On Happiness and Coronavirus 5: What do you want the future to look like?
In Week 5 (of 8) of our quest to identify what policies and paths will make us happier in the long term as individuals and as a human race, the key question to think about is: what do we want the future to look like? For me, this has been by far the toughest piece to write in this series, yet also the easiest.
It is easy because many people have already written (or sung) about it. John Lennon imagined a brotherhood of man, living in the world as one, with no need for greed or hunger. Heaven, in most religions, is portrayed as green and lush, with flowing streams and fruit trees. Clean air is not mentioned, but my guess is no one ever thought we would end up poisoning the air that we need to breathe to live.
For others, happiness is achievable through an inward-looking focus, and enjoying each moment of the present. The Buddha advocated for achieving internal peace of mind, detaching oneself from cravings and living in the present to achieve happiness. Setting aside worldly pleasures, Rumi also sought to find happiness and contentment from within, noting “when you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has also laid bare what are the fundamental things that really matter. Having enough to eat is one of those basic needs. Another is the need to connect with other human beings. A third is the need to use our skills in some way, to earn, or to be creative. If we can use these skills to contribute to a bigger cause than ourselves, then the feeling of happiness is even greater.
The World Happiness Report surveys the citizens of over 150 countries and then ranks countries on their happiness level, based on citizen perceptions. It provides several clues on what matters for happiness. All the top countries, typically Scandinavian countries, tend to have high values for variables that have been found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.
For ancient philosophers, happiness was a particular kind of life, where reason almost always played an important role. Aristotle argued that happiness resided in rational activity in accordance with virtue. The Greek Philosopher, Epicurus, pointed out 2,300 years ago that to enjoy a happy life, one must develop self-discipline, noting “prudence teaches us how impossible it is to live pleasantly without living wisely, virtuously, and justly.”
Was this focus on mental happiness, rather than material happiness, in past years because the majority of people lived at the poverty line and shocks, such as a bad crop or a flood, could easily drag you down? This still happens today to those living close to the poverty line. There is one big difference though. Today (or rather just a few months ago, before the coronavirus came along) more people live above the poverty line than at any point in human history. However, it is the nature of the shocks that is changing. They are becoming far more severe and affecting a wider swathe of humanity due to changes in the climate and our inability to live as just one part of the earth’s ecosystem. This pandemic is one example. The 1,000 year floods, which have started happening every year in some locations, rather than every 1,000 years, due to climate change, are another example. The cycle of exposing large numbers of people to constant and severe change that we had laid aside for a while, is starting again. So once again, there is a premium to being resilient and well-being is directly related to that, and in turn, our happiness.
This is also the most difficult piece to write because every time I try to imagine what I want the future to look like, my head fills up with all the difficulties that come from trying to achieve this vision. There is the obvious difficulty of trying to balance individual happiness with human race happiness, or ego versus compassion for others, that so much has been written about in poems, plays, and in every religion. But enough said, as this is a topic for next week. This week we just need to paint a picture in our minds of the future we want for ourselves and the entire human race.
I have more than one picture in my head of a happy future. My first picture is very detailed, yet precise and intricate, and includes me as part of a whole, both at the level of the human race and within our earthly ecosystem. This means that a delicate balance needs to be maintained for optimization. But that’s the scientist in me. In my mind, the second picture portrays the entire human race happy, with basic needs met, being kind and compassionate to one another, living in harmony with nature and working together to resolve the inevitable challenges that constantly happen in life. What does this second painting look like? It is an abstract painting with a lot of bright light and splashes of happy colors, reflecting both the chaos and the fulfillment of life. My heart brims with gratitude and joy just looking at it.
What does your picture look like? How does it make you feel? Does it make you smile?