From my perspective, man has always been the most satisfied removing himself from the equation; IOW serving something bigger and more noble than himself. In a small way this is what a traditional family is about. When you marry you form a trusting partnership, where suddenly your wants and needs are divided with the wants and needs of someone else; this is defined by the fact that love is a choice and an action, not a feeling. When a child is introduced to such a relationship, the vast majority of parents say they reach an epoch where for the first time in their lives, they encounter something that is more important than themselves. One should also keep in mind that social norms (that are the bain of Progressive thinkers) are not arbitrary, they evolved, discarding negative trade-offs and instituting net positive positive trade-offs. When we discard social norms with limited consequential knowledge, we do so at our peril.
We now have several generations that can't understand this because social media does not demand you communicate and share ideas, rather one embraces a Nietzsche dystopian worldview, that since we killed God, I will create my own since of morality. The problem with this is we are all too selfish to even attempt such a feat. The end result is the worship of self and the constant demand for joy (and if I am not joyful all the time in my relationships or marriage, I must trash my marriage and/or relationships until I find the perpetual joy that everyone on TikTok has apparently found) but that is not how life is. Look at the result the last two generations are the most anxious and depressed generations on record; many state they literally don't know how to form relationships. I believe this is the bases for everything from fentanyl epidemic, to gender theology. The more pain you are in the more self absorbed you will become and you will forever be trying to define the cause of that pain (which will probably be wrong) and find some way to alleviate the pain.
Life is impossibly hard and we all suffer an endless succession of one unfinished circumstance after another. If you make joy your moment to moment goal you will be doomed to constant failure. Rather true enlightenment comes from toiling and caring for others and as you work, you will encounter peace and moments joy.
