I yearn for contentment. I pine for that place where I am truly happy, where I may find inner peace. That place where the feeling of being lost is absent. I long to excel, to stand out from the crowd, to be distinguished, to be an individual whose name people remember.
Life in our modern capitalist society is full of almost limitless opportunity. Opportunity to excel, to stand out from the crowd, to be distinguished to be an individual, to be remembered. The problem lies in this limitless. By presenting us with so many options, so many possible outcomes, life complicates itself.
Ignorance is bliss! If we did not have choices, if we did not know of other options, other possibilities, finding ourselves would be easy.
If a canary is born in a tiny cage and raised only knowing of this tiny, amusement free prison, it is conceivable that this canary may find happiness/contentment in a slightly larger cage or merely with the introduction of a small toy or another bird. By not knowing of the outside world, where in the wild a canary can fly for kilometres in the same direction and interact with millions of other canaries, eat a wide and varied diet and produce offspring; simplifies the task of finding happiness within its own small cage.
It works the same for humans. If one is ignorant to the world and knows nothing of life outside one’s own immediate environment, even the simplest of change can make life interesting, and contentment can be more easily obtained. As the cliché goes: small things do amuse small minds.
But what of those with large minds? What of those who are not ignorant? What of those who make themselves aware? What of those who not only search for answers, but also those who inexplicitly search for questions? Is it possible to find contentment? Or is some level of ignorance needed for contentment?
I have the mind set that if you are always looking for answers you can never be totally content. I think I am forever cursed to never find homeostasis. But perhaps I am wrong. I hope I am wrong. Perhaps my happiness lies in asking questions and searching for answers.
Perhaps?