The Agony of Wealth
If anyone perceives happiness to be gained via pursing wealth as the highest priority in life, well----they ought to read the book titled 740 Park. This is a condominium building in New York City considered the world's richest apartment building. If you live there you have attained the perfect statement as to your wealth status. It been the richest apartment building for 75 years and the author traces the lives of those who have lived there since it's conception.
Wealth and happiness have always been tied together as if the latter follows from the former. The most recent studies indicate this is true, at least in America, up until around $75,000 per year income. After that the relationship is lost. What is gained is once again a reminder that, as with most things, enough is as good as a feast. Where God's evolutionary process is taking life on this planet is beyond human comprehension. It is necessary, for proper perspective, to understand human limitations. The human species not likely, it is best to remind ourselves, the end point of this evolutionary process. There is no reason, based on any logic, that we are made in God's image, that we are even a favorite or 'special' species, and any life after death seems useless speculation. After all, we can't even comprehend the existence of life on this planet let alone any life after life on the planet. Whether it be God or whatever came first, something had to have come from nothing. So clearly even our concept of nothing is flawed. And so it goes, with so much beyond human mental capabilities at this point in time. It would be presumptuous for us to even postulate that the human species is the end point in evolution. We need to accept that WE GO, TIME STAYS.
Of course in the meantime we are left to muddle through, as best we can, how to make our lives as contented as possible. Just amassing wealth is clearly an illusion as a path to happiness. Does that mean no wealthy people are happy? Not any more than there are no poor people who are happy. First of all, the zippidy doo dah stuff is relative. Humans are diverse enough via genetics and environment that any mixture of variables to generate happiness is going to vary. It might, I suppose, be true, that if I could be an accomplished and famous athlete, this would make me happy. BUT, there are many accomplished and famous athletes who are not happy. And so we can go down an endless list of things which might produce some happiness but it is always some sort of MIGHT. And furthermore, I might best remember that no amount of effort or training is going to make ME an accomplished and famous athlete. Accepting what cannot be changed is part of happiness.
For this musing, wealth is the variable under scrutiny. The people who lived, or now live, in 740 Park are wealthy. The end point has been reached. Some simply inherited a lot of wealth, and some started from scratch. No matter, if one likes stress, divorce, family discord, anger, distrust, materialism, jealousy, envy, surface glitter, isolation, and compulsive disorders, then wealth, as the priority in life, is perfect. You will invariably have it up to your neck and then painfully, but too late, die an emotionally painful and lonely death just like most people do. Outside of sudden death, most people die alone---dying is very much an internal personal sort of journey.
It clearly is hard to have genuine positive meaningful relationships when money is at stake. Image over substance, materialism over contentedness, and compulsive disdain for others along the way is almost unavoidable. What is nice about the pursuit of wealth, I guess, is that your progress is quantitatively measurable, just like growing bigger as a child.
Of course, one usually needs a certain amount of wealth to be contented or happy. We probably have more people today on our planet than ever before who have literally no wealth to speak of. They own no land, they have no job, they have no health care, they have no physical security, they have little food, clean water, etc. This of course is matched by those who have every imaginable kind of wealth. It is the best of all possible worlds, it is the worst of all possible worlds. And most people are somewhere in between. Unfortunately, the reality is that no longer are there enough natural resources on our planet to enable everyone to live the kind of affluent life many of us live. That is human overpopulation. To deny this observation is simply delusion writ large.
Life is full of delusions. That wealth can bring contentedness is one of them. 740 Park demonstrates this. Fairness is another delusion. Genetics and environment create a playing field that is not level. Neither of these two factors did anyone EARN. "I earned it" is always to some degree delusional. We are mostly fortunate. Evolution is less about earning anything and more about chance, diversity, and survival of the fittest. IF God wished a perfect planet he would have created a perfect planet. Perhaps for God to achieve a perfect planet the evolutionary process of chance, diversity, and survival of the fittest is needed. For evolution to be GOOD writ large does not mean necessarily that any of us as individuals are any end point by any measure of fairness, ability, or happiness. For God to be individually involved in any of our lives would be contrary to His own laws of evolution. Does he ever get involved? Well, there is certainly no evidence that he does very often or with any degree of consistency. That God helps those who inherit particular religious dogma is quite a stretch. Whatever God is, I just can't reduce Him to this level of irrationality. There is far too much of "there but for the grace of God goes I". When a particular sperm meets a particular egg, this is not likely a planned event by God, but exactly the kind of chance that drives God's evolutionary process. Self serving ego is what drives humans to create sectarian religious dogma, and the more self centered one is, the more fundamentalist of some sort one becomes. Anything then done in the name of God becomes, by default, a trip to Heaven of some sort. And mercy be to those whose sectarian religious dogma does not match a majority. Get out the body bags. Onward religious soldiers.
