1. Kapitel - Vervaeke

In our culture there seems to be
An increasing academic and public interest
In the topic of happines.
Now, we've always been a happiness oriented culture –
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and so forth.
But it's taking a particularly interesting turn.
The question about meaning in life is coming to the fore.
People are not merely talking about sheer contedness anymore,
But what it is for a human life to be meaningful.
There is a rising interest in wisdom and ancient philosophies,
Such as stoicism etc.; a rising interest in oritental traditions
Such as buddhism and mindfulness and a rising interest
In psychedelic, transformative and mystical experiences.
And there is a set of darker factors converging as well.
We're going through a mental health crisis.
Suicide and depression are spiking.
There is an increasing sense of losing touch with reality.
We encounter more and more often in individuals and groups
Nihilism, expressions of cynicism,
Expressions of deep kinds of frustrations and futility.
We have the abandonment of trust in any of our public institutions.
We're losing faith in our political system.
We're losing faith in our judicial system.
Religious affiliation is declining throughout.
People's participation in clubs and organizations is in decline.
There is an increasing sense of more and more bullshit pervading.
People are spending too much time in virtual environments.
The talk about crisis, collapse and apocalypse is all pervasive.
The entertainment we seek and the mythology we are attracted to
Is evidence for a shared cultural sense that we are stuck somehow.
I believe that all of these things, the negative and positive factors
Have a unifying explanation.
That is the idea that our culture is experiencing
A profound crisis in meaning.