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SELECTIVE HAPPINESS The Hysteric
This is happiness that depends on ignoring the horrors of life all around one. People who suffer from depression believe that they are the only ones who are seeing the world in its true light and that happy people are simply missing —or deliberately ignoring — the terrible problems and pains of existence. They cannot understand how anyone can ever enjoy a moments happiness when there are starving millions, torture prisons, animal experiments, polluted environments or whatever particular disaster area they are most concerned with. This has led several people to define happiness in most uncomplimentary terms. No less a person than Einstein referred to happiness as ‘the ideal of the pigsty’. And when you look at photographs of the great sad face of the old genius, you can see that he wasn’t exactly a laugh a minute. He knew too much to be happy and was apparently incapable of switching off that great burden of knowledge, even for a brief moment. Others who have similar views have defined happiness as hysterical oblivion, innocence, unintelligence and the serenity of fools.

There is an upside and a downside to hysteric happiness. The upside is that those exhibiting the hysteric personality are usually more fun to be with. The downside is that they can create chaos for those around them. Because they refuse to recognize the problems that life throws at them, they are able to exist
is a state of blissful cheerfulness. The old saying about Nero fiddling while Rome burned comes to mind. Hysterics are capable of having a good time even when disaster is all around them. Eventually, of course, it will catch up with them, but for the moment, they can manage to ignore it. If they happen to have enough
talent, they may be forgiven for ignoring the chaos, but eventually it comes home to roost.

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Desmond Morris - The nature of happiness