Money or Happiness?

This blog shouldn't be all about politics - so here’s something completely different to ponder. A study at the University of Illinois has looked at the correlation between happiness and money. The researchers found that the happier you are, the more money you make – until you reach a certain point. If you are blissfully happy; that is, if you are scoring a happiness level of 10 on a 1-10 scale, you earn less than people who score 8 or 9. Similar findings have been reported in other studies.

So what do the researchers conclude? A little unhappiness is good for you. It’s fine to be reasonably happy, but you need a sliver of dissatisfaction, because is will make you more likely to work harder and strive to make things better. If you are overly optimistic, the researchers contend, you’ll have less self control and be more complacent, and you won’t do as well in terms of career and wealth. The scientists suggest that if you are “too” happy, you should surround yourself with negative people who can drag you down to a level where you start caring about doing something with your life and making money.

These conclusions may have been valid, if they were based on a longitudinal study and found that ten years later these “overly optimistic” people were suffering and unhappy, because they hadn’t become wealthy. But that may not be the case at all.

Apparently, it doesn’t occur to the researchers that money may not be the ultimate goal for everyone. Maybe the “10s” are blissfully happy, exactly because they have realized that life isn’t about making money. Who is to assume that it is more important to be rich than happy? If you are blissfully happy, do you need money? Maybe the people who score “10” are those who have found that the pursuit of happiness does not equal the pursuit of money. Maybe they have moved beyond the desire for material possessions and found happiness through love, relationships, good health, and overall quality of life.

It would be very interesting to take a closer look at the people who score a “ten” in happiness. Are they Buddhist monks who have reached spiritual enlightenment? Or are they, as the researchers imply, naïve airheads who will at some point fall flat, because they don’t know how to worry about important things in life?

Without knowing more about these studies than what has been reported in the press, one can certainly draw a conclusion that’s very different from what the researchers suggest:

Making more money will increase your happiness, up to a certain point. If you want to become blissfully happy, you must transcend the need to make money and let go of your material desires.