But all that be as it may, back to wealth as the road to contentment. We have almost a childlike conception of wealth---- that wealth means we lounge around in luxury, with every want at our command, waddling in materialistic comforts, traveling to exotic places, hob nobbing with important people. It is nothing like that. I was a live-in chauffeur many years ago, and later professionally had the good or bad luck to often be in the company of people with wealth. To get or stay wealthy money has to be a priority in your life---there are precious few exceptions to this. This priority requires extraordinary effort and stress. The stakes are always high, the risks nerve wracking, and time ever precious. But of course one has servants or hired help if you prefer that word. Sure, but they need training, supervision, and too often will be caught dipping their hand to help themselves for some sort of your treasures, minor or major. All friendships become suspect---almost everyone would like to be close to someone of real wealth. Your wealth gives your access to beauty and sex with the sexy, access to charming people, and romantic environments. But when the charm wears off, there is always something new on the horizon. And alas, your spouse is well aware if they tire of you, a good portion of your wealth goes out the door with them. Leisure time is precious, scheduled as can best be fitted in with all your other responsibilities. Economic empires require a lot of maintenance and protection. Wealthy people spend a lot of time trying to prevent others from taking advantage of them. With anything desired available on demand most any moment, compulsive behavior of some sort inevitably sets in. It could be sex, drugs, more money, power, publicity, eating, drinking----whatever, compulsive behavior of some sort will almost surely come. Many wealthy people end up walling themselves off from most others, seek seclusion of some sort, spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with issues regarding children from a different marriage, some get convictions for improper business dealings, lawsuits involving business or personal affairs are common, and after a while, a wealthy person invariably feels cheated---real contentment with life is evasive. There are exceptions but I don't think that many.
What I noticed most about most wealthy people is just how boring they really are. Conversations are stilted, cautious, strained with attempted witticisms, and time in their presence seems to go so slowly. There is little relaxing in any gathering with the economically or socially elite. It is almost all show, each person absorbed with their own performance---real interaction is virtually nonexistent. To me, it was always a total waste of my time, an inconvenience, like a role in a play---acting, image projecting, hah hah witticisms, and most of the time 'something' is at stake for the gathering---- and whatever that something is, there will be winners and losers. Much of it has to do with reputation, this misdirected belief that others view you as something other than an object of some sort in a chess game. If 'get a life' has it's intended meaning than the wealthy need get one. Reality and genuineness is mostly missing.
If life is a soap opera, then the lives of the wealthy are full of life----tormented actors chasing anything that glitters. If wealth were really some kind of heaven on earth then why, among the wealthy, are the percentages of suicides, divorces, law suits, criminal convictions, drug use, family battles, loneliness, gambling problems, sex compulsions, mental disorders, etc. so high compared to the non wealthy? When most of us think of wealth we rarely think of all these companions to wealth.
