Research on Happiness

Academics at Gothenburg University in Sweden have come up with an interesting proposition: hard work is the only path to happiness. Their research, conducted over three years, shows that money, love and success bring only temporary joy, whereas the effort taken to achieve a goal provides lasting satisfaction. The researchers have pitted their finding against the claims of the tourism industry, which tells potential customers that a break from work is the best way to be happy.

You need not be an Einstein or a Max Weber to know that the Swedes have got it absolutely right. Happiness can't be bought with cash. Neither can the leisure industry sell it. Happiness has to be earned by pursuing it in meaningful ways, and what is meaningful varies from person to person. For a scientist, the engagement with a scientific problem is the most meaningful aspect of his existence. In the case of a writer, it is his struggle with words, plots, images and ideas that defines happiness. A musician discovers joy when he manages to express himself in his music. In each case, the journey is what matters and not the destination.

Work becomes tyranny for a person when it becomes a chore, forced by external factors and conditions. It then ceases to be a pursuit of happiness. In our times, the dialectic between work and happiness is very often misunderstood. When the link between the two is ruptured, we try to find a solution elsewhere. We try to heal the symptom while leaving the cause unattended.

The idea of holiday as a break from work refuses to recognize that happiness can be found in work. Tourism industry plays on this confusion and offers leisure as a solace to those in pursuit of happiness. Could Kalidasa have preferred an idle weekend in the Himalayas to chasing the cloud in his imagination while writing Megha Sandesa? Or would Michelangelo have traded his love for marble with sailing on the Adriatic?