Rethinking Relationships & Apologetics

Its not everyday you see Christianity written about in the economics section of the Sydney Morning Herald, let alone by the economics senior columnist. However Easter Monday saw the publishing of a very thought provoking column by Ross Gittins entitled 'Time ripe to re-think 'relationships'

He suggests:

Since "...many business people and economists think of themselves as Christians... what implications does this carry for the way they view the world and conduct their affairs?"

This is a question that should indeed not be asked just by business and economists alone! The article struck me for several reasons, first it has succinct analysis of what is at the heart of one's Christian faith. Second, it asks what implications faith has for a believer in terms of our dealings with those around us. This is one aspect of the apologetic life. With this in mind it is no wonder I took notice.  Apologetic people have been the focus of my last two posts in particular (March 13 and Feb 22).

The column however has a broader focus, and goes much further than a discussion of economics. Gittens continues:

"Education's goal can be defined as acquisition of wisdom for children to be able to serve their family and community, rather than acquisition of technical skills merely for personal career advantage. At a personal level, our happiness and wellbeing are determined primarily by the quality of our relationships".

His comments echo some of the content of Case 14 'Seeking Happiness' which had some great articles that address the questions how and why we seek happiness. In the same issue we actually reviewed a book written by Ross Gittins  'Gittinnomics' that considers the impact of heightened materialism on society.

I think many readers of the blog would enjoy the SMH article (here) and reviewing Case 14 magazine 'Seeking Happiness'. The book review from this edition can be read here. Alternatively you can purchase past editions of Case here





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The Means to Attain a Happy Life

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to revisit some old episodes of the "The Tudors" (a television drama produced by Showtime). In later episodes the viewer is introduced to the Earl of Surrey- Henry Howard, who is renowned for various talents including that of poet. Amongst his works is The Means to Attain a Happy Life. 

MARTIAL, the things that do attain

The happy life, be these, I find :

The riches left, not got with pain ;

The fruitful ground, the quiet mind :

The equal friend, no grudge, no strife ;

No charge of rule, nor governance ;

Without disease, the healthful life ;

The household of continuance :

The mean diet, no delicate fare ;

True wisdom join'd with simpleness ;

The night discharged of all care,

Where wine the wit may not oppress :

The faithful wife, without debate ;

Such sleeps as may beguile the night.

Contented with thine own estate ;

Ne wish for Death, ne fear his might. (1)

In simple yet impressive language the poet has effectively communicated his thoughts on how he believes he would obtain some degree of contentment in his life. The pursuit of such sentiments is still real today as it was in the 1500's, and the occasion brought to mind issue #14 of Case magazine, which explored the topic of seeking happiness.

Readers will find this edition of Case interesting, as author Ben Cooper explores a concept known as 'happiness stagnation' in his article "Money and the Pursuit of Happiness." The author's research highlighted survey data which concluded "...that once a nation has reached a certain level of prosperity further economic growth seems to have little or no impact on the average levels of happiness."

The article goes on to discuss whether happiness stagnation can be resolved, but also counter the idea that the Christian gospel is opposed to happiness:

....we need to be clear that the Christian gospel is pro-happiness—good news of great joy—and not necessarily anti-material. To enjoy material blessings thankfully, as good gifts within a loving relationship with our heavenly Father is indeed one of the constituents of true happiness. It is only when our love of money supplants our love of God (and thereby love of neighbour) that we have a problem.

Cooper concluded that discontentment with what we have leads to envy and the pursuit of more. This discontentment is alas deeply rooted in our hearts, and thus we cannot solve the problems that surround our discontentment on our own. He however concludes on a happier note- reminding the reader of Luke 2:10-11:

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you.

God himself has intervened in the world and in reconciling us to himself he will reverse our discontentment that leads to unhappiness, envy, emptiness and ultimately to death.

Courtesy of free-extras.com

Re-reading edition #14 of Case is well worth it, as the publication has several other articles that explore the theme of happiness. Mike Wilson provides a summary of the Dalai Lama, and his teaching and its impact upon concept of the meaning of' life and happiness in the Western world. His article entitled "The Dalai Lama's long road to happiness" also offers a Christian response to his teachings. You may also enjoy Kel Richards article which looks at the very etymology of the word 'happiness' and its appropriateness in the biblical vocabulary.

Case Subscribers may enjoy retrieving their copies of "Seeking Happiness" (Case #14) published 2008 and view the articles to which I refer to in this post. Our most recent magazine Case #32 entitled Believing Science, has been available for the last month, it too is well worth a read. For blog followers who are yet to become CASE Associates you can subscribe HERE or order a single copy of edition #14 or 32  HERE.

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(1) Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of. The Poetical Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854. 57.

Happiness & the folly of the positive Life

University & the popularity of 'Positive Psychology'

Dan Haesler is a teacher, writer and speaker. In 2010 he was awarded the NSW Premier’s Anika Foundation Teacher’s Scholarship to address and raise awareness of youth depression. In a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald (5th May 2011), he points out that the most popular course at Harvard University is not medicine, dentistry, engineering or even law. Rather, it is positive psychology.  Penn State Centre for Positive Psychology describes this new field within psychology as "the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive".

