The Definition from Wikipedia -- Gross National Happiness (GNH) is an attempt to define quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product.
The term was coined by Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972. It signaled his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values. Like many moral goals, it is somewhat easier to state than to define. Nonetheless, it serves as a unifying vision for the Five Year planning process and all the derived planning documents that guide the economic and development plans of the country.
While conventional development models stress economic growth as the ultimate objective, the concept of GNH claims to be based on the premise that true development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance.
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I agree - a common standard of what contributes to "happiness" would be hard to justify.
Instead of trying to measure happiness, one could measure indicators of freedom or opportunity to pursue happiness, such as literacy and education levels, health of the population and environment, income that enables people to purchase basic material necessities, and differently-abled accessibility. Each factor is weighted differently on an individual basis, however.
And some factors are difficult to measure, such as political freedom, freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and artistic innovation.
My friend Lisa just returned from Bhutan and educated me about the Bhutanese King's desire for all citizens of his country to be happy. What a laudable and incredible aspiration. It reminds me of the Dalai Lama's wisdom that "the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being". Our ability to make others happy and share compassion is the ultimate source of success in life.
I don't think thier is an expectation for GNH to actaully make people happy. It does however send a signal to the people and the government to concider the impact of thier decisions on the happiness of people.
It just encourages people to think about what makes them happy and to persue those things rather than be sucked into the modern capitalistic mentality that mindlessly buying more things will bring you happiness.
I love it - a more holistic way to 'judge' a country-- not based on its "GNP", but instead based on its vibrancy, community, health, stress level, and general joyfulness.
After traveling in Mexico, and Southeast Asia, I can honestly say that I have seen cultures that function with less than half the amenities of the 'western world', but generally are smiling, live longer, have healthier families, lower crime, high accountability for the youth and social order, due to tightly-knit communities and family structures that exist.
I mean, c'mon. In Mexico, Morocco, Vietnam, Thailand, and many other countries outside the US and the UK, everyone goes home for 3 hours in the middle of the day to lunch with their families, take a nap, and mellow out. The productivity is much higher than that in normal 9-5 workday models.
A GREAT thought...
- Lauren
(Though I am a Worldofgood Inc. employee, these opinions are my own)
It's an interesting idea.
I was doing some research on it, and they seem to be having many conferences about it. However, my question is, is this really working? What's the current status of the happiness of everyone? Is there a way to measure the happiness? Some kind of formula?
Also, do you think this idea is realistic? Is it too much like communism and therefore be doomed to fail? How can we make lives happy for everyone while maintaining a strong economy? Do you think people will take advantage of it?
Just my thoughts, I'd love to hear some response.
Mia Divecha