Have you ever wondered about the origin of unhappiness? Why are we often not as happy as we would like? Science tries to answer these questions.
Last update: December 30, 2020
Have you ever wondered what is the origin of unhappiness? Where does this feeling come from? Over time, many books have been written about happiness and the different ways to achieve it. This gives us an idea of ​​how important it is to us.
However, a unanimous conclusion has not yet been reached. We don't even know how to keep it. Will it ever be possible? The only sure thing is there almost constant perception that we are missing something or that we are plagued by an infinite series of problems. And actually the malaise occupies too large a space in our daily life.
Try to make up for unhappiness
There are countless theories about suffering. Techniques are proposed to overcome fears, to live in the present, not to fix ourselves on our thoughts, etc. However, in many cases an important question needs to be answered: because our human nature tends to do exactly the opposite. What is the origin of unhappiness?
We humans get used to putting patches here and there to repair our unhappiness, but we do not delve into the world of emotions, thoughts or behaviors. Let's not dig to the root of the problem.
First of all, we should accept one fact: all nightura doesn't care if we are happy. It does not matter if we are fully conscious at all times or if we invent fears or are interested in our desires.
Nature is only interested in our survival. And this, at times, is a contradiction. These two objectives sometimes contrast clearly. We are children with a hammer in hand.
Instead of building, the child is dedicated to hammering everything around him, including himself. He does not know how the instrument he is holding works or what it is used for.
The origin of unhappiness
According to science, the origin of unhappiness lies in four main causes. We are born with useful ancestral tendencies. These tendencies (mental structures, emotional systems and behaviors) assert themselves in us as we grow. They were necessary for man to survive and to simplify, organize and give coherence to the outside world.
These tendencies take root in all of us, especially when we observe them or suffer from them during the experiences of our life. Most are unconscious or automatic. If we don't make good use of them, they can take us away from reality or lead us to the drift of the sea of ​​our emotions.
In today's world these innate tendencies are no longer needed. They served in a completely different past time from the present one. Despite this, we continue to think and feel the same way the men and women of past ages did. And this leads us to confuse our true needs.
Added to this is that during the evolution innovations do not start from scratch, but overlap with the already existing characteristics. Therefore, our brain is composed of the most primitive and the most recent brain. All parties are useful, but it can happen that they fight for command, to the point of leading the person to become confused in the sea of ​​his contradictions.
Finally, the lack of self-knowledge and the difficulties in overcoming it cause us to disconnect from our inner world. We are pushed by storm surges that hit us from all sides and we don't know how to regain control.
Our innate useless tendencies
According to Eduard Punset, the behavioral patterns that were perfect thousands of years ago they are no longer useful now, despite this they remain in use. On a physical level there are many examples of this: wisdom teeth, our body's need to create a reserve of fat, etc.
Like thousands of years ago, even today we are attentive to what we lack, to the mistakes we make, to the prejudices compared to those who are different from us while knowing that they do not represent a threat. We also continue to want what others have, even if it is not necessary for our survival. We have the same tendencies as our ancestors, but our societies have changed.
Our genes are 99% similar to those of our ancestors. However, the evolution of our DNA and its manifestation are unfortunately slower than our technical progress, social, cultural, economic or scientific.
The origin of unhappiness therefore seems to have its roots in our useless ancestral tendencies. Before they had a specific purpose. In the current evolutionary period, however, they are superfluous and in some cases even cause intense inner disturbances.
