True Happiness

We are promised in our Declaration of Independence a God-given right to something called the "pursuit of happiness." And, indeed people pursue that in different ways - sometimes the tangible things will, such as financial resources, can produce a good feeling, maybe a sense of security and satisfaction. But, what about the intangibles, the happiness - and the joy - of the soul? Psalm 16 highlights that sense of joy that humans long for:
8 I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The World Happiness Index was released recently, on what is called, "World Happiness Day."  It's a project of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University, according to an article at The Free Press.  The Gallup organization is also involved.

The involvement of the U.N., not necessarily favorable toward the U.S., certainly has a hint of globalism. And, indeed it seems the top countries are not named the "United States."  A Yascha Mounk at The Free Press contends:

...far from measuring how happy people are with some sophisticated mix of indicators, it simply compiles answers to a single question asked to comparatively small samples of people in each country:

“Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you feel you personally stand at this time?”

Wow, that's a subjective question, isn't it?  The piece goes on to say:

The obvious problem with this question, commonly known as the Cantril Ladder, is that it doesn’t really ask about happiness at all. We know from many surveys that people tend to give very different answers to questions about what makes them satisfied with their life and to questions about whether they are feeling good in the moment. Having children, for example, tends to raise parents’ assessment of how meaningful their life is; but notably it does not make them report higher levels of happiness at any particular moment, including when they are spending time with their kids. At most, a ranking based purely on the Cantril Ladder could therefore give us something called a World Self-Reported Life Satisfaction Report—and it’s easy to see why such an honest title wouldn’t entice many journalists to write about it.

Mounk notes: 

As August Nilsson and his colleagues painstakingly demonstrated, some of the specific language in the question—such as the metaphor of the ladder and its emphasis on the “top” as well as the “bottom step”—primes respondents to think about social hierarchies. Their conclusion is sobering: “The Cantril Ladder is arguably the most prominent measure of well-being, but the results suggest caution in its interpretation—the Cantril Ladder’s structure appears to influence participants to attend to a more power- and wealth-oriented view of well-being.”

He adds:

But perhaps the biggest problem with the World Happiness Report is that metrics of self-reported life satisfaction don’t seem to correlate particularly well with other kinds of things we clearly care about when we talk about happiness. At a minimum, you would expect the happiest countries in the world to have some of the lowest incidences of adverse mental health outcomes. But it turns out that the residents of the same Scandinavian countries that the press dutifully celebrates for their supposed happiness are especially likely to take antidepressants.

Certainly, the "Report" is focused on material things.  As the Fortune website notes:

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, leader of the Wellbeing Research Centre and editor of the World Happiness Report, tells Fortune. “Life satisfaction of young people in the U.S. has declined.”

He adds, “It is really disheartening to see this, and it links perfectly with the fact that it’s the well-being of youth in America that’s off a cliff, which is driving the drop in the rankings to a large extent..." De Neve also says: “In these Nordic Scandinavian countries, a rising tide lifts all boats, so the levels of economic inequality are much less, and that reflects in well-being as well...In Finland, most people will rate [their happiness] as seven or an eight, whereas if you look at the distribution of well-being in the States, there’s a lot of 10s out there, but there’s a lot of ones as well.”

Finland tops the chart at the happiest country on earth, followed by Denmark and Iceland.  The U.S. is at #24.

There were other factors that went into this ranking, such as the ability to trust others and the degree of social interaction. Fortune noted that "The report focused more this year on the strength of a country’s social support and how much people trust in others—a key predictor of personal well-being."  Plus, whether or not a person dined alone was also an indicator - over half of Americans are in the "dining alone" category.  Plus, there was an exercise about whether or not a respondent would believe that a person would return a lost wallet he or she found - apparently, Americans don't trust their fellow citizens to do that as much as, say, the enlightened Scandinavians. 

It all sounds rather random to me, but there are some principles that emerge.  First of all, if we want to determine what makes what would be termed a "happy" life, we should focus on enduring qualities such as satisfaction and ultimately, joy in the Lord. It's been said that happiness is dependent on externals and joy comes from within.   Financial resources can produce security and perhaps a measure of satisfaction, but we can be joyful in the Lord despite the size of our bank account, or lack thereof. 

The whole notion of trust in and interaction with our fellow citizens is certainly a legitimate cause of concern.  We have become a more segmented society, thanks to a greater use of the Internet and social media.  And, that can lead to relationships that might not be as healthy as they could be.  The Church offers people an awesome social structure in which people can enter into deep relationships and have fellowship together, functioning as a body through which they can find encouragement and a sense of belonging.  It's true, while we can abide in the Lord and find joy in His presence, we also know that He provides and works through human contact.

So, what makes us happy?  For the believer, we have to recognize in what or whom we can trust for the true sense of satisfaction - where we can go to experience joy.  The world cannot produce it; we have to look within.  And, God is everywhere - He has offered His free gift of salvation and a relationship with Jesus to the whole world.