Fake and Real Joy

Photo by soheyl dehghani on Unsplash

The empty joy of billionaires versus the genuine and deep joy of communing with animals and people and Nature.

Shouldn’t the victorious be genuinely happy? Shouldn’t the defeated be sad, worried, and lost in contemplation?

Superficially, that’s what the situation looks like today, post-election. The GOP is ebullient, looking forward to taking and abusing power. The Democrats are lost, confused and wondering what went wrong. They are on the mat and, for the moment, too stunned to get up.

Both sides are obsessed with winning. But what they seek to win is really not that important. Both parties operate within a system awash in corporate money and one that allows policymakers a very narrow range of choices.

For example, ending the exploitation of workers or even seriously improving their conditions are out of the question. Ending the massive abuse of the Earth by sharply slashing the production and use of fossil fuels is also not an option.

In other words, governments and corporations have little to no chance of either helping people or preventing the deadly collapse of the biosphere, and perhaps dooming most of our species.

I only care about elections because one party-the GOP-has great enthusiasm for brutalizing our citizenry in the cruelest possible way. And the Democrats, well some of them, actually want to do some modest good things, but probably can’t get those done even if they win an election.

Let’s just say I caucus with the Democrats with the hope of preventing the over-the-top cruelty of MAGA. Clearly, that did not work.

What’s Joy and What’s Merely A Chemical High

I believe that we fail to recognize the difference between a kind of manic high and genuine joy. This doesn’t surprise me because our attention spans have been shaved down to the bone.

We are moving quickly and yet paying attention to nothing. We are barely experiencing our lives. We are too busy doing stupid things and documenting our lives, and failing to actually live them.

I see that in nearly everyone. I can see the change in myself, and it grows as we move deeper into the Internet Age.

We don’t understand what’s important and what’s bullcrap. Work? That’s bullcrap. It only seems important because we need the money, in our shockingly stupid “civilization”, to stay alive. We work our lives away, and live our sparse “free time” either exhausted and collapsed or in manic activity trying to get a bit of joy.

We buy, buy, buy in the hopes that this stuff will provide some relief. It doesn’t. In fact, it feels like we are owned by our possessions, taking care of our cars and homes and whatever.

When do we really just LIVE? I live when I stop everything, and pet my dog. HE knows how to play and how to relax and how to live. When I pet him, he looks in my eyes, then closes them and sighs. I rub his fluffy body and bury my face in his fur. We relax-truly relax-together.

THAT is life. Work is simply passing time, wasting our short precious lives. Petting a dog is living like a human being. Going to work all day is like being a slave.

Wealthy businessmen, the “masters of the universe”? They have the money, but their lives are completely wasted and their pleasure is thin, kind of pathetic. They enjoy power, this illusory view that they are important or admired or special. They are none of those things. They have the “power” to waste their lives in delusion.

They don’t know how to pet a dog.

Small Joys and Great Powers

Right now, in the midst of this ridiculous and doomed civilization, we can pet dogs. We can take walks in Nature. We can sit and stare out into space, sipping coffee.

We can set the newspaper aside, turn off the TV, shut down screens. We can sell our useless stuff, or even just throw it away. Most of our stuff is crap, and a dangerous diversion from life itself.

We can stop completely and do nothing. We can be NOT productive. This, too, is the essence of life. Stop doing. Slow down. Instead, DON’T.

We can steal moments of life and this is the starting point for enjoying the present and creating a better future. When we are not productive, when we are not enraptured with our stuff, when we don’t think about what’s in the news, when we take control of our minds and bodies-even for just a few minutes-we treat ourselves and our lives with respect. That is when we are alive.

So, find genuine joy today. Now. And work to end the exploitation and abuse of humans and of Nature. We can do this, and accomplish so many things, by working together in the spirit of nonviolent noncooperation.

The “powerful” draw all of their power from us, from our cooperation. Leaders NEED followers. When followers begin withdrawing, losing interest in leaders, no longer listen to them or do what they say, then the power to exploit and abuse fades. With each person who chooses nonviolent noncooperation, the “powerful” get weaker.

We don’t need total withdrawal of entire populations. Look at the 4B movement. In the United States, the movement is just a few weeks old, yet it’s freeing women instantly from patriarchy. Look at Bluesky. This new social media platform has a tiny fraction of the users that X has-yet millions have quickly ditched the cesspool of hate that is the former Twitter, and are dipping into the soothing cool lake of a friendlier platform.

Withdraw from bad people, from exploiters. Reach out to good people. Don’t waste your life with fools. Live your life with friends.

While you are at it, join with people who are committed to NOT cooperating with the destruction of the climate or the abuse of people by elites, any and all elites under every system.

Please read about and join The Saners. We are committed to joy today, and even greater joy for everyone in the future.