Americans
today are on a path to greater happiness.
I realize
that sounds like an outrageous assertion and flies in the face of relentless
headlines about the death of the American Dream. But, the
happiness I am talking about isn’t the ephemeral burst of retail therapy,
bungee jumping or “experience cruises to nowhere”, but of a more enduring kind-
one that ultimately leads to more genuine gratification, purpose and lasting
pleasure.
The right to
the “pursuit of happiness” Thomas Jefferson wrote about in the Declaration of
Independence- is the kind that inspires us to develop the virtues of gratitude,
grace, and generosity.
I believe the real emerging
story is not about the American Dream dying but of being reborn. The opportunity to pursue a more meaningful
life is the potential upside to the downturn.
It’s
difficult for us to see this potential right now because we are bombarded by
media images that focus on our eminent demise. We are biased by a perceptual frame work of
rampant individualism. As Bob Dylan sang,
“everybody sees themselves walking around with no one else.” We’ve also bought into a mindset of endless
consumerism. A misguided belief that more is more. These forces combine to
blind us to some truly significant positive shifts in values, attitudes and
action. A new spirit of determinism focused on living a more valuable life is
emerging among us, muffled and all but suffocated by a cloying layer of scandal,
skepticism, and suspicion.
To see it and
sense it requires building some new vision and bandwidth outside our usual
narrow spectrum. Once we tap into this broader wave length, we will see that
the American Dream is being reborn – a dream that is far truer to our noble character
and far more sustainable.
To have our
country’s culture defined by consumerism and excesses cheapens our heritage.
Martin
Seligman and Gregg Easterbrook
have identified the paradox. After
decade upon decade of increased wealth, education, abundance - every objective indicator
and measure of personal, family, and life satisfaction have not increased. Contrary to common belief,
in study after study there is a surprisingly low correlation between wealth and
happiness. This is true not only in the US but also in most other wealthy
nations. As our purchasing power goes north, our well being goes south.
The kind of
happiness we’ve been blithely chasing creates what Seligman describes as “an
endless treadmill of hedonic habituation”. Like a mouse in a Skinner Box
or a junkie on dope, we live our lives
chasing the next possession, the next experience, and the next notch on our gun
belt. As we rack, stack and stuff it up, we find the things we’ve worked so hard
for no longer make us happy. Nothing is ever enough. Depression is now 10 times as prevalent as it
was in 1960 and it hits us as a society at an alarmingly young age, often in
teenage years.
Our bloated
expectations - far beyond our real needs - fuel a pervasive mindset of failure
and disappointment - a negative spiral of not only keeping up, but trumping the
Joneses.
Like the
crisis of the American diet, far too high in processed carbohydrates, unhealthy
fats, and empty calories - so is our pursuit of happiness. It leaves us feeling
exhausted, unsatisfied and ultimately not any happier.
In a perverse
way, perhaps we should say “thank you” for saving us from ourselves.
So the
question to consider is not a new one but an ancient one. As Aristotle first posed 2,500 years ago
during the Golden Age of Athens:
What are the components
of a good life for you?