The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. Positive Psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. The Penn State centre suggests that:

"Understanding positive emotions entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of the strengths and virtues, such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom. Understanding positive institutions entails the study of the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic, leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance."

Dan Haesler rightly asks, "How could it be that at one of the most respected universities in the world, America's top scholars need lessons in how to be happy?" He poses this question alongside the observation that 20% of the high school students who enter Australian universities will drop out each year, at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion to the taxpayer each year.

He suggests that the reasons for dropping out are complex, but rarely related to academic ability. Students will often drop out because they lack the social or emotional skills to work effectively outside the regimented structure of their high school. He argues that the standardisation of school education isn't helping...while most schools do a good job of getting kids through exams... only a few institutions genuinely prepare students for ''real life''. This is an appropriate warning on this the first day of NAPLAN testing in schools for 2011.

This standardisation he suggests is turning our schools into factories, and our children into mere products on the production line, without a clue what they will do with their lives, or what they are good at. The result is that many end up studying fields with no inbuilt motivation or any sense of intrinsic reward for studying it. Does this explain the "happy classes" at Harvard?

The 'upside down' nature of a preoccupation with happiness

I'm not sure when we begin to learn what it is that we think will make us happy. I suspect that it begins very early in life; perhaps first as we simply observe the priorities in adult lives that are communicated unknowingly to children. School then picks the agenda up and more explicitly signals the things that seem to be most important; success, exams, winning, popularity, looks... And then of course there is every imaginable element of popular culture 'nipping' at children's heals. Is it any wonder that young people arrive at university confused about what they want to do and why.

From a biblical perspective there is something upside down about focussing on happiness and the control of external circumstances like success, appearance, pleasure, wellbeing and so on to achieve it. The Bible says little about seeking this type of earth-bound happiness, but says much more about eternal blessings. In Jesus’ first major teaching event (Matthew 5:3-12) he made it clear that those who mourn, the persecuted, the hungry and so on can have much more than this temporal happiness; we can be blessed with eternal membership of the Kingdom of God.

The Bible's message is that rather than focusing on external circumstances, the key to 'true' life is to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

There are many things in this world that can bring us temporary happiness – money, good health, a good reputation, people who love you and so on, and they are all good. But the things of this world cannot ensure ongoing happiness; we are foolish to place our hope and trust in these things.

Jesus taught, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?”

I find Paul's words at the end of his first letter the young Timothy (1 Timothy 6) to be a great encouragement in these matters. He warns of many things but amongst these he challenges Timothy to seek contentment rather than the things of this world:

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." (1 Timothy 6:6-9)

Instead:

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

Other reading

You can read Dan Haesler's article 'Cookie Cutters and Happiness' HERE

In issue 14 of the Case magazine we examined this matter in detail. You can still buy single copies by visiting the CASE website HERE.

Economists suggest that money CAN buy happiness

Andrew Leigh (Associate Professor, Australian National University) has posted a short piece pointing to new economic research on happiness. The work by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers seeks to debunk the widely accepted Easterlin Paradox. Essentially, this paradox refers to three observations:

1) Within a society, rich people tend to be much happier than poor people.
2) But, rich societies tend not to be happier than poor societies (or not by much).
3) As countries get richer, they do not get happier."

Christians have seen the above as largely compatible with much biblical wisdom. But Stevenson and Wolfers have sought to re-analyse old data and add some new data not previously available. They argue that their new analysis leads to a very different conclusion, namely that:

• Rich people are happier than poor people.
• Richer countries are happier than poorer countries.
• As countries get richer, they tend to get happier.

This neat alignment between money and happiness is at odds with the Bible's teaching. We explored the theme of happiness in our most recent Case magazine and reached quite different conclusions using both the Bible and economic research. Ben Cooper, writing as an economist and theologian, discussed "happiness stagnation", the phenomenon that once a nation reaches a certain level of prosperity, further economic growth seems to have little or no impact. His interpretation is more consistent with the Easterlin Paradox and at odds with the most recent interpretation of data.

The Bible says little about seeking happiness but says a lot more about eternal blessings. In Jesus’ first major teaching event (Matthew 5:3-12) he makes it clear that those who mourn, the persecuted, the hungry and so on can have more than happiness.

Rather than focusing on external circumstances and pleasure, the key to life, is to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Instead of teaching about happiness, Jesus taught that we are to deny ourselves and follow him. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23-25). There are bigger stakes than temporal happiness; there is eternal membership of God’s family through Christ.

Even in relation to this short life on earth, the Bible teaches something radically different. As Paul sits imprisoned in Rome he wrote these words:

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:10-13).

