The Pursuit Of Happiness In Andrew Guest's A Brave New World

In recent years, people have become unconsciously addicted to consumerism as a pursuit of happiness; Something we all look for as a “goal” in life but we are mistakenly taking the wrong journeys towards achieving it. Our pursuit of happiness has become an ongoing process of having more and more, having the latest trends, and constantly “updating” our lifestyle to discard the old and always live with the new. This has been apparent for some people for quite a long time, but nothing has been done to change this flawed path to happiness. As Aldous Huxley wrote back in 1931 in his novel “A Brave New World”, the society's motto was “ending is better than mending”. A concept we see in fast fashion nowadays. With brands that produce new, chapter and trendiest garments every two weeks in order to …show more content…
Andrew Guest writes an article about “Pursuing the Science of Happiness” where he leads to answer that same question while analyzing the consumerist culture in which we live in today. While these texts come from different backgrounds and contexts, the overarching theme of happiness being searched through consumerism is present and brings them together. Andrew Guest focuses on the question “what it means to be happy” and explores the pursuit of happiness in an interesting and complex perspective. Having studied the social science of being happy, and undergoing in-depth research on that exact subject, he states that being happy is much more complicated than it sounds. With his first theory on “positive psychology”, he explains the scientific research done by Martin Seligman on how “psychology and maybe psychiatry will increase the tonnage of happiness in the world. (Guest 97)”. However, there is no agreement in any sense on how to define happiness. One of the most relatable and understandable theories on happiness that he presents is the Greek philosophical debates on hedonic and