Brave New World 14

"It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes--make them loose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere beyond, somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge." pg. 177

Mustapha Mond's reaction to this "new theory of biology" really surprised me. I wasn't shocked by the rejection, but I was shocked about how forceful the rejection was. Mustapha seemed to be more baffled by the presentation than by the concept itself. It was as if he knew that the ideas were true, but couldn't admit it. In the quote above, it mentions that this was the type of concept that would provoke others to betray their conditioning. I think he reacted so strongly because he was fearful that this could happen. If this new theory was released to the public, the World State, as they knew it, would be forever changed.  The theory developed a life purpose for enriching knowledge rather than a pursuit of happiness. The new theory is like how the world is constructed today. We (most people) strive to accomplish all that we can in order to ensure that we are happy. This is because in our world, happiness is equated with success rather that pleasure. If the people of the World State knew they were capable of so much more physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, the dynamics of their lives would severely alter. I think that Mustapha knows that the new theory is more of an ideal scenario, but in his world, it is blasphemy to admit it.