The Well-being Society - A Bright Future of Our World
Our world is now full of material temptations. Increasingly, societies around the world seem built to trap most people into lifelong race for material prosperity and wealth. The intensity and tempo of this often-fierce daily race at the personal, societal, and global levels often cause us to forget, or leave us no time to stop and consider, what should be our main goal of life.
Aristotle pointed out over 2000 years ago that the only thing we want for its own sake is happiness; everything else we pursue is a means to achieve happiness. This reminds us that happiness, not wealth, should be our main goal of life.
It is important to note that, in Aristotle’s concept of happiness, the pleasant feelings derived from “material objects” are only the first and lowest level of happiness; achievement and recognition, as well as building relationships and doing good for others, are higher levels, and the highest level is pursuits of perfection and meaning.
Therefore, it is pursuing happiness at all levels, and ultimately achieving the highest level, that is the worthy main goal of our lives. Modern science of happiness has provided empirical evidence supporting this thousands’ year-old notion, that a life worth living is one encompassing not just the lowest level but more so the higher and highest levels of pursuits in achieving happiness in the full sense.
I sum these up as pursuing well-being, including physical well-being, emotional well-being, relationship well-being, self-actualizational well-being, community and societal well-being, and spiritual well-being (finding meaning, living for something bigger than the self, doing good for others), etc.
Most of us might agree that those are worthy goals. However, so many of us in today’s world “sum up” all these with the single-minded fervent pursuit of wealth, or of GDP at the national level, believing that wealth or GDP will bring us happiness and well-being.
Ancient wisdom and modern sciences have shown us time and again that this belief is heavily misguided. Wealth or GDP may provide some external conditions. But beyond basic needs, it is not the direct nor effective route to happiness and well-being. It may even hinder, or distract us from, achieving them. That is why so many find that after a whole life of pursuing wealth, whether getting wealthy or not, they did not achieve, or have scarified much in, happiness and well-being.
Meanwhile, chasing wealth, or for countries, chasing GDP and fighting for global material resources, has caused much strife and suffering in our world! I need not cite all those, from personal stress and dissatisfaction, family disputes or friendship break-ups over money, to many crimes, and disharmony or animosity between social classes, to trade wars or hot wars between countries, to the destruction of our environment, and to the risks of self-destroying of our humanity….
Something fundamental needs to change!
We need to go back to our original goal. The effective route to our original goal of pursuing happiness, whether at the personal or societal levels, should be a direct focus on pursuing well-being of all aspects, and take material resources as a supportive means, not goal, which we acquire only when necessary to serve the former.
This requires a shift in our collective mindset.
Is it possible that our human society eventually transforms into one in which the primary focus would be on pursuing well-being, not wealth, at the personal level, and pursuing GWB (Global Well-being), not GDP, at the societal level? That would be what I call a Well-being Society, one that has advanced beyond our primarily material-focusing current society.
If it is possible, what would such a society be like, in everyday life, human motivations, relationships, social environment, natural environment, economies, politics, global orders…?
And what do we need to do to get there?
Join us to explore the possibility!
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The purposes of this Substack are to build a community of like-minded people to explore the idea of the Well-being Society, and to help build personal well-being as a start. I eagerly invite you to join the community if this resonates with you, or if any of my writing or services, or the discussions in this community, may help you in building your well-being and happiness in any way.
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With a subscription, you will also receive benefits including free professional assessments of your personal levels of well-being indicators, such as life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, negative emotions, positivity ratio, etc., and/or one-on-one personalized well-being coaching, among other benefits.
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