Whitney Houston: Death, Slavery, and the Pursuit of Contentment

The mortality of man does not seem to occur to most men until a famous man, or in this case woman, dies. Indeed, I don't believe it is a modern phenomenon that we are particularly struck be the deaths of the rich and famous. Part of the reason their deaths bring about a greater reaction is because most of us often assume (wrongly, of course) that wealth, fame, and power brings immortality. We see the rich and famous, and we think to ourselves, "What could possibly touch them? What are they subject to?"

And yet, inevitably, the hand of Death ultimately does touch them, and they do become subject to his power. Sure enough, Whitney Houston was no different than the rest of us mortals who walk this earth, and her death was a tragic loss just like each death is. However, this is not the only way in which Whitney Houston was like her contemporaries. In many ways, she typified much of the culture that produced her, gave her fame, and ultimately destroyed her. While some would call her life extraordinary, she was rather more normal than was good for her. That is because this culture that produced her is in truth rather abnormal.

As more details come out, it seems like her death is becoming more and more linked to her abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs. The verdict is not out yet on the cause of death, but it does seem like these are contributing factors. Indeed, shortly after her death, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler told the paparazzi that constantly follow him, "I hate this disease," referring to drug addiction, something he has also dealt with. But what Mr. Tyler is missing, I believe, is an understanding of what the disease really is that he, Ms. Houston, and many in the world today really suffer from. Drug addiction is not so much a disease as a misguided attempt to cure the real disease of our time: the unbridled desire for contentment.

The true disease that Ms. Houston suffered from was the insatiable want for comfort, for numbness. In short, she had despaired of ever finding true fulfillment in this world and only had begun to wish to feel nothing. When you cannot find what true happiness is, you fill the void with distraction and pleasure until you become numb. Ms. Houston simply had more means to do so than the average person does. The average person in today's culture is very similar to Ms. Houston in that he does not know where his happiness lies. He does not know the location of true fulfillment (though he probably passes by It (Him) in his own town regularly).

Without direction, without an idea of what the good human life looks like, man simply wishes to escape. Indeed, much of the modern entertainment industry revolves around this very concept. TV, computers, video games - all of these offer forms of escape in one way or another. They dim the senses, draw you into another world, and try to numb the pain of life without meaning. They do not seek to enrich man, they simply wish to entertain him. And as they do, as man grows accustomed to having his unfulfilled desire for fulfillment soothed by a never ending cascade of images and sounds, man slowly becomes addicted to the comfort. Like Ms. Houston, he becomes addicted to contentment and no longer looks for what will really make him happy.

But video games, TV, movies, and the internet can never fully satiate man's desire for happiness. This desire is born in him; it's been placed in him by Happiness Himself. Thus, thought entertainment can dull the pains of desire for some time, eventually man becomes dissatisfied. Eventually, the desire for happiness becomes greater than the desire for contentment. But man is very clever at coming up with stronger numbing agents, and once the unfulfillment sets in he looks for new ways to take away the pain. And this was Ms. Houston's great downfall. She had the means to the best numbing agents man has invented, and these are what destroyed her.

If we are to escape from this same fate, then, we have to break free of the desire for contentment. Indeed, this is one of the reasons poverty has always been seen as something to be emulated in Christianity, because nothing breaks you free of the desire for contentment like never having it. So we must voluntarily take on some aspects of poverty. We need to start doing the things that do not numb the desire for happiness, but instead increase it. I've mentioned some of these things on this blog before: playing music, singing, reading books, going on walks, working with our hands, talking with our neighbors, entertaining guests. All of these things are essential human activities that engender a desire for happiness in our hearts. Imagine if we spent most of our lives doing these things instead of sitting in front of a screen? If we don't begin to live human lives, we will lose our desire for happiness. Instead, we will settle for the desire for contentment, which has been shown by Ms. Houston's demise to be incredibly lethal.