The Will to Unhappiness

In these surreal and harrowing moments for our country (the US)—COVID-19, George Floyd protests, etc.—the seemingly academic question "What drives history?" brims with acute significance. To that end, I am reminded of Costica Bradatan’s article “Our Delight in Destruction” that takes its page, in turn, from Dostoevsky's unsurpassable "Notes from Underground" to pose the following questions:

What if reason is not the driving force of human history and, just as often, we act irrationally, out of resentment, anger, spite, frustration, envy, even out of self-destructive impulse? What if there is even such a thing as the pursuit of unhappiness? Or, in the underground man's own words, 'What if it so happens that on occasion man's profit not only may but precisely must consist in sometimes wishing what is bad for himself'? What if we in fact take delight in destruction? 'I'm certain that man will never renounce real suffering, that is, destruction and chaos,' proclaims Dostoevsky's hero in one of his more philosophical moments.

That will to unhappiness—that masochistic, self-destructive impulse—is but one of humanity's shadow sides. So, some introspective questions might be in order. How do I subvert my own interests? In what way do I minimize the graced nature of my existence? Why do I struggle so much with gratitude? What is this thing in me that pushes me to make self-destructive choices? How do I get a handle on my fabulations about future disasters?…

As per a prompting of my good friend AK, an Erich Fromm quote might be apropos to round off the points raised here: “The more the drive toward life is thwarted, the stronger is the drive toward destruction; the more life is realized, the less is the strength of destructiveness. Destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life” (Escape from Freedom, 182). Right!

The image is taken from the linked NYT article.