As we have discussed many times, the pursuit of happiness should be the inalienable right for all people wherever they may be. I came across this great study and I share it with you.
The purpose of development must be to create conditions for the pursuit of happiness and not merely boost the gross domestic product, which does not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people, Jigmi Thinley, prime minister of Bhutan, told a high-level United Nations meeting Monday.
Jeffery Sachs, an economist at Columbia University who co-edited the UN's First World Happiness Report, said: "The U.S. has had a three time increase of [gross national product] per capita since 1960, but the happiness needle hasn't budged. Other countries have pursued other policies and achieved much greater gains of happiness, even at much lower levels of per capita income."
Please read below very good short article, it discusses the all-important concept of people's happiness, any people, anywhere in the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/un-discusses-gross-national-happiness-indicator-as-successor-to-gross-domestic-product/2012/04/02/gIQAJJKorS_story.html
As for the World Happiness Report, the key findings are:
The happiest countries in the world are all in Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Netherlands). Their average life evaluation score is 7.6 on a 0-to-10 scale.
The least happy countries are all poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone) with average life evaluation scores of 3.4.
But it is not just wealth that makes people happy: Political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption are together more important than income in explaining well-being differences between the top and bottom countries. At the individual level, good mental and physical health, someone to count on, job security and stable families are crucial.
If you are interested in reading the World Happiness Report, please see link below.
http://issuu.com/earthinstitute/docs/world-happiness-report?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222
It is my undying conviction that governments, institutions, national policies, businesses, laws, religions, media and all that constitutes a nation must, absolutely must, coalesce to deliver on its citizens' happiness. Anything else, and we have unjust, unfair and potentially inhumane abuse of knowledge, power and wealth.
Hussein
A short article written by Dennis Prager, author of four books, most recently "Happiness Is a Serious Problem", sheds more light on happiness, its import and impact on people and societies.
Here is the introduction to Prager's article:
"For much of my life, I, like most people, regarded the pursuit of happiness as largely a selfish pursuit. One of the great revelations of middle age has been that happiness, far from being only a selfish pursuit, is a moral demand.
"When we think of character traits we rightly think of honesty,integrity, moral courage, and acts of altruism. Few people include happiness in any list of character traits or moral achievements.
"But happiness is both.
"Happiness — or at least acting happy, or at the very least not inflicting one's unhappiness on others — is no less important in making the world better than any other human trait.
"With some exceptions, happy people make the world better and unhappy people make it worse. This is true on the personal (micro) and global (macro)planes."
Ruut Veenhoven's study "Is Happiness Relative" addresses the theory that happiness is relative. He contends that the theory holds that happiness results from comparison. Standards of comparison are assumed to adjust and thus to prohibit lasting increase in happiness above neutral. Standards are further seen as arbitrary and happiness therefore not as a valuable matter. This theory is at odds with leading beliefs in present welfare-society.
Recent investigations on life-satisfaction claim support for this old theory. Life-satisfaction is reported to be as high in poor as in rich countries (Easterlin) and no less among paralysed accident victims than among lottery winners (Brickman). These sensational claims are inspected, but found untrue.
The data his study produced clearly does not wholly confirm the theory that happiness is relative. This indicates that there is something wrong with its postulates.
Veenhoven's study concludes that happiness is not entirely relative. Hence there is sense in trying to promote happiness. Full study's link below.
Recent investigations on life-satisfaction claim support for this old theory. Life-satisfaction is reported to be as high in poor as in rich countries (Easterlin) and no less among paralysed accident victims than among lottery winners (Brickman). These sensational claims are inspected, but found untrue.
The data his study produced clearly does not wholly confirm the theory that happiness is relative. This indicates that there is something wrong with its postulates.
- The first postulate was that happiness is a matter of comparison. This in fact equals ‘happiness’ with ‘contentment’ (remember the conceptual distinction in section 1). Yet overall happiness is unlikely to be a matter of comparison only, because it also draws on hedonic affect. Affective experience on its turn seems to draw on largely unconscious need-gratification rather than on the conscious comparison of aspirations and achievements.
- The second postulate holds that levels of aspirations adjust to any situation. Yet aspirations are probably not without any anchor, but linked to innate needs and social values.
Veenhoven's study concludes that happiness is not entirely relative. Hence there is sense in trying to promote happiness. Full study's link below.
http://www2.eur.nl/fsw/research/veenhoven/Pub1980s/89f-full.pdf
Reading, researching and looking more into the UN report about the dynamics of happiness, its role in our lives and the lives of nations, I found the following:
Reading, researching and looking more into the UN report about the dynamics of happiness, its role in our lives and the lives of nations, I found the following:
Quoting from Wikipedia, “Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion.”
Psychologist Martin Seligman provides the acronym PERMA to summarize Positive Psychology's correlational findings, humans seem happiest when they have:
- Pleasure (tasty foods, warm baths, etc.),
- Engagement (or flow, the absorption of an enjoyed yet challenging activity),
- Relationships (social ties have turned out to be extremely reliable indicator of happiness),
- Meaning (a perceived quest or belonging to something bigger), and
- Accomplishments (having realized tangible goals).
I find these to be good descriptions of what it means to be happy.
The UN report lists a number of practical suggestions for governments to promote happiness among their citizens, including:
- Helping people meet their basic needs,
- Reinforcing social systems,
- Implementing active labor policies,
- Improving mental health services,
- Promoting compassion, altruism and honesty, and
- Helping the public resist hyper-commercialism.
Now ask yourselves friends what kind of government involvement is needed to promote happiness among their citizens:
- A governing philosophy that believes in a kind of Social Darwinism, or
- One that believes in engagement in the lives of its citizens, particularly those most in need of help in achieving some measure of happiness.
Hussein
©
Dr Hussein A Amin 2011
hussein.amin45@gmail.com
hussein.amin45@gmail.com
