America Is Pursuing Happiness in All the Wrong Places
Atlantic | HBS/HKS Professor Arthur Brooks
An excellent piece by HBS and HKS Professor Arthur Brooks who believes “the happiness crisis in America is at its core a crisis of our personal and shared sense of meaning.” He writes why the pursuit of happiness is getting harder, how we need a sense of meaning in our lives and shared sense of meaning as a country, and how we, as a country, can (and must) correct course now.
He writes of the importance of meaning in our lives asking— “Why do you exist? For what would you be willing to die?” He then ties these questions to the crisis tearing our country apart.
“I believe the happiness crisis in America is at its core a crisis of our personal and shared sense of meaning… Happiness abhors a vacuum, so we seek alternative sources of meaning, and that leaves us vulnerable to moral predators... They urge us to think in terms of us versus them—and to see us as victims of them… This is ripping our country apart…Leaders who promote grievance do not have our interests at heart.”
He offers 3 solutions: “First, share your secrets of meaning… Second, go out of your way to reject identity politics, and tell our shared story as Americans instead… The third solution is the most urgent of all: It is to love your country, no matter who you are, no matter how you got here… To love our country means we must be good to one another, even when we disagree. No, especially when we disagree. Anything less is un-American…We must disagree. But I will not treat those with whom I disagree with contempt, because that is to say I have contempt for my country.”
And, he says, we must have moral courage. “Standing up to the powerful isn’t physical courage; it’s moral courage…true moral courage is standing up to your friends, on behalf of the people with whom you disagree.” Brooks also urges us act now—“America is experiencing a falling tide. It can look and feel like we are losing our happiness and purpose. But that just means there is an opportunity to build something new and great.”
