A Convenient Lie

I have this theory.  I’ve had it for a long time.  It goes something like this: “If ignorance is bliss, then isolation is the key to happiness.”  Because through isolation, we are ignorant.  And I believe that while ignorance is not bliss, it is at least at the level of being content.  And that is all we can really hope to achieve, right?  I mean, when we attain what we’ve been searching after for a long time, maybe years, maybe our whole lives…what do we feel?  We feel happiness, but this is temporary.  Sure, maybe it’ll last a moment.  As Pahlaniuk says, perfection can only be found in one moment.  Perfection is fleeting, so rare and miniscule you barely even notice it when it’s there.  You only see it when it’s gone, when the walls of life crumble down and you’re left standing open, you’re left completely open in a meadow of dirt and loneliness.

So my theory is this: if we could somehow put people in a society where they knew nothing more than their living standards, they would be content.   And as I said, being content is the closest thing to everlasting happiness we have.  If they were risen as babies in this society, they wouldn’t desire anything more, because this capitalistic mindset that we must IMPROVE, we must PROGRESS, we must DEVELOP, it just keeps us thinking that.  We want to move up in businesses, make names for ourselves.  We want to be stars, we want to be famous.  We want to be known.  We want to be loved, and if we can’t be loved, then hated.

Without this mindset, a society will remain pure, with no one left behind.  Everyone will have equal wealth, equal property, etc.  Lives will be shorter, but they won’t want them to be that much longer.  Diseases will rampage through, but these people will be taught that death is a natural of life, that death is necessary.  And if their society dies, then so be it.

You’re wondering when the exposition stops, when the narrative begins? There is no set story, you see, no underlying theme.  I guess the story is about Holden Lighthood, the broken knight of Society #1.  Society #1 failed, as you can probably guess.  But I still stand by my opinion that these societies WILL work if implemented properly.  The problem is the initiation.  There’s always one person who has to sacrifice, just for logical reasons.  One person knows about the situation, and once that person dies, the society is fine.  But Holden Lighthood broke before he died.  His body kept running and he lay in that stiff bed with the stained linen sheets, but his mind, it was dead.