiency they provide, and the abundance of everything, are integrated into the life of each person as advantages that lead to optimally actualizing his talents and abilities. Never has man lived so well as in the last decades, in terms of material means and services. Productivity is rising so fast that we will probably have to move to six-hour working hours in the future.

Thus man will finally have the time he has always wanted to devote to his family, to his interests and, above all, to his continuous spiritual formation, so as not to be dragged down by the seductions of a world that is at his feet, being the dominator of things.

Homesickness

Those who have allowed themselves to be dazzled and seduced by a flat consumerist life, instead of enjoying the great abundance of things, allow themselves to be consumed by it. This is typical of materialistic spirits, which evolve towards a hardness that is not very human, towards a lack of empathy and interest for others, living only for themselves.  Unfortunately, there are many who may have tried to start a family, but soon after he and she have cancelled the project, faced with an offer of more joy. If they have had children, the mother takes them to the new father.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIQK4bCb8Ms

This type of life, which for a time can be full of exciting moments, usually ends when he and she separate once again in old age, around the age of fifty. Another variant is the person who never wanted to get married, or who both have decided to avoid children in order to devote themselves to a whole range of things that can seemingly substitute for a home: travel, extreme sports, love of a dog, cat or horse, sport piloting, travel etc.

After a lifestyle turned towards the self, when the time comes for old age, the last divorce, the harsh reality of loneliness appears. The woman takes it worse than the man, and both have no choice but to beg for love through public announcements on the Internet, because they no longer have the attractiveness of the beautiful youth. From my eighteen years of life in Zurich I remember that in the eighties, every Friday hundreds of advertisements appeared in the best local newspaper with the classic phrase: ‘I am 58 years old, full of vitality and with patrimony. Height 1.68 cm, 60 kg; I am looking for friendship with a man up to 65 years old to travel together and have a good time, sharing music, walks …’

Statistical check on this topic: in 2019, in Germany 42.3% of the dwellings were occupied by a single person and 33.2% by two people. This reality has long had an impact on the construction of new apartments and villas. The German situation can be found analogously in neighboring countries and in the United Kingdom. The USA and the Latin American countries are much better. So you can understand the importance of the company of a dog or other substitutes.

By this I mean the following: that the happiness of man cries out for the intimacy of his own home, formed through the reciprocal dedication of the spouses in a faithful marriage until death. This is the great theme of love, continually recurring in art, especially in the cinema. In this sense, good films do a lot of good. Homesickness has led all peoples to seek compensations, such as drinking beer with friends, always in the same place and in the same month. This form is cultivated especially in German-speaking countries and throughout the Slavic world. In Spain we have the bar and the ‘echar unas cañas’ or drinking wine with something salty. I must correct myself: many go to these gatherings for friendship, having at home the real home.

Teenagers are more drastic in this, in the natural process of detachment from their parents: they go out a lot to have a drink or to walk with friends through certain streets, dressing according to the movies. Some are unable to discern bad company, which so often pulls them down into the world of vices that end up turning them into slaves, until at a certain point they shake off their chains and return to the normality of study or work.