March 17, 2024
Dr Arthur Brooks is a Harvard professor and social scientist. One of his main areas of research is looking at the neuroscience and behavioural science of happiness. Brooks argues that happiness is a combination of enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning. These are, he says, the macronutrients of a happy life.
Feelings are of course, a poor guide to happiness. They are like the smell of a beautiful meal from the kitchen. They speak of the thing, but are not the thing itself. So let’s put feelings to one side for a start.
So what does Brooks mean by enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning?
Enjoyment
Enjoyment is not the same as pleasure. Enjoyment is something that normally involves other people. It lights up a different part of the brain and seems to involve a cognitive awareness of the experience. A kind of attentiveness to the moment.
Satisfaction
Satisfaction is the joy after struggle . Humans are made to struggle and gratification after being deferred for a time adds to its positive effect. One prison camp survivor from the Spanish civil war said, “People don’t have joy because they don’t enjoy their dinner”. When you have been without for a long time and you have that first good meal, you can imagine how you would relish every mouthful. That satisfaction of course, doesn’t last. We always return to homeostasis (that kind of neutral middle ground halfway between ecstasy and depression).
Meaning
Brooks argues that meaning is a combination of significance, purpose and coherence…
- Significance …my life has a reason for its existence.
- Purpose is …my life has direction.
- Coherence …things happen for a reason – things fit together or lead up to this time.
So how do we become more happy according to Brooks?
He argues that, atheist, agnostic or Christian we need to answer these two questions:
- Why am I alive?
- For what would I be willing to give my life?
For myself, I would add a third key question. Something like,
- Do my answers to the first two questions only have meaning for this life or point to something beyond death?
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, pointed to the kind of things that make for “happiness” / “blessedness”. Each of these point us towards, enjoyment, satisfaction, meaning, significance, purpose and ultimately, eternal coherence. Brooks’ work in this area seems to dovetail well with the words of Jesus when framed within the light of eternity. Even Jesus, as he went through the cross to Easter Sunday, within Brooks’ definitions, could be said to be ‘happy’.
May each of us find the kind of happiness that is our inheritance in Christ..
Julian Holdsworth
BSBC Pastor