I saw a review on Yahoo! for a new book, Affluenza, purporting to chronicle the link between wealth and unhappiness. It's a bit suspect in its conclusions, but it does raise the interesting question of about perception in relation to happiness. Says Oliver James to promote his book.
"We are at a turning point. My argument dovetails with the ecological argument -- we cannot carry on consuming in this manner and feel confident our great grandchildren have any future. This inevitably leads us to question consumerism."
"People are sick to the back teeth of this stuff. They don't want any more selfish capitalism."
Of course, the good doctor travelled the world meeting with people, which is a sign of at least some kind of wealth to be able to pursue that dream. And I wonder how much he is hoping to make off book sales?
There is plenty to question about consumerism, but I'd beg to differ that the problem is one of a systemic failure instead of just some mopey people who were never taught that money is not a panacea.
C.S. Lewis wrote about this years ago, with an elegant argument about expectations.
If you take two groups of people living in a regular building, and tell one group they are living in a fancy hotel, and tell the other group they in prison, chances are the group who thinks they are in a fancy hotel will be a bit disgruntled and cheated out of their due, while the group who thinks they are in prison are going to feel mighty fine about their fortune to be in such a nice prison.
When applied to wealth, there is the sense in Western societies that the rich and successful don't deserve their success. That's a mindset that holds you back from success. Rather than complaining about the rich, we'd be far better off emulating them to become rich ourselves.
Now I'm not saying we shoud find some rich, miserable, sexually immoral atheist in Sydney, like our dear author, but instead we should find the kind of fellow who works hard, helps others, enjoys his wealth, but considers the wealth of a man to be in their heart, their family and in their faith.
Emulate that man - find out why he is successful and happy, and you will be too. Or you could write a book about how wealth makes everyone miserable as you go out on a book tour designed to sell more books. It's your choice.
