On the Unhappiness of Being Greek by Nikos Dimou Page B

the less risk we run of being disappointed and hurt.
    11 The next step is the doctrine of the Buddha, who teaches the suppression of desire as a foolproof antidote for unhappiness. (Even more effective: the negation of the source of all desire – the Ego.)
    12 In animals, the gap between desire and reality is minimal. The basic pursuits of an animal are in keeping with the possibilities open to it. It is totally adapted to its surroundings.
    13 It’s difficult to talk of happy and unhappy animals –since the tension between these two (human) poles must not exist in them. Something tells me, however, that the birds of the air must be happy …
    14 Unlike animals, man by convention and by nature has unfulfillable desires. He longs for immortality. Whereas the only thing he knows for certain about the future is that eventually he’ll die.
    15 We could define man as an animal that always desires more than it can attain. A maladjusted animal. In other words, we could define man as a being that carries unhappiness – innately – within it.
    16 Or, then again, we could define man as a tragic animal. For what else is tragedy if not the agonized experience of the estrangement between man and the world?
    17 The more human you are, in other words, the more you crave and seek, the wider the gap grows. And if you are a hero, you fight and lose. And if you are an artist, you try to fill the gap with forms.
    18 If man,
qua
man, carries unhappiness within him, then certain categories of men have a greater predisposition for this. Even certain nations. And among these, for sure, are the Greeks. The modern Greeks.
    19 The thesis of this book is that, due to history, heredity and character, the modern Greek reveals a wider gap between desire and reality than the average for other people.
    20 So, if to be human already signifies the certainty of an amount of unhappiness – to be Greek portends a larger dose.
    21 We can speak of ‘the unhappiness of being Greek’.

On Greek Hyperbole
    22 Axiom: a Greek does whatever he can in order to widen the gap between desire and reality.
    23 He succeeds in this either by increasing his demands to an unreasonable degree, or by destroying his environment to the best of his ability. Or even by doing both.
    24 The basic psychological factors in the widening of the gap: a permanent predisposition for hyperbole that always leads us to extremes and our – also permanent – inner inconsistency and inconstancy. Not for us the ‘golden mean’ of Aristotle.
    25 A Greek lives cyclothymically – in a permanent state of elation or depression. As a consequence of which: a total incapacity for self-criticism and self-awareness.
    26 ‘The nation must consider national whatever is true.’ 2 For years now, we have been trying to convince ourselves of the opposite.
    27 Whenever a Greek looks at himself in the mirror, he sees either Alexander the Great or Kolokotronis 3 or (at least) Onassis. Never Karaghiozis … 4
    28 And yet, in actual fact, he is Karaghiozis who imagines himself to be Alexander the Great. Karaghiozis with his many professions, his many faces, his constant hunger and his one skill: playacting.
    29 How many Greeks (apart from Emmanuel Roides) have seen their real face in the mirror?
    30 This is why the Greeks have never forgiven those ‘anti-Greeks’ who painted their portrait. (Poor About! 5 )
    31 In all fields a Greek tries his hardest to be unrealistic. And then he is unhappy because he is unrealistic. (And then he is happy … because he is unhappy.)
    32 Basically, Greeks are unaware of reality. They live twice above their financial means. They promise three times more than they can deliver. They claim to know four times more than what they actually learned. Their feelings (and emotions) are made to appear five times greater than what they actually feel.
    33 Hyperbole is not just a national failing. It is a way of life for Greeks. It is the essence of their national identity. It is the