Happiness and Pursuit of Happiness
“Happiness is the end and aim of life”. He stated that it is product of two states human being are subject to -ataraxia (tranquility and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of bodily pain
(Greek philosopher Epicureus)
The happiness is not a fundamental right bestowed to its citizens by any benevolent emperor or a gracious governing council. The governing agencies cannot regulate the gush of happiness or an outpouring of sadness in a human heart through a gate valve of advisories and guidelines. For the common people, happiness is the flickering bright streak in the continuum of emotions, that tickles an intrigued heart to radiate positive energy all around.
Unlike happiness, the “Pursuit of happiness” is an unalienable right of all citizens as promulgated in the US Declaration of Independence. In 2012, recognizing the relevance of happiness and well-being of all people, United Nations adopted the resolution proclaiming the “pursuit of happiness’ as a fundamental human goal. As a part of the same resolution, United Nations General Assembly declared 20th March as the International Day of Happiness to promote sustainable development.
Science of Happiness
“Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so” (John Stuart Mill)
The philosophers and scientists are working relentlessly to unravel the layered mysteries of human happiness. The quest for the holy grail of lasting happiness is going on for a good number of years.The unprecedented economic progress, spectacular rise in the life expectancy and unparalleled technological innovations has transformed the life style of human race in the last century, though it failed to make the proportional change in the happiness level of the individuals. There is no evidence to suggest that a poor farmer living in the backwater of Bihar in1900 was less happy than a farmer ploughing his land in the shining modern India of 2020.
The average of happiness level remains nearly constant, every event of success triggers a mercurial rise in the happiness level that slides back to almost same level over a period of time. The salary increment makes an employee happy for a few fleeting days but does not generate enough euphoria that could sustain a full appraisal cycle. The unhappy employees leave the old organisation and join their dream organisation with great elation and excitement, the enthusiasm about the new opportunities may sustain but the happiness hormone dips back to original level before the season changes.
According to Yuval Noah Harari, this glass ceiling of happiness is held in place by two stout pillars – Pyscholgical and Biological. He further expounded that from the perspective of psychology, happiness is a correlation between objective conditions and subjective expectations. An individual’s expectation multiplies many fold with the minor positive change in the condition, leading to a perennial imbalance between the mentioned variables.
The biologists believe that that happiness is determined by the complex biochemical system of nerves, neurons, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. This mindless pursuit of happiness by tinkering the bio chemical system has already become a major cause of crime in the modern world.
Measuring Happiness
“Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn't calculate his happiness.”(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
International agencies organisations are working to measure the happiness and well being of the people globally. In the recent years, the happiness factor has managed to grab the attention of the policy makers globally, a few of them have chosen to respond to the elephant in room
their own different ways.
Bhutan became the first country to measure the economic progress in terms Gross National Happiness Index (GNH) as compared to the globally accepted measure of GDP. Some countries such as UAE have established the Ministry of Happiness with the emphasis on social good for fellow citizens. The few innovative corporate enterprises have also jumped on the wagon and have started gauging the employee happiness as they walk in their offices or start their day.
The World Happiness Report published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network is a great initiative towards measuring the perceived happiness level of the people spread across the continets. The report ranks the countries on the basis of national happiness and provides great insight about the various factors contributing to Happiness Index. The report is created on the basis comprehensive data collected about the lives of the people which is corelated with other factors such as Human Development Index (HDI), Index of Economic Freedom (IEF), Global Peace Index (GPI), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), Environmental Protection Index (EPI), and GDP per capita and SDG Index (Sustainable Development Index). The World Happiness Report -2020 has ranked Finland at the top of the happiness report, US, the most powerful country on the plant earth has been granted 26th Rank much lower than the small Nordic Countries. India has grabbed 144th Rank marginally above Afghanistan with the last rank of 153.
Epilogue
“If you want to be happy, be.”( Leo Tolstoy)
In this fast paced, dog-eat-dog world, discovering happiness in mundane events is the mantra for an accomplished and beautiful journey of life. We share stories of glory and triumph, we explain the relevance of career milestones to our kids to prepare them the for a fiercely competitive world, albeit the significance of happiness is missing from our day to day conversations. The happiness is transient for obvious reasons, to create a sustainable happiness we need to invest more efforts in finding and cherishing the moments of joy in the experience and exposure of a journey even if the destination never comes.
