Mark Manson is not a philosopher, nor is he a psychologist, but you may still have heard of him. If not, you are certainly likely to have heard of his book, the crudely titled The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k. There was a time when I saw it everywhere in bookstores. Those days have passed, but it recently resurfaced in my life when I saw a young woman reading the book outside a coffee shop. Returning home later in the evening, I noticed that it had been made into a Netflix documentary. I decided to watch it. Much like the book, I wasn’t quite able to finish it.
The documentary runs for about 90 minutes and is at its core an apparent rejection of self-help promises. Mans- on claims that such offerings provide “meaningless positivity which is neith- er practical nor helpful”. Ironically, to counter the pandemic of all of this use- less self-help, Manson wrote a self-help book of his own. His, he argues, offers a lot of practical advice that is genuinely helpful. In doing so, he has created a book, and now a document-ary, that revels in a nihilist mindset. The programme rings with the same sentiments as the book’s chapters with titles such as “Failure is the way forward”, “Happiness is a problem” and “Don’t try” (purportedly inspired by American writer Charles Bukowski’s poem of the same name).
If you seek fame and distinction, prepare to be disappointed. This seems to be the central message of the documentary. But while watching it you will see that interwoven in this story of how life is full of disappointment is an autobiographical statement as to why Manson himself found life futile: he was chasing fame, money, women, and was bitterly disappointed. The answer Manson drew from this experience was not to bother looking, and the documentary presents his life and how he reached this conclusion. On realising the autobiographical slant to Manson’s offerings, I was reminded of the quip of another Netflix star, Fran Leibowitz: “Your life story would not make a good book. Don’t even try.”
Why then have so many of Manson’s followers collectively had the wool pulled over their eyes? One answer is to be found in the fact that most people no longer read the classics. Because of this classical illiteracy, there are several false assumptions at the foundation of the life view presented in the documentary.
First, life – for the majority of people – is not lived in the way described by Manson and hailed by the New York Times and the Guardian. People have work to do, children to feed and a life to piece together. The high-roller, fast-paced lifestyle described by the no-longer adolescent Manson fails to account for this, describing the behaviour and experiences of his own life and that of other middle-class boys. I would argue that for those boys who are shocked to hear Manson’s nihilistic message, the converse message of the teenage dream will ultimately triumph.
The grain of truth in Manson’s documentary is that fame should indeed be avoided as an end in itself, but the remedy he offers is as false as the gratification promised by the bright lights of Hollywood. The ancients would never have accepted such subjectivism and the mere substitution of one false alternative for another. For them, the question that we must ask ourselves is what are we striving for – what is our telos or end goal? The Greeks, predominantly Plato and Aristotle, placed “the Good”, or indeed “happiness”, at the heart of what we should seek. Happiness was not meant in a utilitarian hedonistic sense, implying the maximisation of pleasure that Manson rightly rejects.
But Manson and the ancients part company there, as classical thinkers suggested that there is something much more ambitious to strive for: the Good as a supreme ideal. The happiness tied to this striving is called eudaimonia, which in its literal sense means being guided by a good daemon or spiritual being, but has a transferred meaning and easily understandable definition: fulfilling your potential.
So what does this Good or happi-ness consist of? Living a virtuous life in our families, workplace and wherever we go. Always seeking to become a better person, acting according to principles that enrich a life and do not degrade it. Which principles? The cardinal virtues are the best start: courage, temperance, justice and prudence. On top of this we have the Christian virtues to strive for: faith, hope, and charity. It is through God’s grace that our striving can be amplified and sustained.
For the secular mindset, Manson’s documentary offers a bleak view of the world and even bleaker prospects to improve it. Thankfully Catholics have the tools to face life’s challenges with more optimism and hope. Happiness is not a problem, as long as you know what it actually is, and how to go about achieving it.
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