Thursday, August 23, 2007
Happiness
It is now firmly established why people are happy. The 'secret' is disarmingly simple - people are happy if they successfully keep up with the Jonses. Happiness is making more money than your peers, a better brand-name car or a bigger house. (come to think of it that is why brands thrive). So it seems that happiness is actually a hedonistic treadmill. And the hope that one can beat the jonses.
I would classify this happiness quotient in the world into three categories
Prospersous but not happy - Almost all happiness research shows that though real income has soared in western countries, the levels of happiness havent. The reason is simple. Everybody has moved ahead and hence there is not the satisfaction of doing significantly better than one's peers. So the happiness curve remains flat. It is in these societies that once the basic needs of subsistence are met that people look for 'meaning' and 'discovery'. They find solace in the latest cultural fad.
We are all in the same boat but hey, there's hope - Lets look at a country like India - it seems ppl are happier than their western counterparts. I will say that the reason is that since most of the people have not become significantly better off, everybody has the contentment of being not 'missing out' anything. The average itself has not moved, so why worry ? There have been no jonses to keep up with ! However things are not so bad that people have given up hope. In these societies it is the hope of the future which keeps people going and they are happy in the process of building prosperity brick-by-brick.
No prosperity and no hope - However unhappiness stems from the fact that there is simply no hope of movement. If there is simply no hope of economic upliftment and everybody is in a state of abject depression, then people are genuinely unhappy. For a stark example take failed african states.
So the secret to happiness - perhaps a conscious effort at contentment !
My other observation on happiness is that if one has a strong (usually religious) faith. Faith makes one more resilient to misfortunes, more accepting of adversity. Happiness comes by believing in a few simple things as absolute (God) and sticking to them. The world is black-and-white and there is little complication. Someone (like me) who is a staunch rationalist has probably a lesser chance at happiness. If you have crossed the threshold to knowledge, however much you may long for, you cannot return to 'simplicity' anymore. Once you have scientifically weeded out belief as being irrational, there is no going back. You cannot 'choose' to undo knowledge. In that sense, knowledge is a little like virginity. You cannot ever attain it after losing it. Its a one-way street. Thats why i believe that if you tread on the path of knowledge, unknowing you lose a little bit of the capability to be happy. Simply put - Ignorance is indeed bliss. One pertinent example which comes to mind is the fact that conservatives are consistently happier and liberals are consistently misrable. Methinks the liberals may have 'lost' their virginity !
The other research that is very powerful is that the very poor are not happy. And happiness tapers off after an income of EUD 50000/- (it rises steadily till that point). After that point, you have to do the other stuff that will make you happy.
I would classify this happiness quotient in the world into three categories
Prospersous but not happy - Almost all happiness research shows that though real income has soared in western countries, the levels of happiness havent. The reason is simple. Everybody has moved ahead and hence there is not the satisfaction of doing significantly better than one's peers. So the happiness curve remains flat. It is in these societies that once the basic needs of subsistence are met that people look for 'meaning' and 'discovery'. They find solace in the latest cultural fad.
We are all in the same boat but hey, there's hope - Lets look at a country like India - it seems ppl are happier than their western counterparts. I will say that the reason is that since most of the people have not become significantly better off, everybody has the contentment of being not 'missing out' anything. The average itself has not moved, so why worry ? There have been no jonses to keep up with ! However things are not so bad that people have given up hope. In these societies it is the hope of the future which keeps people going and they are happy in the process of building prosperity brick-by-brick.
No prosperity and no hope - However unhappiness stems from the fact that there is simply no hope of movement. If there is simply no hope of economic upliftment and everybody is in a state of abject depression, then people are genuinely unhappy. For a stark example take failed african states.
So the secret to happiness - perhaps a conscious effort at contentment !
My other observation on happiness is that if one has a strong (usually religious) faith. Faith makes one more resilient to misfortunes, more accepting of adversity. Happiness comes by believing in a few simple things as absolute (God) and sticking to them. The world is black-and-white and there is little complication. Someone (like me) who is a staunch rationalist has probably a lesser chance at happiness. If you have crossed the threshold to knowledge, however much you may long for, you cannot return to 'simplicity' anymore. Once you have scientifically weeded out belief as being irrational, there is no going back. You cannot 'choose' to undo knowledge. In that sense, knowledge is a little like virginity. You cannot ever attain it after losing it. Its a one-way street. Thats why i believe that if you tread on the path of knowledge, unknowing you lose a little bit of the capability to be happy. Simply put - Ignorance is indeed bliss. One pertinent example which comes to mind is the fact that conservatives are consistently happier and liberals are consistently misrable. Methinks the liberals may have 'lost' their virginity !
The other research that is very powerful is that the very poor are not happy. And happiness tapers off after an income of EUD 50000/- (it rises steadily till that point). After that point, you have to do the other stuff that will make you happy.
# posted by Abhijat @ 6:22 AM 
