So, first off, the "Happiness?" title of the first post was meant for this post. Sorry.
Anyways, this chapter about the "Happiness Conspiracy" was pretty interesting. I got the idea that Schumaker blames the bulk of our materialistic based happiness on the advertising industry. Well, that along with desire/envy of course. It made me think, alot of people would rather work in an boring office somewhere making millions than doing something they love to do and making enough to get by, but not necessarily earning alot of extras. People want to be important, and prosperous, but in the big picture there are very few who are. Wealthy-wanting people can constantly be busy with their quest to become satisfied wealth, but they never get there. Shumaker states that the "poor" have the best lives because they are not preoccupied with desire of importance/ prosperity. They realize there is virtually no hope for them to achieve this. This lets them hold other things in high value such as honesty, love, and friendship.
It is indeed hard for even "poor" people to do this because everywhere we go we see pictures of paradise and extravagance that entice us to pursue them. These ads are obviously very effective, and needless to say, harmful to Schumaker's idea of "happiness".
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I think you are talking about Schumaker's discussion of "poor" on pages 144-145. This is not one of his clearest passages. He's interpreting an early Christian definition of "poor" as humble, not needing material things. Literal poverty, he says, "is a ticket to misery." But the "poor in spirit" are the ones who are happy because they are content with what they have and are not greedy for more. What's more clear and to me, more interesting, is his point about the cultures as conspiring like living things to keep their citizens in conformity with the culture's values so that it can continue to survive. Nonconformists threaten the existence of a culture so they are looked down on. Can you (or anybody else) connect that idea with what you said here about people choosing the boring office job over what they would love to do. You might want to look at Sarah Liz's post on pursuing her dream career versus one in business.
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