I came upon a blog entry from Scott Adams, artist for Dilbert. I had came across a similar question before, but basically the crux of the question goes like this:
If you were given two choices.
First choice would be that you are given 10 million dollars, and everyone in the world is given 20 million. Second choice would be that only you are given 5 million dollars.
The memory of you making the choice will be wiped.
His argument had been that, given both choices, most people are happier with the second choice, where you are 'richer' than the rest of the world.
A similiar question I had came across was this:
If you were given two job offerings.
First would give you an annual salary of sixty thousand, while your teammates would have eighty thousand each. The second would give you an annual salary of forty thousand, while your teammates would have thirty thousand each.
Again, chances are most people might choose the second.
As I look at the news on the bonus of the government officials and civil servants for 2009, the year of the depression, I cannot help but think back on those questions. Many people, in this time, are unhappy, not because they do not have enough to survive. But many more are unhappy because, while they are making ends meet, and the government officials are getting lesser bonus, the lesser bonus is an obscene amount! And so, it is interesting to note that this time, they had capped the bonus to 0.5 months, or a maximum of 750. Just like in companies, even if a CEO agreed to take only 1% bonus, it is likely that it is still an obscene amount.
And so, does this come down to that in most cases, we derive our happiness from superiority towards others?
That is actually a scary thought, and one that I prefer to avoid. Going down that path would only end in suffering and self-destruction. As you climb each step of the 'superiority ladder', you are compelled to climb even more. Because simply, there will be others who are superior to you in one way or another (most of the time, wealth). And even if when you are at the top of the ladder, being the wealthiest man in the world, a crisis could wipe out a significant amount of your wealth too (just see how the market had moved in the past year). You are compelled to guard your wealth, earn even more, just to retain that top of the world position.
I am not sure about you, maybe I am a rather non-competitive person. But that does sound awfully tiring to me.
I guess to me, happiness is derived from contentment (although I have to admit, being content does build upon a certain degree of 'superiority'). Thankful that we are alive (superior to death), that we are healthy (superior to those who are unhealthy), that we have enough to eat (superior to those who does not), sharing moments with those we love (superior to those who does not have love ones), and even the ability to share what we have (superior to those who are unable to share because they have nothing).
Ok ok, I guess if we look at it that way, happiness does derive, at some degree, from superiority. But I guess I know when to stop (superior to those who does not know when to stop) ;)
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