the main cause for man’s unhappiness. Simplicity is the key to joy. The stress involved with keeping schedules and making decisions is getting worse with the advancement of civilization. Paying bills, fighting traffic, and making money are civilized requirements that make people miserable. In response, people spend thousands of dollars on vacations where they escape the hell of everyday life. A tale I once heard explains this dilemma completely. While in a small fishing village, a wealthy businessman meets a poor angler that only fishes to feed his family and spends the rest of his day relaxing with his children. The businessman goes on to tell the fisherman how he can work hard and save money to buy another boat. Then, over the course of many years, he can keep expanding his business to the corporate level, sell shares of his company, and retire rich. After that, he can move to a quaint village on the sea, fish a little in the morning, and relax the rest of the day with his family. Civilization is a trap and is the main cause of human suffering. Freud’s three reasons for misery are relevant, but not as obvious as civilization.Finally, Freud hypothesized that modern technology does not help to fulfill the pleasure principal. He said “most of these satisfactions follow the model of . . . ‘cheap enjoyment’”(40). That is, they provide pleasure, but not for long. We are soon to come off of our technological high and back into the unavoidable rigors of the world. Also, he said that technological advances are merely there to make up for old advances. For instance, during the 1920s, the telephone was fairly new. People enjoyed being able to talk to displaced loved ones from far away. However, if certain modes of transportation had not been invented before the phone, then the relatives would not be gone and the phone would be obsolete. Even though he stood up for civilization, Freud still ...