I would like to tour 740 Park. I enjoyed reading about the tormented lives of so many who have lived there. Frankly, I think one of my biggest blessings is my father making clear after 18 yrs of age I was on my own. Period. My living standard progressed from a dorm room, a rented room in people's homes, a room in a mansion as a live in chauffeur, a rented apartment, a rented home, a owned home, and then a owned condo. To further my 'life education' I lived in rural areas, urban areas, and suburban areas. As a former high school and university teacher I have come in contact with about every sort of personality and every kind of ethnic background/culture. Learning to appreciate diversity, developing a sense of compassion for the less fortunate, and the chance to experience every economic status from being relatively poor to relatively affluent has been, in my own mind, a healthy rewarding progression. Having seen and lived life from so many sides has given me a more philosophical and more accepting perception of life. Such a perception contributes more to my own personal contentment than any other aspect of my life. Life is not purposeless at all, God's evolutionary process and the laws that drive it, go on quite nicely. I suppose it would be even better if the purpose of life revolved more around me personally, or at least those of similar ilk, but it does not. God's evolutionary process is filled with endless personal and national tragedies AND, even more so, with endless personal and national triumphs. The notion that God is toying with us on a personal basis, judging us by our inherited religious dogma and rituals seems rather farfetched to me. The dice have rolled my way often enough, so I feel a real sense of gratitude for the good luck and have learned to accept the Golden Rule as the inherent basis of all ethics. Contentment, the kind that is not fleeting, comes from accepting that the less fortunate count as much as the more fortunate. Thus, for every penny spent on one's own needs past the basics, another penny must be contributed to the less fortunate. The inherent nature of human ethics (the Golden Rule) is such that real contentment follows from duty done. Contentment is, after all is said and done, the reward right here and now for performed ethical duty. Ethics is relatively new in species characteristics and can be expected to become more entrenched and polished over evolutionary time. Even in the short evolutionary period of human life, progress in ethical standards and behavior have improved. Not in any straight steady graph, but in fits and spurts. Gone (in varying degrees) are the religious Inquisitions, witchcraft, slavery (now being reintroduced in a new form), child labor, and progress with women's rights, ethnic rights, legal rights, and we witness now progress with gay rights, protection of natural resources, etc. The biggest failure right now is total inability to engage in responsible reproduction. This failure could lead to one of evolution's cataclysmic upheavals . But no matter, with every evolutionary corrective upheaval eventually comes progress. So one way or the other, planetary progress will come---eventually. For now, as individuals, we all have been dealt our cards, we play them the best we can and if we respect diversity, count others as important as ourselves, then contentment will follow, like day follows night. Of course ME FIRST, others should follow.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
HAPPINESS INSIGHTS
Happiness Insights
Happiness is a difficult concept wrapped in semantics. I prefer the word contentment as the goal in life. A rabid sports fan has frequent moments of happiness whenever his/her team wins, BUT may be relatively discontented with his/her life. I reckon happiness generated purely by events outside one's own sphere of influence cannot possibly generate contentment in one's life. That is probably why inherited wealth has so little impact on a person's happiness.
I recently read an interesting book by Eric Weiner who spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for NPR. The title of the book is The Geography of Bliss. The author has made the study of happiness as kind of a hobby and is familiar with the many studies on what makes people happy. How to accurately measure happiness is no clear measure; but no matter the method used, the people in some countries appear happier than others. On most of these studies the U.S. comes in somewhere between 20 and 30 on the list. I mean wow. Not all that good. This is a difficult and strange period in American history. We are used to being #1 in most all important matters and an example for others to follow. Somehow, about the only thing we are number one is in the production of weapons of mass destruction, military bases all over the globe, invasions of other sovereign countries, the biggest debtor nation, and more deaths to people from war. We no longer lead in education, in protecting the environment, in mass transportation, in health care for it's citizens, etc. To top all this off, for decades now no industrialized nation has steered more of its wealth into the hands of so few as in this country. This is, of course, worrisome.
Regarding happiness, two aspects of this topic interest me: what factors contribute to a person's happiness and what factors contribute to people in an entire country being happier on average than citizens in other countries. The author visited some of these countries where people are purported to be the happiest and one of the countries purported to be one of the unhappiest. He combined his observations with the various studies on happiness and I think did an excellent job. None of the numbered factors which follows are a product of my own research or observations on the topic. The list below might be helpful on two counts. First to understand why some countries have a happier population than others, and second, to see what factors each of us might need to focus on to improve our own personal happiness. As I said before I prefer the word contentment, but will stick here with the word the author used. All the statements below mean on the average. Obviously all people in any country are not at the same happiness level.
1. Extroverts are happier then introverts.
2. Optimists are happier than pessimists
3. Married people are happier than single people. This stat may be misleading. For example unhealthy people, unattractive people, people with mental disorders etc are less likely to marry and be unhappy single for reasons having nothing to do with being single.
4. Couples with children and couples without children score about the same
5. Republicans are happier than Democrats, maybe because liberals tend to feel the pain of others more than conservatives. Conservatives would deny this vigorously.
