The Pursuit Of Happiness

Jeanne at Body and Soul writes about the pursuit of happiness. She links to a New York Times article that measured well-being based on a correlation between money and happiness. According to Jeanne, the article states that "once basic needs are met, there isn't much of a correlation." She mentioned Bush's "ownership society", which really caters to the rich. The rest of us mortals are left to fend for ourselves. She wrote that "At some level, I think most people understand that once you have food, clothing, shelter, and a few personally important luxuries (for me -- books and music), the things that add the most to your life -- schools, health care, a clean environment, pleasant surroundings, museums, etc. -- are things that either you can't provide for yourself, or things that function best when everyone shares in them." I agree with her. The Count and I chose to live in this little oceanside village on the Massachusetts coast because of the quality of life it gives us. The Royal Spawn goes to a good school within walking distance of our home. Like Jeanne, The Count and I love books. Also like Jeanne, we have one room that is literally wall-to-wall books. I planned it that way. One of my dreams is to live in an old house with a tower, and the tower would be our library, with bookcases lined along the entire room. We don't have a tower in our home, but we do have a book room. We don't own the beaches and walking paths, but we use them (or at least, I do. The Count isn't one for taking strolls along the beach.) The crime rates are low. The people are friendly. The beach chocolate is delicious. I've already told The Count that I am spoiled now. If we ever move, we must live within walking distance of a beach chocolate shop so I can get my chocolate fix with a quick walk.

Jeanne's post brought to mind an earlier post I had made about the pursuit of happiness vs. pleasure. The New York Times had reported on a study by two researchers. Here's a quote:

Gilbert and his collaborator Tim Wilson call the gap between what we predict and what we ultimately experience the ''impact bias'' -- ''impact'' meaning the errors we make in estimating both the intensity and duration of our emotions and ''bias'' our tendency to err. The phrase characterizes how we experience the dimming excitement over not just a BMW but also over any object or event that we presume will make us happy. Would a 20 percent raise or winning the lottery result in a contented life? You may predict it will, but almost surely it won't turn out that way. And a new plasma television? You may have high hopes, but the impact bias suggests that it will almost certainly be less cool, and in a shorter time, than you imagine. Worse, Gilbert has noted that these mistakes of expectation can lead directly to mistakes in choosing what we think will give us pleasure. He calls this ''miswanting."

What I found interesting about the research was that the scientists appear to have confused pleasure with happiness. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, described this confusion in the book "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook For Living:"

"...from my point of view, the highest happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation, at which there is no more suffering. That's genuine, lasting happiness. True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it's there, the next day it may not be."

As I had written in my earlier post, "buying that Beemer or new plasma TV, getting that 20 percent raise, and winning the lottery are about pleasure, which is fleeting (as the scientists had discovered), but it is not about happiness, which is long-lasting. Upon making this distinction between pleasure and happiness, the Dalai Lama said, "I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is toward happiness..."