The Irony of Delusions
Wright writes, “Some of my happiest moments have come from delusion-believing, for example, that the Tooth Fairy would pay me a visit after I lost a tooth. But delusion can also produce bad moments. And I don’t just mean moments, that, in retrospect, are obviously delusional, like horrible nightmares. I also mean moments that you might not think of as delusional, such as lying awake at night with anxiety.”
Although delusions are not a reflection of reality, they trigger immense happiness. In the case of the Tooth Fairy, Wright is conscious that the fairy would not appear, but still finds pleasure by thinking about the fairy. Delusions can be useful in mitigating hopelessness and anxiety among human beings since they contribute to unconscious pleasure.
The Irony of Pleasure
Wright elaborates, “Yes, as he (Buddha) said pleasure is fleeting, and yes, this leaves us recurrently dissatisfied. And the reason is that pleasure is designed by natural selection to evaporate so that the ensuing dissatisfaction will get us to pursue more pleasure. Natural selection doesn’t “want” us to be happy, after all; it just “wants” us to be productive, in its narrow sense of productive. And the way to make us productive is to make the anticipating of pleasure very strong that the pleasure itself not very long-lasting.”
Although pleasure is usually short-lived, human beings pursue it. Anticipated pleasure from various engagements contributes to productivity. The temporariness of pleasure does not dissuade people from seeking it. Besides, it is ironic that pleasure contributes to recurrent dissatisfaction; pleasure would have been anticipated to foster unqualified dissatisfaction once it has been attained. The persistent dissatisfaction triggers the unconscious yearning to keeping seeking pleasure.
The Irony of Success
Wright summarizes, “In sum: you can best achieve success at meditation by not pursuing success, and achieving this success may mean caring less about success, at least as success is conventionally defined. If this sounds unbearably paradoxical, maybe you should quit reading here, because this won’t be the last time we find paradox in Buddhist practice or Buddhist teachings.”
Wright’s admission regarding the paradox of success underpins the illusions of success. Success can be achieved when one is not bothered by it. For non-Buddhist individuals who are hankering for success, the assertion would be illogical. However, in the context of Buddhism, success is achieved through indifference towards attainments that are deemed to be conventional markers of accomplishments.
The Irony of Meditation
Wright observes, “Hence another paradox of meditation: the problems that meditation can help you overcome often make it hard to meditate in the first place. Yes, meditation may help you lengthen your attention span, dampen your rage, and view your fellow human beings less judgmentally. Unfortunately, a short attention span, a hot temper, and a penchant for harsh judgement may slow your progress along the meditative path.” The ironic interconnection between the impediment and potency of meditation demonstrates that meditation can be problematic; it is not a straightforward attainment. For one to meditate productively, he or she should rise above the impediments of peaceful contemplation.
“An Everyday Delusion”
Wright elaborates, “Let’s take a simple but fundamental example: eating some junk food, feeling briefly satisfied, and then, only minutes later, feeling a kind of crash and maybe a hunger for more junk food…it illustrates how subtle our delusions can be. There’s no point in the course of eating a six-pack of small powdered-sugar dough nits when you believe that you’re the messiah.”
The pleasure anticipated by the consumption of junk food is illusory. Junk food promises satisfaction through its appearance, but after consuming the food, satisfaction is not attained. The illusions attributed to the food warp the consumer's reality results in illusions about the likely pleasure of consuming it. Consequently, the pleasure from junk food diminishes rapidly leaving the consumer with the urge to consume more of the food.
