When Madness is The Norm

How our inordinate desires are turning into existential despair.

Collage of “Hercules as Heroic Virtue Overcoming Discord” (Date: 1632 - 1633) by Peter Paul Rubens. Oil on panel. 64 x 49 cm. Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, MA, US. Image source Wikiart (public domain).

What would Socrates say if he got a glimpse of Instagram?

The man who claimed to know nothing came to be recognized as the wisest of all and the father of Western philosophy. Fast forward a couple of millenniums from Ancient Greece and you get a society that, despite its spectacular technological advances, seems to be going backward when it comes to moral principles, having replaced intellectual humility with pride, and modesty with vanity.

We are entrapped in a culture of excess, vainglory, and self-promotion. A culture that insists that one's sense of identity and validation comes from material stuff and social media followers. A culture where happiness is measured by how much one owns compared to others. In such a narcissistic culture, madness becomes the norm.

Social media has normalized arrogance, grandiosity, and pride, and turned self-absorption and exhibitionism into a lucrative business. Celebrities and commoners alike fill Instagram with their mundane moments, and a myriad of influencers claim to know the secret sauce to achieve happiness and success, acquire more followers, and live a rich and long life. In our modern dystopian society, we are who we want to be, and our purpose is for us to choose. Like gold seekers in the desert, we roam towards any shiny object, feigning our confidence and brilliance. And yet, we feel empty, disconnected, and isolated. Our minds and hearts thirst for something greater, more fulfilling, and long-lasting.

The root of the problem is that the concept of virtue has lost its meaning and importance in our modern society, being completely detached from the idea of happiness. When happiness consists merely of the satisfaction of one's desires, which can be achieved by the acquisition of material goods and followers, the result is a "feel-good" psychological state as fleeting as your next Instagram Story.

At the inception of Western philosophy, happiness was intertwined with virtues, defined as character traits that promote or exhibit human excellence in the person who exhibits it. The opposite of virtue is vice, a bad or undesirable character trait. For Plato, the liberation of the soul from vice was the ultimate task of humans on earth. Only a spiritual, liberated individual, whose soul is beautiful and well-ordered, can experience true happiness.

"Most excellent man, are you…not ashamed to care for the acquisition of wealth and for reputation and honor, when you neither care nor take thought for wisdom and truth and the perfection of your soul?" (Apology 29d)

Between antiquity and modernity stands Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–1274), the greatest thirteenth-century theologian and philosopher who also shared the view that virtues and vices are essential in shaping human behavior and leading to either a flourishing or doomed life. To Aquinas, virtues are good habits that facilitate moral behavior and lead to a fulfilling life. Conversely, vices are bad habits that lead to immoral behavior and a life of misery and suffering.

In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas identified seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. These vices are considered the root causes of all other sins and can lead individuals away from God and toward spiritual death. To Aquinas, the root of all sin and the most dangerous of the seven deadly sins is pride, which he defined as "an inordinate desire for one's own excellence". Aquinas argued that pride stems from a distorted view of oneself, in which one places too much importance on their own abilities and accomplishments. This leads to an excessive desire for recognition and approval, often at the expense of others. The danger, according to Aquinas, is that prideful individuals, in their desire for power and control, can become tyrants who seek to dominate others and impose their will on the world.

Aquinas recognized that even the most virtuous individuals can fall prey to pride and therefore, emphasized the importance of humility as an antidote. Humility, in Aquinas' view, involves recognizing one's limitations and weaknesses and acknowledging the contributions of others. It requires an openness to learning and growth and a willingness to serve others rather than seeking to be served.

The inconvenient truth our society has decided to ignore is that virtue and happiness are inextricably linked, such that it is impossible to have one without the other. If we pursue fulfillment without taking accountability for our moral and ethical choices, we can only enjoy a blurry and fleeting sensation that some have come to call happiness. But sooner or later, like Narcissus admiring his reflection in the water, our inordinate desires turn into obsession and existential despair.