I posted this question on Facebook and the comments came rolling in. Ranging from people asking if this is true to comments that their lives are simpler. It's an interesting thought that the poor may, in fact, be happier. They do tend to live simpler lives and tend to value what they have in the way of relationships. You often hear about people visiting third world countries and claiming that the people seemed so happy. I've thought about this and I grew up poor. I always had a place to live and food, but we did rely on windfall. Windfall is the food banks and dumpsters for those that don't know. At that time I was happier, but that may be due to the fact that I was young and didn't know any better.
Maybe that is the key. They don't know any better. If ignorance is bliss could the key to happiness be poverty? I believe those that live in well affluent areas that are poor will not experience the same effect, but if an entire community is impoverished and no one knows better it may just be true.
One comment suggested that poor societies tend to be less educated thus they are ignorant. Meaning that they don't know any better. It's funny how that word is used in a negative aspect, but that is a different subject altogether. This may be true. Uneducated people may have an easier simpler life and poor societies do not have the best education. If you are educated you have a better grasp on the issues we face in this world along with the idea that it is possible to change it. I often find myself in this hell of envisioning a better world and being stuck in a default world. Ironically this default world is due to miseducation and misunderstanding.
One subject that did not really get addressed directly and it was the conclusion I came to when I asked myself this same question. Is it possible that as one moves up the pyramid of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs that we tend to lose happiness?
In the lowest two categories of needs, all it would take to make you happy is food, water, and shelter. Thus with these simple things, you could be content and happy. As you climb up the pyramid life becomes more complex. For safety, you need to trust the police, government and the fellow humankind around you. To feel loved and a sense of belonging wouldn't you need others to hate you and not like you? After that, you need to learn to love and appreciate you and to do that you need to have some contributions to the world. What if you have nothing to contribute, but to simply exist and survive? The last is so complex that wars have been fought over it. Why are we here? What is our purpose? What happens after we die? These subjects are beyond complex and anyone living in that category is stuck studying the infinite never-ending void.
How could one be happy in the higher categories? You may at times find contentment up there, but that is met swiftly with the realization that the world we live in is unforgiving and brutal. Often those that find self-actualization become so focused that they begin to drop down the pyramid of need and now have nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep and are left thirsty. Maybe this should be a circle instead of a pyramid? The crazy part is at that time they may become less happy, so now they are living amongst people that are happier than they are and they are impoverished.
This brings up an interesting conundrum. If impoverished people tend to be happier should we work to bring them out of poverty? Are we actually helping them or are we just trying to get them to join us in our suffering? I'd like to believe that happiness actual lays within a balance amongst all people. Maybe just maybe the reason poor societies are happier is that they are in it together. What if every single person on Earth could be in the self-actualization category? What kind of world would we live in then? I have to believe that we are working toward a better future where everyone is taken care of and we self-actualize to the point of understanding that we are in fact all one. Thus what is done unto another is done unto ourselves.
I Love You All
