For book club, I chose Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
The world created by Huxley has haunted me ever since I read it in high school. I can't help but be sucked in by the invitation to examine our basic values and norms.
What if freedom isn't all it's touted to be? How to maximize happiness in a general population?
This novel is obviously supposed to be a dystopian novel. However, if we all grew up conditioned to like our station in life, never desiring more than what's beyond our reach, with the magical soma as a backup if we feel even slightly unhappy, is that such a bad thing? No disease or aging either.
To be honest, that world does appeal to me. Freedom has its consequences. We can choose happiness but unwittingly choose our suffering as well because we don't know what's best for us (think relationships). In fact, half the time we don't even know our wants. What we hope to achieve in life are all values ingrained within us by society. You need to make lots of money. You need to follow your heart and realize your dreams. You need to take care of your parents, etc. In the book, the society tells the individuals that happiness is not desiring to be a part of the other castes, enjoy your work, enjoy the entertainment available to you, enjoy promiscuity, enjoy consuming, enjoy not worrying about the younger and the older, etc. One has choices, but they are limited. Without knowing what life could otherwise be like (for example, how can a person who's only used a chamber pot all their lives and have never seen a toilet desire a toilet?) I think it's very feasible to have a high percentage of happy people in this type of society. Afterall, what is gained by the freedom to choose?
The only good thing that might come from freedom is the range of existence available for humans to experience. The tragic, the heroic, the dramatic, the comedic. To use my high school English teacher's words, they bring out "the greatness of the human condition" (as he described Frodo in The Lord of the Rings) or the worst. Is this greatness of human condition worth seeing if it means all this suffering in the world?
I'm glad everyone read the book and is now in our common canon. The meeting helped me clarify some thoughts.
Oh and I also made my first lasagna. I'd post pictures, but most of it is gone. I'm happy to report that it was a success. I'll post the recipe with my modifications tomorrow.
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