A Unified Approach to Achieving Fulfillment and Happiness

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Dedication..................................................................................................................................................................v1.0 Prologue................................................................................................................................................................xiii2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................................................xvii3.0 The Conceptual Framework................................................................................................................................................14.0 Some Real-Life Examples.................................................................................................................................................175.0 The State of Well-Being.................................................................................................................................................216.0 Quality of Life.........................................................................................................................................................337.0 Comparison of pfhs among Individuals and Societal Groups and Application of pfh Principles to Racial Discrimination, Nations, and Political Systems.....................438.0 Value System Temporal Regimes...........................................................................................................................................559.0 Conclusions.............................................................................................................................................................6110.0 Epilogue...............................................................................................................................................................63Appendix Quantitative Representation of Rules Governing a Unified Approach to Achieving Fulfillment and Happiness...........................................................65

Chapter One

I have sought to provide a framework for exploring the vast scope and complexity of human behavior in relativistic terms. The term relativistic in this context refers to how we're doing in relation to a subjective value system, which is described in Section 3.1, that provides a basis for establishing what is significant and important to most people, but even more so, what is significant and important to ourselves.

A subjective measure termed potential for fulfillment and happiness (pfh) is developed in conjunction with the value system. This is a gauge of the opportunities we are afforded to enjoy life at any point in time-for better or for worse. The true or underlying state-of-mind of individuals, termed actual fulfillment and happiness (afh) is then considered in the context of the pfh, which effectively establishes the practical constraints or effective limit of afh. This approach can be applied to individuals or to any level of society for which a value system has been established.

Building upon these principles, the objectives of this book are to

Enable the quality of life for individuals and societal groups to be gauged in quantitative terms either on a stand-alone basis (afh/pfh) or in contrast to one another (pfh1/pfh2 or afh1/afh2). Provide a basis for gauging how well individuals are faring with regard to maximizing their quality of life given the hand that he or she has been dealt. Provide a systematic approach, based on these observations, for establishing strategies and priorities to enhance the quality of life for both individuals and societal groups.

3.1 The Value System

A value system is first established, which is comprised of a set of value attributes and associated value measures that best define our perspectives on life. The set of value attributes collectively constitutes the "building blocks of life" or "what life is all about." A possible value system, including a representative set of value attributes and measures, is shown in Table 1:

Each value attribute (first column) is assigned an importance-weighting factor (second column). The sum of the importance-weighting factors is normalized to 100 percent (third column), and the individual importance factors associated with each attribute are scaled (adjusted) accordingly. Of particular interest is the relative distribution of the normalized (or importance-weighted) attributes (for either an individual, discussed in this section or for a societal group, as discussed in Section 6.0).

As indicated in Table 1, determination of pfh next involves assigning a value measure score or situation factor, ranging from 0 to 1, to each value attribute. As an example, let's consider a thirty-year-old woman called Simone and assess her Value System, shown in Table 2. We can most readily illustrate the pfh concept by actually calculating her pfh score. It should be emphasized that Simone's Value System encompasses value attributes that are important to her and reflects the relative importance of the values as well as the scores that she has assigned to each value attribute.

Simone's example, with a pfh percentile of 80, illustrates that she has quite a high potential for fulfillment and happiness. She is in good health, has a good family situation, is not wealthy, but is by no means lacking for resources, has a good apartment, has an extensive social network, is highly educated, and is highly Simone, but how does she actually feel about herself? Simone's actual fulfillment and happiness (her afh) may be at odds with or even incongruous with her pfh. This concept will be addressed in depth in Section 3.5.

3.2 ESTABLISHING THE PFH

The pfh is a means for characterizing a person's wellbeing, establishing a framework for making the most of the situation, and, accordingly, making the best choices in that context. The value system provides a basis for establishing the pfh. The following guidelines are useful in establishing rational value attributes and value measure scores that limit the degree of subjectivity (to the extent possible) in deriving the pfh:

Value attributes reflect relative importance in contributing to the potential for fulfillment and happiness (the pfh). For example, most persons would probably consider physical health the number one priority (largest importance weighting factor), since high pfh is difficult to achieve absent good health. Value measures conform to what a rational observer would conclude about the situation regarding the associated attribute and are the basis for establishing the score (and hence are most appropriately established by objective third parties). For example, rich is better (has a higher score) than poor. A subset of a value measure has lower potential than the value measures itself, and scores should be determined accordingly. For example,...