Our contentment the Apostle Paul suggests is anchored to our relationship with Christ. While we can influence our happiness through the things we do, the money and resources we have, the way we think and how we handle life’s situation, ultimately true contentment, of much greater worth than happiness, can only be found in God as we “confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11b).

Back copies of Case #14 that deals with Happiness are available for $15 from CASE.

You can read the full paper from Stevenson & Wolfers (if you're keen) or a short report on the research in the New York Times. I'm sceptical of course about the way happiness is defined and assessed in this study and how they compare data from quite different cultures and vastly different life circumstances. I'd be interested to hear from Christian economists on how they would interpret the new research. You might even want to join the online debate occurring at Freakonomics.

The pursuit of happiness

We’ve decided to base our next issue of Case magazine on the theme "happiness". Why? Well first of all because it seems everyone wants to be happy, and there is a heightened interest right now in the secret (no pun intended) of happiness. Obviously it’s not a new topic; there have always been opinions on how you gain happiness (although Kel Richards tells us in his contribution that the word isn’t as old as you might think). But for the last 12 months interest in exploring how we become happy has been growing in popularity. The books and the video of The Secret have, much to my surprise, gained more attention than they deserve. There has also been strong media interest in the topic (see for example the major feature article in the Sydney Morning Herald of August 11th 2007 by Peter Hartcher or D.T. Max's similar effort in the New York Times on 7th January 2007). There are now numerous self-help books that seek to show people how they can learn to be happy. In fact, as Hartcher reports, many universities (mainly in the USA) now offer subjects in positive psychology. This is a relatively new branch of psychology that considers topics such as wellbeing and the “scientific pursuit of happiness”. Positive psychology focuses on emotions like happiness, wellbeing, and pleasure in the same way that clinical psychology has focused on more negative human experiences such as anger, depression and loneliness. A key driver of this academic movement has been Professor Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania whose book Authentic Happiness (2002) has given direction to the field of positive psychology.

Academic conferences on positive psychology now draw large audiences in the USA, Britain and even Australia. In June 2007 a major conference focusing on the pursuit of happiness was held in Sydney titled “Happiness & its causes”. This international conference drew a large audience made up academics, psychiatrists, therapists, psychologists, educators, leading policy makers (e.g. Pru Goward, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner), doctors, a few clergy (e.g. Father Chris Riley), politicians (e.g. Linda Burney and Malcolm Turnbull) and journalists across various interest areas, including Sydney Morning Herald Economics Editor Ross Gittins and ABC’s Geraldine Doogue. The Dalai Lama was also a special guest speaker. High profile author Stephanie Dowrick was also there as both an “Interfaith Minister” and author of a number of bestsellers, including “Forgiveness and other acts of love” and “Choosing happiness: Life and soul essentials” (I will review the latter in the next edition of Case).

The preoccupation with studying, talking about and teaching happiness has moved beyond psychologists to teachers, health professionals, life coaches, social policy makers and even economists. The latter have begun to research the relationship between perceptions of happiness and economics.

Now there seems something strange about this sudden interest in happiness. We could explore why this might be occurring at this time. Some speculated about the relationship between the phenomenon and the economy in the run up to the last Australian election. Others have looked for a relationship between the pressures of life and the seeming time poor nature of people in developed countries like Australia.

From a biblical perspective there is something upside down about focussing on happiness, with its focus typically on external circumstances, success, pleasure, wellbeing and so on. The Bible says little about seeking happiness but says much more about eternal blessings. In Jesus’ first major teaching event (Matthew 5:3-12) he makes it clear that those who mourn, the persecuted, the hungry and so on can have more than happiness; we can be blessed with membership of the Kingdom of God. Both the Old and New Testaments suggests that we are first to seek the Kingdom of God.

Rather than focusing on external circumstances, pleasure, wellbeing, positive thinking etc, the real secret (yes pun intended) to life, is to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). If we are right with God our needs for food, shelter, physical wellbeing, clothing etc will be taken care of and will seem of less significance. Jesus did not promise that life will be happy if we follow him. He urged his disciples to have right priorities in life; the first priority being to follow him.

There are many things in this world that can bring us temporary happiness – money, good health, success, people who love you and so on. But the things of this world cannot ensure ongoing happiness.

Jesus taught, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?”

There are bigger stakes than temporal happiness; there is eternal membership of God’s family through Christ, which leaves the search for happiness in this life in its wake. We are to seek an “everlasting kingdom” (Psalm 145: 13), as well as seeking to be right with God by accepting the free gift of grace that Jesus death offers us.

In issue 14 of the Case magazine we will have pieces on Buddhism, the Dalai Lama and happiness (Mike Wilson), the Pursuit of happiness through economic growth (Ben Cooper), a word study on happiness by Kel Richards and reviews of two influential books on happiness y Roberta Kwan and me. There will be other contributions as well. Subscribers should have the magazine in their mailboxes by early March. If you’re not a subscriber you can buy single issues for $10 AUS or receive quarterly editions of Case for just $55 AUS per year. You can sample some of the content of past issues on the CASE website.