Lasch notes the increasing influence of the awareness movement and the rise of therapists as a new class of priestly experts giving the people the keys to happiness and exercising a godlike status in directing their clients into fulfillment. The new narcissist, says Lasch, is not plagued by guilt, but by anxiety. We are, I think, too in touch with our feelings, too busy taking our own pulse and focusing on what we lack, where we hurt, what we want for ourselves. But our shallow stabs at happiness seldom achieve it, and when they do, it is fleeting. In our consumer culture we are led to believe that owning the latest gizmo will lift our spirits from the chronic doldrums, that if we just have certain things we will finally be happy.
Happiness is the opposite of poverty and secured by purchase.
Happiness is the opposite of boredom and gained by joining the latest fad. Happiness is the opposite of incompleteness and achieved by personal fulfillment. You are what you own and your sense of self comes from comparing yourself with others and what they have. In that mix, religion becomes one more self-help program, all about how God can make you successful. But God never guarantees what the self help preachers promise, and happiness cannot be purchased, acquired, or achieved by narcissistic means.