Is Happiness a Warm Gun?
When the Beatles came out with their tune, Happiness is a Warm Gun, various interpretations were offered as to what the song meant. Some people took it at its literal meaning about America’s love affair with guns. Others took the song to be a metaphor about sex, while still others thought it was about drug addiction. The bottom line is that it could pretty much be about what ever one wanted it to be about.
Leading back to the topic of happiness: what makes us happy? Some will point to wealth, others to health, still others will sing out, “sex, drugs and Rock and Roll!” Like pretty much everything else in the human experience, extensive research has been done on the concept of happiness. One consistent finding is that for the great majority of people true happiness is found in the relationships we have with friends and family. In short, a feeling of connectedness with others.
Makes sense. But what about that small minority of people who do not derive happiness from relationships or connectedness with others? What makes that person happy?
The Killer Trail’s Ray Owens is one such person. I won’t get into his backstory here, only to say that he is a loner and has adjusted rather well to being a loner. To the point that he does not value the company of others. In fact, he derives a depraved joy, happiness if you will, from making other people unhappy.
This sets up a deadly conflict between Chris Ryder and Ray Owens. While Chris yearns for happiness by way of connection with family, Ray strives to destroy Chris’ ties to family. Why? Because it makes him happy.
For Ray Owens, Happiness really is a warm gun.
Hmmm… Interesting Derrick. A wise person once told me that happiness was the acceptance of our delusional “reality”… Made me wonder. Do those that live in darkness see the real world without the delusional cloud that masks it??
Not sure. Those that live in that space are encouraged to pop a pill or two and discover a happier “reality”. In that sense happiness is shaped by the perception of a reality splashed with sunshine. Not sure though if that’s really real and if happiness is more of a forced way of thinking. After all most people claim happiness, but people also can really just lie!
Hi Nicole. You reminded me of a philosophy class from waaaay back! Part of the discussion remains cloudy in my mind, but I recall the crux of the discourse being titled “the Cave.” Would you rather be the person who has only lived in the darkness of a cave where it’s all you’ve ever known but a reality where you have adapted well and are happy. OR would you prefer to be the person who ventures beyond the confines of the cave, to the light which leads to a whole new world outside the cave but with no sense of security of what fate awaits out there. It basically is the question of “ignorance is bliss” reality of the dark cave vs. “enlightenment” and all the fears and responsibilities that come with it. There are so many areas where that discussion can apply to contemporary living. i.e. with advances in medical technology, would you rather have a test conducted which tells you completely what is wrong with your health, confirms the natural progression of the condition and even gives a finite time line for when that life will end. Would we be happy having that knowledge? Or, would we be happier living our days, blissfully ignorant, without this knowledge?