During Saturday’s lecture, I tried to refute a certain type of conservative criticism that if we want to be happy, it’s unacceptable hedonism. What else should it be about when it is no longer about survival, when starvation is finally no longer a threat, when even the most banal diseases and injuries no longer threaten us? After all, the right to pursue one’s own happiness is among the few most fundamental rights listed in the American Declaration of Independence, clearly the strongest text of modern liberty-minded Western civilization (while the protection of private property has been omitted).
Human happiness is also something incredibly democratic by its very nature. This is what a friend and I observed a few months ago as we sat in his cottage, looking at the stars and enjoying a great barbecue and beer. We noted that Bill Gates and Jef Bezoff can grill at a place a million times more expensive and have their food prepared by the best chef, but it won’t bring them more happiness. The human brain just doesn’t allow it.
It’s good to remember that when we see all the vast injustices and wickedness around us.