Life Quality

A num­ber of years ago, a news crew flew into a small city in the West, then rented cars and vans to go into the coun­try­side to visit rural peo­ple. The ques­tions being answered had to do with life qual­ity. The prej­u­dices of that day’s study had to do with equat­ing class with life qual­ity. Surely coun­try peo­ple must be unhappy! After all, they are not part of the urban mid­dle or upper classes. An observer noticed how often news crew mem­bers called home for brief chats with their psy­chi­a­trists, while the locals went about their daily lives — con­tent with their tasks and lot in life. It became appar­ent at the end of the day that the hap­pier and saner were the “locals” (that the study was so sure would be the more mis­er­able). The crew had a spe­cial dis­dain for the sim­ple belief in God of these “com­mon­ers” but were more hob­bled by their own non-religious neu­roses.

Another study came out yes­ter­day about which states in Amer­ica seem to offer the most life qual­ity — or at least the greater con­tent­ment. In gen­eral, the states with the great­est impact of pure nature came out on top (states like Wyoming — with its vast expanses or Hawaii — with its mas­sive ocean and moun­tain views). Humans are hap­pi­est when greatly con­nected to nature (as an expres­sion of Deity). Peo­ple that bal­ance a long walk in the woods or the coast with their infor­ma­tion lives do bet­ter. If you want to find crazy, look for the end­less side­walks, crowded cir­cum­stances, and the ever-present mod­ern day ocean of words, opin­ions, and cre­ated noises.

Paul said that “god­li­ness with con­tent­ment is great gain.” It is the oppo­site of the world around us. It has to do with a focused inner life. It also includes a huge dose of life-acceptance. Never assume that peo­ple unlike you are some­how more or less mis­er­able. Remem­ber that YOU are the one doing the per­ceiv­ing. Even more, no one can actu­ally get inside the mind and soul of another per­son to truly feel as he or she might feel. If we could, I think we would be amazed by the equal dis­tri­b­u­tion of mis­ery and plea­sure. There is some­thing about being human that works best by just being who we are. Pity the con­de­scend­ing. Their mis­eries are pro­jected. Their stud­ies are skewed. What they seek to prove to oth­ers is merely what they are unable to prove to themselves.