Not for all the money

A newly published study on the topic of happiness examined the responses of 44,000 adult Americans to the question — answered between the years 1972 to 2016 — of whether they are “very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy.” The study’s authors report that among adults over age 30, money, education, and prestige were all factors associated with more happiness.

And in contrast to other studies, this one found that happiness did not taper off after reaching a certain high level of income. Adults in the top 10 percent of household income, for example, were 5 percent more likely to be “very happy” than those in the second-to-highest 10 percent of income.

What are we to make of a study like this one? At first blush, many people might consider its finding — that more money correlates with more happiness — as posing a challenge to what the Torah teaches regarding the purpose of life in This World.

Yet thinking about the people who answered these questions can actually be intellectually clarifying and spiritually enriching. We assume, perhaps reflexively, that the goal of life is to be happy. And if, as Torah teaches, man is essentially a spiritual being placed in This World for a spiritual purpose, one would think that happiness in this existence would be driven by spiritual rather than material attainments.