I agree wholeheartedly John, I am at the bottom of society, living on a part disability pension, however unlike many today I am not materialistic, and find comfort in my faith. I am not unhappy, or happy, however you will find some in this forum, who will accuse you of being a communist because they see views such as these, as a threat to their materialist views of life. On the taxation question, I have always paid my share of taxation, and don't consider it wrong to expect multi-millionaires, and billionaires to pay their fair share into the Australian community, which enables them to be wealthy. Unfortunately, these people find loopholes in taxation law, to avoid their responsibility to the community, thus making the community the poorer. Your reference to Jesus was pertinent, I don't have, nor would I have, even if I could afford one, a plasma TV, as far as I am aware they show the same programs as a regular TV so why would you bother, except for self adulation, providing yourself with a status symbol. I find my old 1991 VN Commodore, which is serviced every 10,000kms and wearing parts replaced, is a relyable vehicle, which still transports me from A to B, in relative comfort, I have no desire to replace it. Modern community seems obsessed with consumerism, which I live quite happily without, if more people were thinking like you and I Australia would not find herself in billions of dollars of overseas debt. I am not aware of any evidence, that shows the wealthy to be any happier than the rest of society in general, are you? Money does not maketh the man.

The fact that wealth does not always equate to happiness was known long before even Christ came along. And the idea of changing from a wealth driven mindset to one of happiness, on a national level, is hardly a new idea either. Putting it into practice is the issue.
Maybe having better indices on happiness that can be correlated and compared would lead to some new solutions, but i doubt increasing tax and banning a few ads is the right way to go.

Thank you for your article John. It is a subject that my husband and I frequently talk about.

We are on the bottom rung of the financial ladder, but we are happy. We have lots of fun together. We don't go out to pubs and clubs and we do not dine out. We prefer my home cooking, the comfort of our home, and our own beautiful music. We go out on the river in our boat every weekend and have a wonderful time seeing the world from a different viewpoint each time that we go out. Total freedom, relaxation and contentment which doesn't cost us anything much - except for a bit of petrol and some bait.

My long term friends (20 years and more)have become very wealthy. They deserve their wealth since they have worked very hard for it. They have lost interest in our friendship, apparently because we enjoy the simple things in life. None of them appear to be happy. One friend who is 55 years of age has two children and three houses. She works three jobs and is a shift worker - that would be enough to make me totally miserable.

We don't need a 4x4, a plasma TV, pay TV or a $4,000 BBQ. We are not concerned about impressing others.

We own everything that we have got and we have no debts. Everything that we have is modest - but it's all ours!

Thanks also to the first poster.

Cheers
Kay

At one level, there are many valid comments in the article; but I have two issues with it.

First, John says that "Happiness, however elusive to achieve, is really quite simple to define. It is feeling good, as opposed to feeling bad." That's over-simplistic. Like any other feeling, happiness is fleeting, it arises and passes away. If we don't understand that, we crave happiness and have aversion for its absence. Fundamental to our well-being, to true happiness, is equanimity, the ability to observe whatever arises, good, bad or neutral, without reaction, without craving or aversion, without attachment.

Second, John focusses on externals as causes of happiness and unhappiness. Again, this is simplistic. Ultimately, the causes of our happiness or unhappiness are all within us, in the ignorance and delusion which feed our reactions to changing circumstances. There can be no true happiness unless we deal with these "inner demons" (speaking figuratively!). Each individual must take responsibility for this, it's not a role for government.

That said, if the leaders of society have wisdom and understanding, it's easier for others to pursue that, the atmosphere is more supportive.

As an economist, I've never thought that wealth is closely related to happiness, although increasing wealth to at least a certain level can increase the choices available to people ... maybe allow them to go to India to meditate for six months, for example.

Faustino

My husband and I are happy! See my previous post.

You will probably say that I am simplistic. I don't give a damn. We wake up every morning and thak G(g)od we love each other.

Sounds like you do not have an appreciation of the sounds of nature?

And I am not a greenie.

See ya
Cheers
Kaay

Very interesting. I concur. If only more people would embrace the principle of living a rich life, than a life of riches. It is a common fallacy that wealth and happiness are inextricably intertwined. I think this is what people refer to as "being successful".

As John - and Clive Hamilton - have pointed out, there are a plethora of data demonstrating that being richer does not directly translate into being happier, and that in fact, becoming wealthier can make people unhappier (e.g. winning the lottery). Literally not having any money can make life quite difficult and stressful. But if you have enough money to get by, why create stress for yourself by convincing yourself that you don't have enough? People work insane hours because they need to save for a house, because they need to buy a car, need to buy this, need to buy that. What happens if they don't?

Can one possibly become successful without becoming wealthy? I certainly hope so, because I don't want to spend my whole life working to become successful at the expense of happiness. How much wealth must one accumulate in order to become successful anyway?

It might be hard to become wealthy, and even harder to be happier, but striving so damn hard to become wealthy doesn't make anybody happier.