On Friday, Kicking off the Washington Examiner’s Sea Island Summit in Georgia, Arthur Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute, offered some thoughts on how we can be happier.
That might sound like an odd topic for a political summit, but what is the point of life if not to be noble or happy? Brooks’ argument was clear: We should revel in the possibilities of life. Referencing 19th century artist Thomas Cole’s four-painting series, “The Voyage of Life,” Brooks suggested the best foundation for happiness is re-imagining our perspective of what makes us happy and sad. Brooks’ contention here is not that what makes us happy or sad shouldn’t achieve that effect, but rather that we reconsider whether what is driving those emotions is justified. Put simply, introspective analysis is crucial toward the bettering of our lives. That foundation established, Brooks offers a series of principles that he believes we should embrace as guiding principles in our lives.
First, we should take more risks. Here, Brooks focuses on economist Steve Levitt’s risk-taking experiment — in which Levitt offered to make important decisions for thousands of different people on the basis of a coin toss. Levitt found that whether the outcome of the risk-taken is that which we most sought, most of us welcome the impact of having taken risks. Why is this? Well, Brooks suggests that it’s because the act of taking a risk moves us toward a new perspective. It closes old doors and moves us through new ones. And in America’s democracy, there are always many new doors.
Second, we should pursue new ideas and different perspectives. Speaking to what Professor Claude Robert Cloninger calls “neophilia,” or the love of new things, Brooks suggests that we should constantly seek to expand our horizons. Doing so, exposing ourselves to new art, culture, and experience, Brooks suggests we achieve a new human happiness. Greater knowledge and understanding of the human experience, after all, makes us better humans.
Third, Brooks says we must master ourselves. Here, Brooks says, we should endeavor “to dominate a craft … within the rules.” Doing so offers an innate personal satisfaction in that it proves our better-made selves. For Brooks, “within the rules” is a crucial qualifier here. Because without enjoining ourselves to frameworks such as that which would suggest consuming less rather than more alcohol, we jeopardize the measure of our otherwise better — thanks to the other guiding principles — lives.
Finally, Brooks says, you must “give your work purpose.” In Brooks’ case, that working purpose has taken the form of economic research and advocacy designed to reduce poverty. Of course, each of us has different working interests. Brooks notes that for the composer, Bach, music was the means to a long life of enriching the lives of others. The underlying idea here is that if we are able to serve others through our work, we find a meaning that goes beyond our immediate family lives or the income it brings. Instead, we build new connections to others and give new meaning to our lives.
In the end, Brooks’ argument is simple: To be happier, we must be both introspective and entrepreneurial in our thoughts and actions.
