Local, global push in pursuit of happiness
Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
THE US First Lady, Melania Trump, recently attended a ‘happiness class’ at a government school in the Capital. She meditated with the students as part of the ‘mindfulness’ activity and reportedly felt relaxed after the exercise. The class also included ‘smiling at each other and finding positives in their partners, among others’. Melania went on to say: “I cannot think of a better way for all of us to start our day than this.”
The happiness curriculum of Delhi, launched in July 2018, is a social experiment. The ‘happiness class’ is a 45-minute break for meditation, story-telling, mental exercises, indoor games, active inquiry, reflective conversations, guided practices for mindfulness, skits, discussions and an exchange of ideas.
According to the Delhi Government, the Happiness Curriculum Framework was designed following the guiding principles given by the National Curriculum Framework (NCERT, 2005). It is aimed at instilling self-awareness and stimulating good mental health, character and resilience. It is expected to improve the cognitive ability of the students, reduce anxiety, depression and intolerance among the students, and prepare them to face the challenges and find solutions to social problems.
Back in 1776, ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ were included in the US Declaration of Independence, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson, and then edited by the Committee of Five, including Jefferson. This phrase gives three examples of the ‘unalienable rights’ which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their creator, and for which governments are created to protect.
The idea of measuring ‘happiness’, however, might have emerged from the example of Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan nation, wherein the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) is widely used to measure the collective happiness and well-being of the population. During an interview at the Bombay airport in 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the then King of Bhutan, said, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.” Later, in 2008, GNH was instituted as a goal of the government of Bhutan in their Constitution. The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards — with equal weight for each of them. Scholars have noted that GNH constructs Buddhism as the core of the cultural values of Bhutan.
Consequently, it was natural that the first UN meeting called ‘Well-being and happiness: Defining a new economic paradigm’ in 2012 was chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan. World Happiness Reports are being issued from 2012 as well. The modern world is increasingly thriving in the ‘pursuit of happiness’. In 2013, Venezuela established the Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness; the UAE created the post of Minister of State for Happiness in 2016.
However, is ‘happiness’ a national topic at all, or mostly personal? In any case, as per the 2019 Happiness Index, Finland is the happiest country in the world — twice in a row — with a score of 7.769 in 2019, on a scale of 0-10. The next three slots in terms of happiness indices are for Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
India, however, is ranked 140th among the 156 counties on the list, having a meagre score of 4.015. Importantly, Bhutan is ranked 95th with a small score of 5.082, and the US, the country which believes that its citizens may run in the ‘pursuit of happiness’, is ranked 19th on the list. South Sudan is the least happy country with a score of 2.853.
However, are we really so unhappy as per global standards? It’s important to know how these scores are obtained. The World Happiness Index is mostly calculated on the basis of self-assessment of the individuals of their lives, as indicated by the Cantril ladder (Cantril self-anchoring striving scale). It is perceived that six key variables — GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption — significantly contribute towards happiness.
Are these really the most important pointers of ‘happiness’? And what should be the appropriate weightage of different components of the so-called happiness? Again, understandably, individuals’ perceptions and expectations might differ in different corners of the globe. Can the assessment be made a bit more objective? And, do we, the common people, really understand the difference between happiness and success or comfort?
When about two-and-a-half millennia ago, Siddhartha, the prince of a Himalayan kingdom, left his family, kingdom and all worldly comforts, didn’t he set out in the pursuit of some kind of happiness? The milk-rice pudding (kheer) of Sujata ended his six years of ascetism, and eventually turned him into Buddha. Interestingly, this pursuit of happiness by Siddhartha wasn’t driven by any of the components now used to calculate the World Happiness Index or GNH of Bhutan.
Should long life be a measure of happiness? Is comfort in lifestyle an indicator of happiness? Or, is there any conflict of happiness with modern lifestyle and prosperity? It is difficult to say, in general. In his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote: ‘Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.’
Then, can happiness be taught or practised or induced into the children in their schools? Or, is this just an attempt to teach them how to relax, and help them release stress in life? In any case, that might also be very helpful for the children in their future lives, and might also help increase the scores in the so-called happiness index of the nation as well, eventually. The pursuit of happiness, however, would continue.
