Why Money Won't Get You to "Level Three"
by Alexander Green

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson argued that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are our inalienable rights.

You have life and more liberty than your ancestors could possibly have imagined. Not just freedom from tyrants and feudal lords, but freedom from backbreaking labor, widespread banditry and injustice, religious persecution, economic privation, and the threat of dozens of now-curable diseases.

Happiness, on the other hand, is a little trickier.

Notice that Jefferson was wise enough to say we don't have a right to happiness itself, just the pursuit of it. And it can be elusive... especially Level Three.

According to Daniel Nettle, a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Newcastle in Britain and the author of "Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile," there are three levels of happiness.

Level One is the happiness of momentary feelings. This is the enjoyment we take in a good movie, a game of tennis, or a meal spent in the company of friends or family. This type of happiness is immediate but transient. Whenever you experience joy or pleasure, you have reached Level One.

Level Two is more cognitive. It involves judgments about feelings. If you are satisfied with your life, if you reflect on your pleasures and pains and feel that, overall, the balance is positive, you've reached Level Two. You are likely to report a general sense of satisfaction or wellbeing.

And Level Three? According to Nettle, you reach Level Three only when you feel like you are flourishing, fulfilling your life's potential. Level Three is about living the highest-quality life.

What is that, exactly?

I'm tempted to paraphrase Louis Armstrong. When asked by an interviewer to define jazz, he said "Man, if you gotta ask, you'll never know." Clearly, however, a high-quality life is not synonymous with simply making a lot of money.

However, I'm not an idealist arguing that money doesn't matter. It does.

Money determines your neighborhood and the house your kids grow up in. It determines whether they go to college and where. It can decide whether you get a good doctor or an amazing doctor. If you need a lawyer, it determines whether you get an ambulance chaser or the best attorney money can buy. It provides freedom, security, and peace of mind.

Money matters. But it doesn't buy genuine love or friendship. It won't solve your problems, end your worries, fix your marriage, make you "a success," or even make you more charitable. People without money often imagine it will do all these things. It won't.

That's because money doesn't change you. It magnifies you, making it clear to everyone who you really are. In the end, you are who you are because of the choices you make, not the amount of money you have.

(As TV personality Larry Winget says, "If Paris, Britney and Lindsey weren't rich, they would still be crashing cars and acting stupid at Wal-Mart instead of on Rodeo Drive. You just wouldn't know about it... Money doesn't make you stupid. It just gets your picture taken more often.")

Some folks might wonder what creates high-level satisfaction, if not all the blessings that money can buy.

In his new book "EconoPower: How a New Generation of Scientists is Transforming the World," my friend and colleague Mark Skousen provides a pretty good answer. The four elements of happiness, he says, are:

1. Rewarding and honest employment

2. Recreation

3. Love and friendship

4. Spiritual development

Notice that #1 is a pretty tough hurdle for retirees, and probably explains why so many slip into depression after leaving the workforce. (This is an issue I intend to address in an upcoming column.)

Notice, too, that none of the four elements requires money. (Though I'll concede that if you're broke your recreation is more likely to be hiking, swimming or reading than yachting and racing thoroughbreds.)

Perhaps the best description of Level Three happiness was put forward by Aristotle a few thousand years ago in the Nichomachean Ethics.

The Greek philosopher argued that we seek happiness in all the wrong places. We chase pleasure, excitement and profit. Not that these things don't have their place. But they do not create lasting contentment, because they are not what matters most.

What matters most, says Aristotle, is realizing your potential, living up to your values, and following your conscience. It's these things that create "the good life." It's these virtues that lead to a deep and abiding sense of happiness. (What Nettle calls Level Three.)

Following the dictates of conscience is never easy, of course. In many ways we will fall short. Still, it's better to fail at what is worth pursuing than to succeed at what is not.

Where is your conscience leading you today? Chances are you already know.

As General Schwartzkopf famously said, "The truth of the matter is you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."

Carpe Diem,

Alex

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