6. People with college degrees are happier than those without. I suspect people with college degrees are better able to improve their lives and feel more needed on their job.
7. People who attend religious services are happier on average than those who do not.
8. Homogenous countries are happier than diverse societies. Less friction I guess.
9. The gap between the rich and the poor does not always reflect the average happiness of the citizens.
10. Many of the happiest countries have the highest suicide rate. Maybe when so many are happy and you are not it hurts more.
11. Extreme poverty produces unhappiness. On the other hand, a recent study in the United States showed that after $75,000 the happiness level is not related to income.
12. Democracy doesn't promote happiness but the happiest countries are more likely to be democratic.
13. Most of the world is happy.
14. Socialistic countries tend to be the happiest. Perhaps the less stress associated with health insurance, jobs, enough vacation days, education, transportation, etc. contribute to the lower stress levels and more happiness.
15. Tolerance of others generates happiness. For example, in many of the happiest countries soft recreational drugs are legal and so is prostitution. Live and let live affects happiness levels in a country
16. Cleanliness generates happiness. Cleanliness refers to public places including mass transportation, etc.
17. Good public transportation promotes happiness
18. Absence of envy promotes happiness. The whole advertising industry is built around creating envy. In a country like Switzerland people try to hide their wealth, in American the wealthy tend to flaunt it.
19. People who don't swing between great emotional highs and lows are happier.
20. Firm just rules which make a society functional promotes happiness
21. Love of nature promotes happiness
22. "brophilia", the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms promotes happiness
23. Natural settings promote happiness. People with window views of nature are happier than those without such views.
24. Countries where people can control their own dying process, including suicide, are happier. Probably a lot of people fear loss of control over their own dying process more than death.
25.Meaningful work promotes happiness
26. Friendly family ties promotes happiness
27. Trust promotes happiness
28. Happiness is related to the number of people you know within a 15 minute walk of your house.
29. A certain amount of boredom appears related to happiness
30. Affluence breeds impatience and impatience undermines happiness
31. Feeling you would rather live somewhere else undermines happiness.
32. Attentive people are happier people.
33. Low crime rate increase the level of happiness in a country
34. More monks than soldiers creates a happier country
35. Realistic expectations promotes happiness
36. Compassion contributes to being happy
37. A good imagination contributes to happiness
38. Coming to Terms with mortality contributes to happiness
39. Economic advantage not predominating over doing the right thing contributes to happiness
40. talking a lot about happiness reduces happiness level
41. wealth does not bring happiness. Americans are 3X wealthier than 50 years ago and are no more happy.
42. Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross national Product.
43. Knowing when enough is enough promotes happiness. Rich societies fail here.
44. Not feeling every activity must be productive contributes to happiness
45. Extensive traveling does not promote happiness
46. The ability to compromise promotes happiness
47. As evidence that wealth alone does not promote happiness 90% of Bhutanese who study abroad return to Bhutan to live---a country where citizens earn about 100 times less than Americans.
48. People who value protecting nature are happier.
49. Good health promotes happiness
50. Connecting with people and issues larger than ourselves promotes happiness
51. Seeing nature as an evolutionary process in which our parentage is infinite promotes happiness
52. a rich cultural history promotes happiness
53. Positive relationships with others promotes happiness
54. A certain amount of creative turbulence promotes happiness
55. The happiest countries are not worked up about sectarian religious dogma---instead they believe in 6 week vacations, human rights, democracy, lazy afternoon's, casual dress, etc.
56. Lottery winners return to their same level of happiness as before.
57. Good luck promotes happiness via place of birth, physical attributes, quality of schools attending etc.
58. Craving for something is not the same as getting pleasure from it once attained. There are little neural connections between parts of the brain that control wanting and parts of the brain that control liking.
