Happiness – A Theory

How do we escape the trap of how we are viewed by the world? One problem is our concern for the opinion of others. It seems we are wired to construct a picture of ourselves for distribution to our peers. We may be aware of the divergence between our picture and our inner view of ourselves (which may create some internal dissonance, and, hence, disappointment). Does the disappointment arise from the divergence itself, or from our geographic location further from nirvana than the picture we gave to the world? Should we be bothered by our objective status, to the degree we can perceive it? We seem to crave adherence to some absolute, represented by norms of religion, science, career and the like. But we often seem even more preoccupied with the quality of our picture, the one we disseminate. It would appear this concern arises from our status as members of a highly social species. What would it feel like to be exposed to our peers, to calibrate our artwork more closely to our inner state?