Happiness

[Blind groper]

There have been a number of formal studies on the relationship between material wealth and happiness. They are forced to use self assessment to measure results, and that is a flaw in the studies. But, FWIW, the result is that wealth does increase happiness up to a point. That point in western societies tends to be roughly upper middle class. Those people who earn good money - a bit more than most. Earning excess beyond that point does not increase happiness any further, meaning the very rich are no happier than upper middle class.

Not good studies, of course, since self assessment is a flawed approach, but it might indicate a trend.

[pErvinalia]

As an observation having travelled widely in my younger days throughout Asia, India and the middle east, it is very clear that happiness and material wealth do not remotely relate to each other. Some of the happiest people I have ever met seemed to be also some of the poorest.

Very

Very much

It's pretty much as Fuku said. (by the way, I want to have buttsecks with him after enjoying a number of his recent posts). It's what I meant when I was talking about a "complex" society/life. The complexity brings abundance, but it doesn't really bring happiness. Happiness has to come from within, as Coito and other say. All the complexity of modern life gets in the way of accessing and assessing the simple things in life.

[FBM]

Introducing the Hedonic Treadmill, aka, Hedonic Set Point. Broadly speaking, we seem to either be born with or acquire early a certain level of happiness, and pretty much no matter what we do, we return to it. Win the lottery? Happiness reverts back to the pre-lottery win days after a while. Lose a leg? Same same.

[Clinton Huxley]

Happiness is mostly about being able to boss people about, I find.

[FBM]

I do, in a sense, boss my students about, but not being bossed is more valuable to my daily experience.

[Clinton Huxley]

I do, in a sense, boss my students about, but not being bossed is more valuable to my daily experience.

There's a famous study of stress levels in civil servants. The higher up the food chain they get, the more autonomy they have, the less stressed they are. I'm simplifying a bit but looks like happiness is being able to do what you want rather than what someone else wants.

[Clinton Huxley]

As an observation having travelled widely in my younger days throughout Asia, India and the middle east, it is very clear that happiness and material wealth do not remotely relate to each other. Some of the happiest people I have ever met seemed to be also some of the poorest.

Hmmm....the happy, contented poor. The Tories could spin this to cut benefits....

[FBM]

I do, in a sense, boss my students about, but not being bossed is more valuable to my daily experience.

There's a famous study of stress levels in civil servants. The higher up the food chain they get, the more autonomy they have, the less stressed they are. I'm simplifying a bit but looks like happiness is being able to do what you want rather than what someone else wants.

Hence my sustained single status.

[Audley Strange]

Reading all this returns me to my though that to attain bliss one must achieve total ignorance. Children tend to be happier than adults, poor people tend to be happier than those in rich complex societies.

It kinda makes sense. If you have nothing and are starving your main concern is a meal, in achieving that it probably brings some joy. If you're a billionaire, you probably have created for yourself a whole skyscraper of worries and neurosis. "What if I lose it all?" "How am I going to invest?" "How do I screw workers legally to make more money?" "How do I deal with all the leeches and hangers on?"

So there you go. You want happiness? Chuck it all and go live in a famine zone or have a lobotomy.

Personally, I'm content, that will do me.

[Animavore]

I'm happy being miserable.

[Audley Strange]

I'm happy being miserable.

Are you sure? Most miserablists only seem to be happy when they are making others as miserable as they.

[FBM]

Reading all this returns me to my though that to attain bliss one must achieve total ignorance. Children tend to be happier than adults, poor people tend to be happier than those in rich complex societies.

It kinda makes sense. If you have nothing and are starving your main concern is a meal, in achieving that it probably brings some joy. If you're a billionaire, you probably have created for yourself a whole skyscraper of worries and neurosis. "What if I lose it all?" "How am I going to invest?" "How do I screw workers legally to make more money?" "How do I deal with all the leeches and hangers on?"

So there you go. You want happiness? Chuck it all and go live in a famine zone or have a lobotomy.

Personally, I'm content, that will do me.

A few years ago, the richest person I know told me that he had given up on being happy decades ago (he was in his 90's). He owns (If he's still alive. He hasn't returned my e-mails in a while.) millions of acres, dozens of houses, his own plane, etc, but he constantly talks about how he needed to pinch pennies and find more ways to avoid taxes. He is a retired MD and has stomach ulcers from worrying about his money all the time. He's the only person I've ever seen go through a McD's drive-thru and order a hamburger. Just a hamburger. Less than 50 cents, IIRC. Not a cheeseburger, which costs an extra dime. No drink, no fries, just the tiny hamburger. The high school girl taking his order needed some convincing that it wasn't a prank. He once bragged to me that his slacks were over 10 years old.

[pErvinalia]

I've often thought (jokingly?) about having a lobotomy. There's no doubt I'd be a lot happier if my mind would shut the fuck up.

[Audley Strange]

Oh I don't think that is an oddity at all. Amongst the wealthiest people I've known, one topped himself, another dropped dead at 53 with a massive stress induced heart attack, one has had four wives and a cocaine problem.

However I don't know if there is a confirmation bias there or not. I live in an area which is near some pretty squalid social housing, where gangs of families have never worked and had everything paid for and they're not happy nor healthy either. Could there be some kind of subconcious filtering going on? You know like when smokers say "My grandmother smoked 400 cigarettes every day from birth and she lived to 600! where as the guy down the road was fit and healthy and he died of lung cancer".

Also Eudaimonia... thanks I was trying to recall that concept the other day.

[Trinity]

Shutter island. I've had similar thoughts...