Are We There Yet? The Pursuit of Happiness

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of …satisfaction? Fulfillment?

We know that these were not the terms chosen by Thomas Jefferson for the US Declaration of Independence. Our Creator has given us some unalienable rights, and governments are supposed to protect those. Life and liberty seem just fine. But what about this pursuit of something? Pursuit of happiness … how quaint!

Epicurean?

Jefferson was an Epicurean, as he himself professed. The Epicurean philosophy promotes the pursuit of happiness, and also recommends autarchy, or freedom.

Lockean origin?

John Locke might also have been the inspiration for Jefferson’s inclusion of the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental human right. Locke was a 17^th century English philosopher, whose concept of happiness was heavily influenced by the Greeks, particularly Aristotle & Epicurus. Locke distinguished between “imaginary happiness” and “true and solid happiness” in his writings. He also talked about “true pleasure,” which is a lasting happiness, as opposed to “false pleasure,” which is a promise of immediate gratification, often followed by pain in the long run (for example, excessive alcohol intake).

Happy now?

Do you have to pursue happiness as a goal, and perhaps attain it after a long chase, or can you be happy now, and forever?

The answer to that basically depends on your definition of happiness. And there are lots of those, depending on whom you ask.

Define happiness, please!

Cicero gave it a shot before the birth of Christ: “A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.” He went on to add: “Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.”

Greeks and the soul

Democritus (460 BC-370 BC) opined that “Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.” However, he did not make any recommendations about how we should explore our souls to find it!

Health and happiness

One would assume that being in poor health would make people unhappy, while good health would promote happiness. Surprisingly, this is not always the case.

Studies have suggested that people in poor health can be just as happy as those whose health is good. This is often true even of patients suffering from major diseases like cancer, and even of people with significant disabilities.

Disruption of life

Researchers from Alabama, Chicago & Massachusetts reported their findings about the relationship between health status and happiness in the Journal of Happiness Studies in 2012. They found that unhappiness resulted from poor health only if the health condition disrupted the patient’s daily life to a significant degree. Examples were people with chronic severe pain, or urinary incontinence.

People adapt!

The chief researchers felt the reason for this was that most people are able to adapt to even severe disabilities or poor health over a period of time, and thus feel less unhappy.

Other experts feel that this adaptation depends on the speed of change in health. If the decline in health is gradual, most people can adjust fairly well to it. Even people who have become quadriplegic after an accident tend to revert to their set pattern of mood within 3-12 months in the majority of cases.

Depression seems to be an exception. This disease colors one’s mood and affect, and can lead to sustained unhappiness and misery.

Money and happiness

Can money buy happiness?

It depends. Up to a certain level, money does buy happiness. If you do not have a roof over your head, or any clothes to keep out the winter cold, or food to eat, you will probably not be very happy. But once those needs are met, things can change.

Good overall?

Economists tend to define two different aspects of happiness. Evaluative happiness   is the term given to your overall assessment of your life. Is your life “good” overall? Are you happy with the overall direction your life is taking? This type of happiness is clearly associated with money. Economists Justin Wolfers and Betsy Stevenson have analyzed happiness surveys and economic conditions in different countries. They found that rich people are happier than poor people, and people in rich countries are happier than those living in poor countries. This is mostly true all over the world.

Emotional

There is, however, also an “affective” aspect of happiness. This is related to emotions: positive ones like joy, and negative ones like sadness. How often you feel these emotions also determines your level of happiness.

So happiness depends not only on how satisfied you are with your life in general, but also on how your mood and emotions are at that time. You could be rich, and satisfied overall, but not feeling on top of the world at that time. On the other hand, you could be poor, not too thrilled with the overall direction of your life, but happy for the time being because your co-worker did something nice for you.

$75,000 cap

Researchers from Princeton University (Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton) also looked at happiness and money, or rather, income. They found that after a ceiling of $75,000 yearly earnings, any further income did not increase the affective measures of happiness. Which is to say that the emotional well-being, or day-to- day feelings of joy, anger, sadness, or affection did not become any less or more frequent above that level of household income.

However, they did find that further rise in household earnings did make people’s satisfaction levels with their lives go up.

Earning or spending?

How you spend your money tends to be as important as, or even more important than, how much you earn, as far as happiness is concerned.

Giving to others, or to charity, tends to boost happiness levels. Similarly, saving money and avoiding debt promote feelings of happiness.

Interestingly, spending money on experiences makes people more happy, in general, than spending money on acquiring material possessions. It might be that you get used to your fancy new car fairly quickly, so it does not give you the same thrill it did when you first bought it.

Time can be money

Freeing up some time for family or hobbies can also contribute to happiness, even if you pay a monetary price. A shorter commute to work, and outsourcing chores you hate, can help you to find that extra hour or so to play with your kids.

Family and friends

Obviously, the presence of warm and loving relationships tends to provide a fullness to life and lead to more satisfaction.

But what about a meaningful life?

A lot of studies, mostly done in the western world, look for external correlates which lead to happiness. Wealth, possessions, excitement, joy: many of these are transient. Can they lead to lasting satisfaction, fulfillment and a meaningful life? The answer is yes and no. By themselves, all of these can eventually leave you feeling empty, and asking yourself, “Is this all there is to life?”

Not too many people say on their death-beds, “I wish I had earned more money, or had a bigger TV, or a bigger house.”

Look inside

All of the above ingredients of happiness tend to help. But are we looking for true pleasure or false pleasure, as Locke had warned us?

More and more evidence suggests that we might be looking for the wrong thing, and in the wrong place.

Perhaps we should seek satisfaction, or contentment. And look for that inside us, rather than outside. And focus more on giving, than on getting.

Stay tuned! More to follow…