59. People who are busy are happier than those who are not busy.
60. The opportunity for social mobility promotes happiness
61. Colder climates tend to increases level of happiness
62. Being cooperative increases happiness
63. moderate and responsible use of recreational drugs increases happiness
64. Unemployment reduces happiness more than high inflation.
65. Creativity increases happiness
66. Mastering language increases happiness
67. Lack of envy increases happiness
68. Some self delusion promotes happiness
69. Believing in something promotes happiness
70. Countries which accentuate communal harmony are happier than individualistic countries.
71. Countries filled with learned helplessness are among the unhappiest
72. Countries with little pride are the unhappiest
73. Countries with the attitude of "not my problem" are among the unhappiest
74. Countries where a lot of people get pleasure from other's misfortune are among the unhappiest countries
75. Countries saturated with passivity for survival are among the unhappiest.
76. A feeling of being useful promotes happiness
77. cell phone addiction promotes unhappiness
78. For happiness it is better to be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake.
79. Cultures that reward meanspiritedness and deceit promote unhappiness
80. Cultures which promote carnal pleasures the most are not among the happiest countries
81. Cultures which don't take things too seriously promote happiness
82. Cultures which believe in reincarnation promote happiness via a belief that life will be better in the next life.
83. Realizing what things you cannot change makes life less heavy and promotes happiness
84. Accepting that one is born in a world of suffering, so suffer and hold your peace---this may relieve some of the pain but does not promote happiness
85. Countries where wealth is heavily taxed are happier
86. Pet owners are happier than non pet owners
87. Stopping a tooth ache is not a path to happiness, that is, the absence of pain is not happiness
88. People who volunteer are happier than those who don't
89. For some, unpredictability promotes happiness
90. People who leave room for imperfection are happier than those who don't.
91. People are happiest in youth and old age.
92. Calcutta's destitute are happier than the destitute in California. Perhaps this is because in India being poor is fate, maybe bad karma from a previous life, whereas in California it is personal failure.
93. People filled with gratitude for their blessings are happier than those not so inclined.
94. Livable wages promote happiness.
I was able to pull out almost 100 factors which are purported to affect happiness levels on a personal or national basis. All of this is fine and interesting but what meaningfulness is to be gained from knowing all this? I suppose, if one is unhappy with their life they could make some selected changes.
What does the author have to say about the happiness position of the U.S.? On happiness studies in varied countries, the U.S. always falls somewhere between 20-30. For the richest country in the world this seems odd. After all, we are 3 times richer per person than in 1950. I guess we should be off the scale with happiness. Some things are troubling. Since 1960 the divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide tripled, violent crime rate has quadrupled. Compared with the happier countries, the U.S. workers work longer hours and commute farther than in any other country. Since 1960 Americans spend less time with family and friends and belong to fewer community groups. Loneliness is solved by the internet. 8/10 Americans think about happiness at least once a week----some sort of feeling what is missing in their lives/ To meet these widespread feelings America has the largest self help industry in the world. Compared to the past, Americans move a lot, are almost gypsy like. In the past people grew where they were planted.
TO ME it seems a lot of our current mindset reflects our past. Our country's past is filled with unlimited opportunities, violence, individualism, and there was always the frontier for those dissatisfied----you could just pick up and start over. That is gone now and yet we still feel the individualism, the use of violence and war to solve conflict, a commitment to unregulated capitalism, and have rejected high income and inheritance taxes on the wealthy. With 1-5% of our population now holding 90% of our wealth we are feeling the consequences, but with all that concentrated wealth comes the power to indoctrinate and manipulate voters via effective and professional propaganda to control all three branches of our government. History has shown that most 'empires' collapsed for two reasons: a foreign 'empire' of some sort that was too expensive to manage or control (military bases and wars) and an implosion from within as far too much of the wealth became concentrated in the hands of too few. Perhaps our fate is no different.
