Legal Law

Happy life: does this require wealth?

Who wouldn’t be happy to have more money? To pay the credit card or buy the necessary furniture. However, the enormous wealth of the ‘fat cats’ who run large companies in the UK has astonished us. As of October 2011, the salary packages of the directors of the FTSE 100 companies had increased by 49% in a single year. The average figure had then become £ 2,697,644.

The total rewards of the CEOs of these companies were even higher. Forbes magazine reported that the ratio of your income to that of the average UK employee increased from 45: 1 in 1998 to 120: 1 in 2010.

Some might wish you the best on your good luck. Who wouldn’t want a big yacht, a smart place to live, a fast car, and no money worries? But is it correct to assume that happy life requires opulence? That having a lot of money is the solution to common frustrations and stress?

Self-awarded rewards and the question of a happy life

In Britain, politicians voting themselves for high pay increases caused public unrest. This soon turned to outrage when we discovered that many of them had been amassing small fortunes in spending for themselves. All at a time when the average standard of living was drastically reduced.

This desire for wealth is displayed with a suture in boardrooms, as directors have granted their own pay raises succumbing to the temptations of wealth.

We all think that shareholders own the company and determine who gets paid what. Also that the executives manage it to develop a more successful venture on a stable basis. But this seems to have changed. The companies have grown. Shareholders are now widely distributed. Consequently, there has been a lack of external control over the salary of senior managers.

“The actual controllers of the company would pocket the profits in their own pockets, direct profitable businesses to other companies controlled by themselves, and give themselves magnificent salaries.” (Ferdinand Mount, political commentator)

What has surprised us is the blatant way in which senior managers in numerous incidents have abused their power. They have gotten more out of the company even when its performance has been mediocre at best. The same has happened in large public bodies.

Chasing the illusion of a happy life?

Getting big pay raises, despite the resulting social approval, indicates a strong belief that wealth will make one happy. It is a fairly common attitude. However, is seeking wealth really the pursuit of an illusion? It seems. Study after study by psychologists has shown no association between wealth and happiness. The exceptions are when housing costs are a large proportion of income requiring long hours of work and cases of poverty when the additional income alleviates hunger and suffering.

Even more surprising is the research that shows that the search for money is not only a mistake but also dangerous. Psychology professor Tim Kasser found that extremely wealthy people are not significantly happier than middle-income people and suffer from higher levels of depression.

Carolyn Gregoire, writing in The Huffington Post, cites research that found that where both partners are materialistic, couples have a poorer quality of marital relationship. There are also findings that students with higher materialistic values ​​tend to have lower quality relationships and feel less connected to others.

So what leads to a happy life?

Researchers in positive psychology found that a real sense of personal well-being comes from good relationships, meaningful and challenging activities, and a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, such as a religion, a political or social cause, or a sense of mission. .

We can all long for money. According to transpersonal psychologist Steve Taylor, hardships do not drive the appetite for wealth and material goods. Instead, our inner discontent causes it. I would say that a self-oriented inner state of mind creates this discontent. In other words, what makes you happy is something non-materialistic, deep within you.

Angelic state and happy life

In his books, the mystical writer Emanuel Swedenborg attempts to put into words part of his limited experience of the happiness of what he calls an ‘angelic state’ of peace, contentment, and joy. He says that being deeply happy involves several things.

  • A loving attitude towards other people. The highest form this takes is wanting to give what is proper to others.

Those who are moved by mutual love are constantly approaching the spring of their youth … This process continues forever, constantly increasing joy and happiness.‘(Emanuel Swedenborg)

  • Conscious participation in the present moment. Neither worrying about the past nor about the future leads to happiness. In other words, having a genuine concern for someone takes us away from our bodily and worldly interests and lifts our mind to heaven and thus takes us away from things that belong to time.

  • Freedom to feel self-centered. Rather than being guided by your own desires, happiness comes from identifying with your true Self. This means innocently trusting something beyond one’s false self. It involves following thoughts according to our image of what is supremely good. Swedenborg points out that this can only come from not falling into the illusion that one is separate and autonomous.

In accordance with this third point, I believe that my good intentions and my perceptions are not mine. Instead, their spiritual Source inspires them in my heart and in my head.

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