The Happiness Map
[In response to the curatorial project, The Pursuit of Happiness]

Can happiness be found as a goal in itself or is it merely an effect of other goals? How does one pursue happiness for the sake of happiness? Is it akin to screaming, “What I feel is more important than anything else and therefore I will be self pleasing in pursuit of that goal”?

Are there alternative routes to achieving this desired nirvana? How does one actually go about pursuing happiness? We sit strapped to our subjective selves able only to view life through our own lenses, which seem hit-and-miss at best. C.S. Lewis writes, "Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of pre-conceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them - never become even conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?"

Happiness, as a goal in itself appears a somewhat self-seeking endeavour, an effect not an aim. Is it not the opposite direction that achieves the desired effect? In focussing away from our own selves the byproduct is finally experienced. Could it be precisely the fact that we are living in a self-seeking, self-driven world that we feel more empty and depressed than ever? The pursuit of happiness seems to mark the end of happiness. Similar to mistaking infatuation for love, striving to do what we want is not happiness in itself. The mystics believe that any happiness that comes will be as a result of looking outward not inward, looking towards others not ourselves. Seeking to think of others first. Professional councillors advice doing something selfless for others as a form of removing depression.

Deserving happiness seems a fallacy. We no more deserve happiness than we deserve a good life. Our rights are a fabrication. Where does this illusion come from? Ultimately if we “have”, someone else goes without. Twenty percent of the world have 80 percent of the resources. Should we feel a bit disallusioned in complaining about not being happy when we have everything that life says should have produced that emotion?

 

Satisfaction with Life Index Map –
Map was published in White, A. (2007). A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A Challenge To Positive Psychology? Psychtalk 56, 17-20. Map coloured according to The World Map of Happiness, Adrian White, Analytic Social Psychologist, University of Leicester.
The data on SWB [Subjective Well-Being] was extracted from a meta-analysis by Marks, Abdallah, Simms & Thompson (2006).