OPINION (AN COLÚN): Our culture pushes us towards dissatisfaction - it's good to push back

OUR CULTURE pushes us towards dissatisfaction. It is constantly whispering in our ear that we shouldn't be happy with who we are. “Not good enough. Do more. Strive More. Push More.” These are the things which our culture is constantly saying to us.
It is a form of madness, sending us into a spin, away from the meaning within our hearts.
Brainwashed and enervated by the ideology around us we strive to be millionaires, or we strive to be famous, or to achieve a better body, or to be always in control. Sometimes the strain of all this striving proves too much and a psychotic rift occurs in people's minds. Those who want to always be in control end up tyrants. Those seeking the body beautiful forget about the soul. Millionaires walk callously over others. The famous become neurotic, self-obsessed and shrivelled. Dissatisfaction with our lot in life makes us foul-tempered, moody and prone to indulge in actions which we will subsequently regret.
One of the lovely philosophies in the Christian tradition is the philosophy of being grateful for our lives. Being grateful can be harder to embrace at certain times in our lives than at others. When things are going well and smoothly it's obviously easier. When we are beset with personal illness, the ill-intent of others, or harsh, cruel circumstances, it is more of a challenge to maintain an optimistic outlook. As a character called Platon Karataev in “War and Peace” says, “The hardest and most blissful thing is to love this life in one's suffering.” This character's first name is another name for the Greek philosopher Plato and Tolstoy is drawing our attention to an ancient philosophy which he obviously has immense respect for. Readers might object to the Platon quote because it seems to be asking us to love things which are clearly unloveable. How can we love the sight, as happens in War and Peace, of French soldiers shooting by firing squad innocent Muscovites or shooting stragglers during the terrible retreat of the French army through a Russian winter (as is happening in the novel when we are introduced to Platon Karataev)? Of course, we are not being asked to love such clearly detestable and savage things as these. The point is that we have the ability to not allow these frightful experiences to embitter us. Love and contentment are always in our lives somewhere, argues Platon, and we have the power to choose forgiveness and understanding rather than bitterness and hate. It is difficult, but Platon shows it is possible, in his own life, even though he is going through hell. We have to find meaning, even in hell. A quote I love is Jung's, “A man cannot bear a meaningless life.”
We feel dissatisfied with our lives because we haven't achieved enough and we feel like failures. Oppressed by warped ideologies those seeking mental health try to break free, to transcend. We kneel, we pray, we love.
As well as being oppressed by bad ideas we are also oppressed by the Global Economic Construct. Different lives have different gradations. There are many people who are looking with envy, financially speaking, at our lives and would love to be in our shoes. Global poverty keeps falling year on year, which is a good thing, but the situation is still terrible and wretched. In fact the rate of reduction has slowed significantly in recent years, and in some regions, poverty has even increased due to various crises. The World Bank reports that nearly half the world's population struggles to meet basic needs. About 8.5% of the global population (700 million people) live in extreme poverty, on less than €1.85 a day. Half the global population lives on less than €5.90 per day. The poorest 40% of the world's population accounts for 5% of global income. The richest 20% accounts for three-quarters of the world's income. These figures do change according to which commentator you are reading but the basic thrust of them remains the same, namely that the global system is incredibly unjust and badly needs reforming. This unjust system can be seen in Ireland where income differentials are widening, wages remain stagnant and the housing market is completely out of control. We are in the snares of an ideology which doesn't have our best interests at heart. There is even the possibility, however unlikely it might seem, that western countries such as Ireland could develop into totalitarian regimes similar to China. China is a marrying of soulless capitalism and ruthless communism (two seemingly contrasting ideological systems which in fact, at their extremes - cut adrift from a moral compass - make for very comfortable bedfellows). Both systems, when they reach a sufficiently degraded state, are anti-spiritual and are about power. They become the enemy of the people they purport to serve.