The American dream: it’s a persistent element in movies, television shows and news reports, and our environment tells us it can’t just be attained, but also bought. Money is necessary to ensure a certain standard of living, but in recent years, we’ve become victims to consumer culture — a culture at odds with our human nature.
Each of us lives and adheres to the belief that happiness derives from wealth, a belief progressive political commentator Thom Hartmann calls “the secret of enough.” According to Hartmann, if you are homeless and starving and someone provides you with necessities of life, such as a home and food, your mental condition improves along with your physical one, and you recognize this state as happiness.
Herein lies the problem, though. We come to believe that because that small amount of wealth produced an equal amount of happiness, “then twice as much stuff will make you twice as happy, ten times as much will make you ten times as happy, and so on into infinity,” Hartmann said.
This thought process is a destructive one, teaching us to value competition above all else. Our economy is based on competition and the unceasing accumulation of resources, which isn’t at all necessary to happiness. This is clear through studies like the Happy Planet Index, which charts happiness in nations across the world and shows the United States to be one of the unhappiest, despite our affluence.
In 1971, the small country of Bhutan first rejected GDP as the fundamental measure of its progress and turned to measuring prosperity by gross national happiness instead.
The prioritization of psychological and emotional health of Bhutan’s inhabitants over economic wealth seems odd, but rampant wealth disparities and collapsing financial systems are forcing others to question their own countries as well.
In 2010, the U.N. supported this practice along with 68 other nations and is currently looking to replicate this measure of development. This change in prioritization can benefit our world ecologically and teach the population not to equate prosperity with progress.
Many believe competition to be an integral part of human nature and rely on images of animals fighting “tooth and claw” for evidence. But these instances of violence in nature only arise when animals and humans alike are forced to contend for insufficient resources. The same people also presume we have animalistic instincts.
The natural world, however, is one in which examples of true democracy and connectivity abound. Recent discoveries in what scientists call “heart math” have uncovered faint electromagnetic waves that we unconsciously emit in tune with our own heartbeat. We’re able to detect these waves those around us emit — as well as other living systems.
An article in the Scientific American also sheds light on another recent phenomenon, that of mirror neurons. Upon observing several groups of primates, scientists noticed that the same neurons responsible for a task were activated in the brains of both the monkey completing the task and the monkey observing it taking place. These “mirroring” neurons have also been found in several other species, including humans. It sheds valuable light on the nature of empathy and helps explain why we sometimes find ourselves overcome with emotion during sporting events and movies.
Even the swooping swarms of starlings and the complex congregations of fish demonstrate the importance of cooperation-driven systems. These groups of animals have been found to function on the basis of “voting” rather than under the guidance of a leader. With each movement of wing or fin, the animals choose their preferred direction, and once a majority of the group has decided, the flock carries out the decision.
As humans, we have no physical characteristics that provide us with an evolutionary advantage: no six inch-long teeth or venom-filled mandibles. We were born without innate knowledge of how to walk, talk and dress, and we depend upon others for instruction. It’s clear our fundamental human nature is to provide empathy and support, and our way of life should reflect these same ideals.