Of course God's created evolutionary process is not focused on happiness but progression from simple to more complex. It is hard to view evolutionary history and not feel we are at the precipice of a major tumultuous event. In my own mind there are 4 factors which are bringing such an tumultuous event upon us. Human overpopulation (defined as more people existing than there are natural resources for the kind of life many of us live); a rapidly increasing disproportionate accumulation of wealth into the hands of a few: a transformation to a global economy with no global minimum wages; and a rapid depletion of natural resources including arable land, water, species extinction---matched by air, land, and water pollution. I suppose one could add to this the rise of terrorism and decline of battles involving national armies. IF the aforementioned are in fact the reality, then economic recovery is not possible. Implementation of responsible reproduction seems beyond even mild debate, evvironmental protection impossible without it, and not something which people are remotely willing to face.Terrorism is something which is currently feared from people in other countries, the rebels outside the control of our own 'empire' who insanely, logically, or otherwise want American military or American corporate control of their economy out of their country. But the terrorism most to be feared will be that from within as more and more citizens are left with less and less. As we should have learned from Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, now Afghanistan, and all of history, the have-nots always win in crunch time and especially so when the have-nots comprise a large share of a domestic population. Sharing wealth and responsible reproduction may be something which goes against the grain of human nature, and perhaps beyond human capability at this point in God's evolutionary process, but if so----it tis' a shame since a society's survival depends on such restriction on greed. There have been more changes, many for the good, in my lifetime than any other lifetime in human history. In the end perhaps greed, the inability to understand when enough is as good as a feast, reproductive responsibility, and the necessity of following the Golden Rule for progress to continue----perhaps therein lies some sort of human Waterloo at this point in evolutionary history. Whatever, what is for certain is that WE ALL, AS INDIVIDUALS---GO, TIME STAYS.
Happiness is a difficult concept wrapped in semantics. I prefer the word contentment as the goal in life. A rabid sports fan has frequent moments of happiness whenever his/her team wins, BUT may be relatively discontented with his/her life. I reckon happiness generated purely by events outside one's own sphere of influence cannot possibly generate contentment in one's life. That is probably why inherited wealth has so little impact on a person's happiness.
I recently read an interesting book by Eric Weiner who spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for NPR. The title of the book is The Geography of Bliss. The author has made the study of happiness as kind of a hobby and is familiar with the many studies on what makes people happy. How to accurately measure happiness is no clear measure; but no matter the method used, the people in some countries appear happier than others. On most of these studies the U.S. comes in somewhere between 20 and 30 on the list. I mean wow. Not all that good. This is a difficult and strange period in American history. We are used to being #1 in most all important matters and an example for others to follow. Somehow, about the only thing we are number one is in the production of weapons of mass destruction, military bases all over the globe, invasions of other sovereign countries, the biggest debtor nation, and more deaths to people from war. We no longer lead in education, in protecting the environment, in mass transportation, in health care for it's citizens, etc. To top all this off, for decades now no industrialized nation has steered more of its wealth into the hands of so few as in this country. This is, of course, worrisome.
Regarding happiness, two aspects of this topic interest me: what factors contribute to a person's happiness and what factors contribute to people in an entire country being happier on average than citizens in other countries. The author visited some of these countries where people are purported to be the happiest and one of the countries purported to be one of the unhappiest. He combined his observations with the various studies on happiness and I think did an excellent job. None of the numbered factors which follows are a product of my own research or observations on the topic. The list below might be helpful on two counts. First to understand why some countries have a happier population than others, and second, to see what factors each of us might need to focus on to improve our own personal happiness. As I said before I prefer the word contentment, but will stick here with the word the author used. All the statements below mean on the average. Obviously all people in any country are not at the same happiness level.
1. Extroverts are happier then introverts.
2. Optimists are happier than pessimists
3. Married people are happier than single people. This stat may be misleading. For example unhealthy people, unattractive people, people with mental disorders etc are less likely to marry and be unhappy single for reasons having nothing to do with being single.
4. Couples with children and couples without children score about the same
5. Republicans are happier than Democrats, maybe because liberals tend to feel the pain of others more than conservatives. Conservatives would deny this vigorously.
6. People with college degrees are happier than those without. I suspect people with college degrees are better able to improve their lives and feel more needed on their job.
7. People who attend religious services are happier on average than those who do not.
8. Homogenous countries are happier than diverse societies. Less friction I guess.
9. The gap between the rich and the poor does not always reflect the average happiness of the citizens.
10. Many of the happiest countries have the highest suicide rate. Maybe when so many are happy and you are not it hurts more.
11. Extreme poverty produces unhappiness. On the other hand, a recent study in the United States showed that after $75,000 the happiness level is not related to income.
12. Democracy doesn't promote happiness but the happiest countries are more likely to be democratic.
13. Most of the world is happy.
14. Socialistic countries tend to be the happiest. Perhaps the less stress associated with health insurance, jobs, enough vacation days, education, transportation, etc. contribute to the lower stress levels and more happiness.
