Yesterday’s post gave an interesting discussion about the implications of our natural tendency to link happiness to material success.

The main conclusion was that, for us lucky 20% who live in material comfort, this instinctive motivation has almost no upside, but huge downside. 

Today’s post will propose a much more attractive alternative philosophy. 

Personal liberty

Over the course of human history, millions of people have fought and died for personal liberty: the right to choose one’s own actions (as long as they don’t harm society). 

Today, most people enjoy this historically rare privilege. But for many, it’s only theoretical freedom. In practice, they’re economic slaves living paycheck-to-paycheck, working jobs they hate.

This economic slavery is maintained by a master called consumerism: the false promise of happiness from buying stuff we don’t really need.  

Breaking free of this economic slavery is one half of the key to overcoming the bad and the ugly aspects of our materialistic pursuit of happiness discussed yesterday. 

Purpose 

The other half of the key is having something truly meaningful to do with genuine personal liberty. Without this second half of the key, all the liberty in the world will bring no lasting happiness. 

Note that a purpose is not the same as a goal. It’s not something clearly quantifiable that can be ticked off a list one day. 

Instead, it’s a reason for getting up every morning that will always be there. For example, mine is contributing to solving the great global sustainability challenge. 

A key feature of a good purpose is that it motivates you to contribute to society with no expectation of a return.

If money is your primary motivation for working, it’s a clear sign that you are yet to find your true purpose. But don’t worry. You have time 🙂 

Liberty and purpose can change the world

As outlined in yesterday’s post, the good from our flawed material pursuit of happiness is the rapid economic progress enabled by capitalism. But this has truly ugly consequences in the form of environmental destruction, social injustice and self-destructive behaviors. 

Someone with a clear purpose and the freedom to pursue this purpose will probably create even more value for society, and do so without any of the ugly consequences. 

This philosophy shifts the target in the pursuit of happiness from maximum material consumption to free creative expression. Naturally, this leads to much less consumption and environmental impact.

It also halts the growing gap in living standards between the rich and the poor. Creators will often end up rich, but they do not display these riches, investing it in their purpose instead (which often involves the solution of key societal problems). 

A true purpose also reduces our tendency to self-destruct, much of which is fueled by instant-pleasure consumption and the disillusionment with the poor results of this direct pursuit of happiness. 

Earning freedom to pursue your purpose

The big challenge is that it mostly takes many years to earn genuine personal liberty. This will be the topic of the next chapter of the Supermorning series, starting next week. 

In the meantime, it’s important to realize that personal liberty is not binary. There is a broad spectrum between total slavery and true liberty. 

Gradually developing your life from slavery to liberty is an awesome journey, regardless of the final destination. 

Along this journey, you can work on finding and refining your purpose. Then, as your liberty gradually increases, you can pursue your purpose with increasing levels of freedom and focus. 

In my view, this journey towards liberty and purpose is the most efficient and socially responsible pursuit of happiness at our disposal. 

Tomorrow, we’ll put the cherry on top of this much more rational pursuit of happiness. See you then!