Human Happiness Explored Through "The Game of Real Life" and Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents"

In "The Game of Real Life," a parody of Milton Bradley's The Game of Life, the winner is determined by the player with the most smiley faces, no matter the circumstances. Players determine their original happiness by rolling a dice before the game and can gain happy faces throughout the game by choosing to participate in certain activities, whether it be doing drugs, having children or investing in a businesses. The whole point of the game is not to gain land, like in monopoly, or get around the game board first, but to make choices and to act in a way that will make your rock-shaped game piece the happiest. In Civilization and Its Discontents. Freud claims that these are the standards by which we live our real lives. We are driven by our need for these 'happy faces' and are really only willing to take risks in hopes of getting a 'good roll of the dice' and thus a few more moments of pleasure.

The pleasure principle "dominates the mental apparatus from the start." (p25) From the start, human beings have an innate sense of what they want and what they do not want and throughout their lives their desires gradually evolve "in response to various promptings." (p13)

In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud walks readers through his thought process in determining what exactly we, as human beings, are not only looking for in life but also what drives us in our search for these desires.

Freud mainly addresses the pleasure principle. He claims that it is human instinct, an instinct that we are born with, that drives man to accomplish "an absence of pain and unpleasure, and...the experiencing of strong feelings of pleasure." (p25) This natural need to go after what we most desire is innate in all humans, however, some people seem to be affected by this drive more than others. Athletes wanting to make it to the "big leagues" or politicians who will do anything to win an election are a few examples of human beings who are greatly influenced by the pleasure principle.

Others find that as we grow and develop, the outside world leads us to compromise our wants and needs. For example, "an infant at the breast does not as yet distinguish his ego from the external world as the source of the sensations flowing in upon him." (p13) But as he grows, he learns to notice and react to the real world. And with that Freud introduces his readers to the reality principle.

"Men are accustomed to moderate their claims to happiness-just as the pleasure principle itself, indeed, under the influence of the external world, changed into the more modest reality principle." (p 26) The reality principle stems from the pleasure principle. It is human being's reaction to the outside world. When the world stands as an obstacle in front of something we truly desire, which is the reality in which we live (we can't always get what we want), we must find either a way to overcome that obstacle or we must find another way to release the "psychic energy" being stored. "The programme[sic] of becoming happy, which the pleasure principle imposes on us, cannot be fulfilled; yet we must not give up our efforts to bring it nearer to fulfillment by some means or other." (p34) Popular ways of releasing that energy in today's culture include shopping, video games and over eating, and often these activities turn into the very source of pleasure.

Another reason for which the reality principle evolved from the pleasure principle is because humans must deal with delayed gratification throughout their lives. For many, life is a waiting game. How often can a toddler be heard saying, "when I grow up..."? Twenty odd years later that same toddler can be heard saying, "when I finish school..." or "when I find my soul mate..." or even "when I retire...". The human ego is constantly shifting. That "'oceanic' feeling exists in many people, and we are inclined to trace it back to an early phase of ego-feeling." (p20) In order to achieve true happiness, whether that mean going to med school or starting a family -for the definition of happiness is different for everyone- we must first accomplish other tasks in the order in which they are presented to us within our society. That was Freud's point in his chapters on man's relationship with society. "Civilized man has exchanged a portion of his possibilities of happiness for a portion of security." (p 73) The pleasure principle and the reality principle work together to keep human beings individually motivated and collectively efficient.

Together, the pleasure principle and the reality principle are pretty thorough in their explanation of human behavior. "The development of the individual seems to us to be a product of the interaction between two urges, the urge towards happiness, which we usually call 'egoistic', and the urge towards union with others in the community, which we call 'altruistic'." (p105) All of our actions are determined by what will make us happy in the long run, even if we know that we will not be happy at that particular moment in time. A vast majority of college students don't necessarily enjoy their classes or doing their homework. Yet they spend massive amounts of time studying so that they can get good grades so that they can stay in college and so that they can one day graduate and, hopefully, have a successful career that they enjoy. Some people work at jobs they don't necessarily enjoy so that they can provide a better life for someone they love, which in the end brings them joy. Even when causing destruction, the pleasure principle applies whether it be fighting in a war to protect a loved one or a helpless stranger, or a bully picking on a smaller person in order to feel better about their own short comings. Even in the most random cases, all actions are based off of some form of gratification, even if it is delayed.

Throughout Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud's explanations of the pleasure principle and the reality principle are both very convincing and truly accurate in their effect on human beings. The game of life ends when all players have either died or reached the end of the game board. The game takes into account all of the outside influences as well as the internal choices we make. It truly is "The Game of Real Life" and follows Freud's philosophy better than the players could ever imagine.