The Experience Machine, 2019
Why are we making our lives so difficult
With happy pills, endorphin boosters and dopamine injections
Why run those 30 laps
Why nibble chocolate in moderation
Why bother struggle at all
Because it’s unnatural to manipulate what happens to be
And no one should ever challenge
What is and ought to be
If it’s all chemical
How is it any less natural to deal with molecules
I guess the difference is
If it’s only indirectly effective
Takes time and effort
Then we’ve essentially earned it
And it matters that we deserve what we enjoy
If detours are what it takes
To make overcoming a reality
Then let us substantiate victory
By manufacturing difficulty
If it’s all chemical
Is it any less real to simply treat the cause
That’s all there is, after all
Do we not always say
To treat the symptoms is to fool ourselves
With illusory cure
Short term relief versus long term sustainability
But reality is, we hesitate
When both can be achieved
Seems to be
Efficiency is not as trendy
As we hoped it to be
Perhaps the ends we truly want
Require means defined
More narrowly than
We once thought