Who wouldn’t be happy to have more money? To pay the credit card or buy that necessary piece of furniture. However, the enormous wealth of the ‘big shots’ running large companies in the UK has astounded us. By October 2011, the salary packages for directors of FTSE 100 companies had increased by 49% in a single year. The median figure had then become £2,697,644.
The total rewards for the CEOs of these companies were even higher. Forbes magazine reported that the ratio of their earnings to that of the average UK employee increased from 45:1 in 1998 to 120:1 in 2010.
Some might wish them well in their good fortune. Who wouldn’t enjoy having a big yacht, a fancy place to live, a fast car, and no worries about money? But is it correct to assume that a happy life requires wealth? That having a lot of money is the solution to common frustrations and stress?
Self-Given Rewards and the Question of a Happy Life
In Britain, politicians who voted themselves high pay increases caused public unrest. This soon turned to outrage when we found out that many of them had been racking up small fortunes in spending for themselves. All at a time when the average standard of living was severely declining.
This desire for wealth shows up in a stitch in boardrooms, as directors have awarded their own pay raises by succumbing to the lures of wealth.
We all thought that shareholders owned the company and determined who got paid what. Also that 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 spread out. Consequently, it has become a lack of external control over the pay of top managers.
“The actual controllers of the company would pocket the profits, run profitable deals with other companies controlled by themselves, and award themselves handsome salaries.” (Ferdinand Mount, political commentator)
What has surprised us is the shameless way in which top managers in numerous incidents have abused their power. They have gotten more out of the company even when their performance has been mediocre at best. The same has happened in large public bodies.
Chasing the illusion of a happy life?
Earning large salary increases, despite the resulting social approval, indicates a strong belief that wealth will make you happy. It’s a pretty common attitude. However, is the pursuit of wealth really the pursuit of an illusion? It would seem so. Study after study by psychologists has not shown any association between wealth and happiness. The exceptions are when housing costs are a large proportion of income requiring long working hours, and cases of poverty when additional income alleviates hunger and suffering.
Even more initial is the research that shows that the pursuit of money is not only wrong, but also dangerous. Psychology professor Tim Kasser found that extremely wealthy people are not significantly happier than people with average incomes and suffer from higher levels of depression.
Carolyn Gregoire, writing in The Huffington Post, cites research that found that when both partners are materialistic, couples have a lower-quality marital relationship. There are also findings that students with higher materialistic values tend to have lower quality relationships and feel less connected to others.
What then leads to a happy life?
Researchers in positive psychology found that a true 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. .
All of us can crave money. According to transpersonal psychologist Steve Taylor, difficulties do not drive the appetite for wealth and material goods. Instead, our internal discontent causes it. I would say that an egotistical inner state of mind creates this discontent. In other words, what makes us happy is something non-materialistic, in the depths of our being.
Angelic state and happy life
In his books, the mystical writer Emanuel Swedenborg tries 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 implies several things.
- A loving attitude towards other people. The highest form this takes is wanting to give what is one’s own to others.
Those who are moved by mutual love are constantly approaching the spring of their youth… This process continues forever, constantly bringing increases in joy and happiness.(Emanuel Swedenborg)
- Conscious participation in the present moment. Neither worrying about the past nor 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 the things that belong to time.
- Freedom from feeling self-centered. Rather than being guided by one’s own desires, happiness comes from identifying with one’s true Self. This means trusting innocently in something beyond one’s false self. It is about following the 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.
According to this third point, I believe that my good intentions and insights are not my own. Instead, your spiritual Source inspires you in my heart and head.