The Hindu Business Line : <I>The quest for happiness </I>

It is what we all seek, want and yet seldom know how to find. It is the ultimate goal of all humanity, according to the sages, ancient and modern. Happiness is now a formal subject of study, featured in a six-week documentary on BBC World that one wishes all thoughtful Indians would watch. Though as old as mankind, it is only in recent times that economists and positive psychologists have chosen to study the search for happiness secrets objectively and rigorously. The research has established some common sources of that sense of all being right with the world, a universally recognised emotion.

American professor Ed Dinar has researched it for years with a simple questionnaire that asks you to express how satisfied you are with your present state of life, personal circumstances, work, and relationships and so on — on a ten point scale. Arising from the findings, it is now obvious that happiness is indeed an internal state that can be cultivated; it is only partially dependent on external things such as how much money you have or how famous and successful you are.

Lord Layard at London School of Economics has been working on the same theme as the real goal of public policy for decades. He has pointed out that if the well-being of the public is the real goal, then governments ought to rate themselves on how happy people are under them. On the whole, democratic, stable, and relatively richer countries are happier, where society is not in turmoil and people know with some certainty that arbitrary exercise of power is not likely. The Kingdom of Bhutan has been unique in Asia in drafting economic and social policies that clearly are more conducive to Gross National Happiness.

Beyond a point, which in the West is at around £10,000 a year per capita income, increasing incomes have no impact on the average sense of happiness. Money might be essential, but more of it doesn't make you better off.

There is more to a sense of wellness. It influences how well-disposed you will be to work, to people and to yourself — and is inversely related to tendencies towards depression, suicides, and ill-health. Tests are conducted with people who have rated themselves on how happy they are, even demonstrate physical stamina and tolerance of discomfort — by putting one's hands in iced cold water — where the happier ones do distinctly better.

Another confirmation of the advice of wise ones is the pernicious nature of comparison: the neighbour's BMW dwarfs your brand new Ford, however good you may have felt upon buying it! How much money you have got is far less important than how many friends you have. Among other aspects of life, it is useful to have a mother-in-law around. Having children lowers your happiness fractionally — the explanation being that worry and work overtakes one's enjoyment of their company.

The effect of marriage adds some seven years to a man and at least five to a woman. We are obviously social creatures who love, wish to be loved and to form friendships. Deep down we know that income is no substitute for lost friendships. People with more friendships increase their immunity to germs, bacteria, and viruses. Religion too has two important features that work towards generating happiness — the satisfaction of doing something for the sheer benefit of others and working with a sense of community, something beyond oneself.

Although obviously all formulae can be over-simplified, the new emphasis on human relationships, on going with the flow, and on finding something meaningful to do, all offer worthwhile insights. A truly happy documentary, amidst all the scandal and violence on view.

S. Ramachander