The Art of Purchasing Happiness

“The most beautiful lives, to my mind, are those that conform to the common human pattern, with order, but without miracle, and without eccentricity.” - Michel de Montaigne.

The unlearning to live is always getting easier in our capitalist society. As a child it just needed a new toy or the taste of a chocolate ice cream and the formula of happiness was perfect. Today we always want more. We were taught to be non-satisfied with basic things. We see stars and starlets who sunbathe at the pool on their 200m² garden estate of their luxury villa in the middle of Mallorca. Gucci-handbags, Manolo Blahnik Pumps, ostentatious Lamborghinis. A life of which so many dream. Laura Weisberger was right when she tried to emphasize with her multi-award-winning bestseller, “The Devil Wears Prada” that money and fame are not the most important values in life. Nevertheless, it appears that the media tries to convey just the opposite: materialism and consumption are apparently exactly those components whereby mental satisfaction can be achieved. Invest in our newest products and they will make life more beautiful, is here the motto. Open happiness when you drink Coca Cola. Do you smell the rainbow when chewing Skittles? And is not life juciy with Starburst? All these slogans try to hoax us into believing product purchase is the solution for every life crisis. They promise a good lifestyle and make happiness therefore buyable.

Consumption,Consumption, Consumption.. this is what today’s thrill-seeking society needs. And yet, those promises of happiness are grand illusions, wrapped in glitter and gold. Anyhow, they can indeed be truly effective for as short time. But the indulgence is short-living. Because then, old things are worn out and we thirst for more. Again the feeling of dissatisfaction, the appetence for stimulation. As a result, we are seldom ever satisfied with what we have and strive after the newest products that evoke significantly even more luck. I am not saying that materialistic things are bad, because the longing for it belongs to human nature. But what I say is that this obsession makes us discontent. We are living in an age identified with moral decline, the collapse of culture, the disintegration of society – reinforced by capitalism. The perpetual attempts to gain satisfaction through material goods often end in disillusionment. The small, simple things in life that could make us happy lose their value, they are not enough. Family, friends, a roof over our heads, the smell of spring... because there is more outside. And as long we are humans, we will always strive for more. It is the nature of the human mind to never stay satisfied as long as those things are available to us. If we are short, we wonder what it means to be tall, if we have the talent to dance, we wonder what it would mean to be a great painter. Children wish to grow up fast, adults wish to be children. It is a world of contradictions with most of us unable to find a balance. And in this world, it should be never forgotten that the simplicities in life are most times the most beautiful.