Wealth and Happiness

By Greg -
Measurements suffice in lieu of a definition, and there are many measurements of wealth to satisfy us that we're happy, but neither word stands for a well understood concept. Wealth comes from the same root as power, and the wealthiest persons were simply those who controlled the natural and human resources of their realm. If the measure of wealth is the power of the State, then we, its subjects, are wealthy only in so far as our service and dedication deserves its recognition. Happiness, on the other hand, has never been a measurable quality; and, in modern times at least, happiness can't be earned, stolen, or even pursued. Happiness, like any happening, happenstance, or mishap, is a matter of luck. It is, like all good things, bestowed only by fortune.

The Indo-European root word for happiness conveyed "fitness", a different attitude toward the joy and comfort that we now regard as a self-indulgent luxury or guilty pleasure. Happiness was the condition of being where you ought to be and doing what you ought to do. Happiness was the ground state where each of us settled naturally. The unnatural conditions we find ourselves in today, seeking the happiness that almost by definition is perpetually just out of reach, is the result of artificial forces acting against our natural inclinations. What we now call "luck" was once as common and constant as gravity.

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