15. Tolerance of others generates happiness. For example, in many of the happiest countries soft recreational drugs are legal and so is prostitution. Live and let live affects happiness levels in a country
16. Cleanliness generates happiness. Cleanliness refers to public places including mass transportation, etc.
17. Good public transportation promotes happiness
18. Absence of envy promotes happiness. The whole advertising industry is built around creating envy. In a country like Switzerland people try to hide their wealth, in American the wealthy tend to flaunt it.
19. People who don't swing between great emotional highs and lows are happier.
20. Firm just rules which make a society functional promotes happiness
21. Love of nature promotes happiness
22. "brophilia", the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms promotes happiness
23. Natural settings promote happiness. People with window views of nature are happier than those without such views.
24. Countries where people can control their own dying process, including suicide, are happier. Probably a lot of people fear loss of control over their own dying process more than death.
25.Meaningful work promotes happiness
26. Friendly family ties promotes happiness
27. Trust promotes happiness
28. Happiness is related to the number of people you know within a 15 minute walk of your house.
29. A certain amount of boredom appears related to happiness
30. Affluence breeds impatience and impatience undermines happiness
31. Feeling you would rather live somewhere else undermines happiness.
32. Attentive people are happier people.
33. Low crime rate increase the level of happiness in a country
34. More monks than soldiers creates a happier country
35. Realistic expectations promotes happiness
36. Compassion contributes to being happy
37. A good imagination contributes to happiness
38. Coming to Terms with mortality contributes to happiness
39. Economic advantage not predominating over doing the right thing contributes to happiness
40. talking a lot about happiness reduces happiness level
41. wealth does not bring happiness. Americans are 3X wealthier than 50 years ago and are no more happy.
42. Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross national Product.
43. Knowing when enough is enough promotes happiness. Rich societies fail here.
44. Not feeling every activity must be productive contributes to happiness
45. Extensive traveling does not promote happiness
46. The ability to compromise promotes happiness
47. As evidence that wealth alone does not promote happiness 90% of Bhutanese who study abroad return to Bhutan to live---a country where citizens earn about 100 times less than Americans.
48. People who value protecting nature are happier.
49. Good health promotes happiness
50. Connecting with people and issues larger than ourselves promotes happiness
51. Seeing nature as an evolutionary process in which our parentage is infinite promotes happiness
52. a rich cultural history promotes happiness
53. Positive relationships with others promotes happiness
54. A certain amount of creative turbulence promotes happiness
55. The happiest countries are not worked up about sectarian religious dogma---instead they believe in 6 week vacations, human rights, democracy, lazy afternoon's, casual dress, etc.
56. Lottery winners return to their same level of happiness as before.
57. Good luck promotes happiness via place of birth, physical attributes, quality of schools attending etc.
58. Craving for something is not the same as getting pleasure from it once attained. There are little neural connections between parts of the brain that control wanting and parts of the brain that control liking.
59. People who are busy are happier than those who are not busy.
60. The opportunity for social mobility promotes happiness
61. Colder climates tend to increases level of happiness
62. Being cooperative increases happiness
63. moderate and responsible use of recreational drugs increases happiness
64. Unemployment reduces happiness more than high inflation.
65. Creativity increases happiness
66. Mastering language increases happiness
67. Lack of envy increases happiness
68. Some self delusion promotes happiness
69. Believing in something promotes happiness
70. Countries which accentuate communal harmony are happier than individualistic countries.
71. Countries filled with learned helplessness are among the unhappiest
72. Countries with little pride are the unhappiest
73. Countries with the attitude of "not my problem" are among the unhappiest
74. Countries where a lot of people get pleasure from other's misfortune are among the unhappiest countries
75. Countries saturated with passivity for survival are among the unhappiest.
76. A feeling of being useful promotes happiness
77. cell phone addiction promotes unhappiness
78. For happiness it is better to be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake.
79. Cultures that reward meanspiritedness and deceit promote unhappiness
80. Cultures which promote carnal pleasures the most are not among the happiest countries
81. Cultures which don't take things too seriously promote happiness
82. Cultures which believe in reincarnation promote happiness via a belief that life will be better in the next life.
83. Realizing what things you cannot change makes life less heavy and promotes happiness
84. Accepting that one is born in a world of suffering, so suffer and hold your peace---this may relieve some of the pain but does not promote happiness
85. Countries where wealth is heavily taxed are happier
86. Pet owners are happier than non pet owners
87. Stopping a tooth ache is not a path to happiness, that is, the absence of pain is not happiness
88. People who volunteer are happier than those who don't
89. For some, unpredictability promotes happiness
90. People who leave room for imperfection are happier than those who don't.
91. People are happiest in youth and old age.
92. Calcutta's destitute are happier than the destitute in California. Perhaps this is because in India being poor is fate, maybe bad karma from a previous life, whereas in California it is personal failure.
