Is Happiness Possible in our Broken Reality?

A new book about the benefits of playing computer games makes the claim that reality is broken, explaining why we seek the unbroken virtual reality of games. This I learned recently on the radio. My first reaction was confusion. Why would anybody describe our reality as broken? It did not take me long to back-track my sense of reality when I am interrupted, distracted, obstracted, and bombarded with stimuli of a world that wants my attention. Sometimes there seems no end to the demands on me. My kids want my love; business wants my money; friends my time; schools my upmost devotion...

But is my reality broken? At best I could say that we humans are making it hard on ourselves to maintain unbroken attention. This, however, has been a long-standing problem of Homo Sapiens. In one way or the other we are standing in our own way to experience peace, our participation in this one world, our happiness.

I don't think we should blame modern times for our experience of reality. I don't think we find any answers in games or in any other escape. Living is not easy, but it is not because reality is broken, but because we dissect reality with our perception and our anxiety. Reality has always been just one interconnected whole. If we paid attention to our reality, it would not appear broken. Happiness is possible when we come from inner tranquility, regardless of outer turmoil.