From Bertrand Russell’s A Conquest of Happiness.
It is very singular how little men seem to realize that they are not caught in the grip of a mechanism from which there is no escape, but that the treadmill is one upon which they remain merely because they have not noticed that it fails to take them up to a higher level.
He also says later, “There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.” 😂
I absolutely love Bertrand Russell! Glad to see you reading—and boasting about—him.
I like Bertrand Russell. The quote you shared reminds me of the Buddhist teaching that if you feel caught by something, let go. 🙂
In this synthetic paradigm, we are all running, blindly, on the hamster wheel for to serve our masters. The only escape is to awaken, look in the mirror, and find the real you standing behind the synthetic character that you perceive to be you. The character our masters allow us to be as long as we collectively conform to their utopian desires. Faster, indentured servants, faster.