This is called the ‘law of inversion’, which is when we try to do something and the opposite happens. For example, the more we try to stay afloat, the faster we sink, and if we try to dive under the water, we end up floating instead. According to Alan W. Watts, the same thing happens when we seek security, especially nowadays, since we live in an age of great uncertainty. Many people believe that the meaning of life lies in the possibility that there is something else after we die: an afterlife free of suffering. Religions like Christianity have played a fundamental role in this belief. Throughout history, people have always felt a sense of reassurance in thinking that the pain we feel during life is only temporary, because a higher order promises us eternal happiness. Belief in religion and social norms helps us find our life’s purpose, but if our happiness is exclusively determined by external factors, then being truly happy is only a fleeting illusion.
The world we live in today is by no means more uncertain than at other times in history. The problem is that the belief system that made the unsustainable insecurity of human life sustainable is slowly crumbling before our eyes, and according to the author, this is why people now feel increasingly anxious and unfulfilled. Over the course of the last century, religious authority was gradually overtaken by science, which created doubt and scepticism about everything that had been previously taken for granted. Science allows the human mind to understand the logic of the world and can also, over time, provide useful tools to improve people’s lives. Death, however, is inevitable, and there is nothing even science can do about it.