93. People filled with gratitude for their blessings are happier than those not so inclined.
94. Livable wages promote happiness.
I was able to pull out almost 100 factors which are purported to affect happiness levels on a personal or national basis. All of this is fine and interesting but what meaningfulness is to be gained from knowing all this? I suppose, if one is unhappy with their life they could make some selected changes.
What does the author have to say about the happiness position of the U.S.? On happiness studies in varied countries, the U.S. always falls somewhere between 20-30. For the richest country in the world this seems odd. After all, we are 3 times richer per person than in 1950. I guess we should be off the scale with happiness. Some things are troubling. Since 1960 the divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide tripled, violent crime rate has quadrupled. Compared with the happier countries, the U.S. workers work longer hours and commute farther than in any other country. Since 1960 Americans spend less time with family and friends and belong to fewer community groups. Loneliness is solved by the internet. 8/10 Americans think about happiness at least once a week----some sort of feeling what is missing in their lives/ To meet these widespread feelings America has the largest self help industry in the world. Compared to the past, Americans move a lot, are almost gypsy like. In the past people grew where they were planted.
TO ME it seems a lot of our current mindset reflects our past. Our country's past is filled with unlimited opportunities, violence, individualism, and there was always the frontier for those dissatisfied----you could just pick up and start over. That is gone now and yet we still feel the individualism, the use of violence and war to solve conflict, a commitment to unregulated capitalism, and have rejected high income and inheritance taxes on the wealthy. With 1-5% of our population now holding 90% of our wealth we are feeling the consequences, but with all that concentrated wealth comes the power to indoctrinate and manipulate voters via effective and professional propaganda to control all three branches of our government. History has shown that most 'empires' collapsed for two reasons: a foreign 'empire' of some sort that was too expensive to manage or control (military bases and wars) and an implosion from within as far too much of the wealth became concentrated in the hands of too few. Perhaps our fate is no different.
Of course God's created evolutionary process is not focused on happiness but progression from simple to more complex. It is hard to view evolutionary history and not feel we are at the precipice of a major tumultuous event. In my own mind there are 4 factors which are bringing such an tumultuous event upon us. Human overpopulation (defined as more people existing than there are natural resources for the kind of life many of us live); a rapidly increasing disproportionate accumulation of wealth into the hands of a few: a transformation to a global economy with no global minimum wages; and a rapid depletion of natural resources including arable land, water, species extinction---matched by air, land, and water pollution. I suppose one could add to this the rise of terrorism and decline of battles involving national armies. IF the aforementioned are in fact the reality, then economic recovery is not possible. Implementation of responsible reproduction seems beyond even mild debate, evvironmental protection impossible without it, and not something which people are remotely willing to face.Terrorism is something which is currently feared from people in other countries, the rebels outside the control of our own 'empire' who insanely, logically, or otherwise want American military or American corporate control of their economy out of their country. But the terrorism most to be feared will be that from within as more and more citizens are left with less and less. As we should have learned from Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, now Afghanistan, and all of history, the have-nots always win in crunch time and especially so when the have-nots comprise a large share of a domestic population. Sharing wealth and responsible reproduction may be something which goes against the grain of human nature, and perhaps beyond human capability at this point in God's evolutionary process, but if so----it tis' a shame since a society's survival depends on such restriction on greed. There have been more changes, many for the good, in my lifetime than any other lifetime in human history. In the end perhaps greed, the inability to understand when enough is as good as a feast, reproductive responsibility, and the necessity of following the Golden Rule for progress to continue----perhaps therein lies some sort of human Waterloo at this point in evolutionary history. Whatever, what is for certain is that WE ALL, AS INDIVIDUALS---GO, TIME STAYS.
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