J Happiness Stud (2009) 10:769771

DOI 10.1007/s10902-009-9137-6
BOOK REVIEW

Can QOL Researchers Learn Anything Scientifically

Meaningful from Popular Cultural Icons Who Speak
on Happiness and Well-Being?
M. Joseph Sirgy

Published online: 26 March 2009

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Abstract This is review of two books written by gurus who address the topic of
happiness and well-being from a spiritual perspective. One book is Matthieu Ricards
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Lifes Most Important Skill (published by Little, Brown
and Company, 2003). The other book is Eckhart Tolles A New Earth: Awakening to Your
Lifes Purpose (published by A Plume Book, 2005). The books are thought provoking and
interesting reading for the layperson. From a scientific perspective, they should not be
treated with any credibility. They advocate an image of the human condition and wellbeing that is not based on a good and scientific understanding of human nature.
Keywords

Happiness
Well-being
Ego
Selflessness
Spiritual well-being

I just finished reading two books written by gurus who address the topic of happiness
and well-being from a spiritual perspective. One book is Matthieu Ricards Happiness: A
Guide to Developing Lifes Most Important Skill (published by Little, Brown and Company, 2003). The other book is Eckhart Tolles A New Earth: Awakening to Your Lifes
Purpose (published by A Plume Book, 2005).
Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk, a French native who studied Buddhism in Tibet
and Nepal. Before committing his life to Buddhism, he had a promising career in cellular
genetics. He addresses the concept of happiness not only from a Buddhists perspective but
does a good job injecting much of the science of subjective well-being in his discussion.
The book is endorsed by renowned QOL researchers such as Professor Richard Layard
from the London School of Economics and the author of Happiness: Lessons from a New
Science, and Professor Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University, a renowned psychologist
and Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Ricard defines happiness as a deep sense of
M. J. Sirgy (&)
Department of Marketing, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State
University (Virginia Tech), 2025 Pamplin Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0236, USA
e-mail: sirgy@vt.edu
URL: http://marketing.pamplin.vt.edu/facultyFolder/joeSirgy/

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M. J. Sirgy

flourishing that arises from a healthy mind. The lasting impression that I had after reading
the book is very much related to self-centeredness. Normal people tend to be selfcentered; those with psychopathologies are extremely self-centered; and those who are
truly happy are least self-centered. Ricard argues that happiness involves extended meditation on the way of being that makes the person less self-centered. Becoming less selfcentered engenders happiness, which is reflective of kindness, compassion, humility,
optimism, and flow. To become less self-centered is to embrace an extended view of
oneself, a view that incorporates humanity. In other words, a happy person is one that
thinks of oneself as being part of humanity; and doing so requires a set of beliefs, values,
and lifestyle that renounce the materialistic, individualistic, ego-centric culture of the
human condition. Negative emotions such as hatred, envy, anger, and fear are all rooted in
a narrow sense of self. Expanding ones sense of self allows the person to experience less
negative and more positive emotions; hence, the person becomes happier.
Eckhart Tolle has written a book titled The Power of Now, and his book, A New Earth, is
essentially a further elaboration of his previous book. Both books focus on the Presence (or
Now) to extol the virtues of transcending our ego-based state of consciousness. Tolle
speaks of the self and identification. Human beings assume social roles (e.g., the role of the
parent, the patriot, the employee, the supervisor, and so on). Identifying with social roles
forces us to experience the positive and negative emotions directly related to our social
identities. Most positive emotions felt through these social identities are experienced by
action that leads to self-enhancement, self-aggrandizement, and self-adulation. This
involves making one feel more superior to others. We do many things in the context of our
social identities to gain status, and gains in status enhance the self and generate positive
emotions. Conversely, we experience negative emotions when we loose status. We feel
inferior relative to others. We dont measure up in the eyes of significant others. We
experience a host of negative emotions (e.g., anger, fear, resentment, envy, jealousy, and
hatred) because we evaluate ourselves and others in ways that ultimately provide us with
more status (or help us maintain or avoid loss in status). We also identify with material
possessions. Loss of material possessions causes us to experience negative feelings because
such loss reflects loss of status, a blow to the ego.
According to Tolle, the self is the ego, and the ego is not restricted to our immediate
self. Our sense of self incorporates the collective. We identify ourselves with our families
and certain groups. Thus, through self-identification we experience positive and negative
emotions based on outcomes not related to our immediate self but the social groups we
identify with.
Tolle believes that the roots of all human conflict (e.g., wars related to religion, land,
political ideology, and social class) reflect dysfunction of our collective egos. To reduce
conflict requires us to shed our egos. We need to rid ourselves of social identification. We
need to be conscious of the roles we assume and how we become trapped in social roles.
These roles are the source of human tyranny and bondage. To experience peace, tranquility, and spiritual happiness we need to free ourselves from the bondage of the ego,
identification, and social roles.
And this is where I found the greatest similarity between Ricards message and Tolles
message. Ricard views happiness as tantamount to embracing a sense of self that is all
encompassing of humanity. Tolle talks about achieving happiness by shedding ones ego.
Nice for the layperson! Yes! But how about us, QOL scientists? Does this make any
sense scientifically-speaking? In some ways, it does. Reading Ricards and Tolles books
made me think about much of the psychology related to self-esteem. Much has been
written about psychopathology in relation to self-esteem. We can trace much of that

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discussion to Freud and the neo-Freudians. However, we dont have to be psychoanalysts

to address the psychopathologies related to self-esteem. Much of modern thought in
clinical psychology, grounded in social cognition, addresses psychopathologies emanating
from low self-esteem in the context of the individual person, as well as the collective. The
positive psychology movement has also focused on positive and negative emotions related
to self-esteem, with a new emphasis on understanding the various sources of positive
emotions in addition to accounting for the negative emotions.
But then how should we as QOL scientists react to Ricards message of expanding our
conception of the self to embrace all of humanity (and Tolles message to shed our egos)?
One can say yes, ideally-speaking. Can people greatly enlarge their sense of self or shed
their ego altogether? The answer is that it is not realistic to expect people to do what Ricard
and Tolle advocate. The very essence of human nature is based the psychology of self. The
self-concept plays an extremely important role in our psychological and emotional makeup. To advocate the ultimate expansion of the self-concept or the eradication of it is not
only unrealistic but is not wise and possibly dysfunctional. Dysfunctional because such
advocacy sets up unrealistic expectations that invariably people cannot measure up to. I am
reminded of the communist manifesto and the beautiful utopian vision it advocated.
Millions of people embraced this vision of humanity. Yes, it is a beautiful and noble vision
of humanity, but it is not based on a good understanding of human nature. Inherent in
human nature is the motive to gain social status. Ownership and accumulation of personal
wealth are an important means to gain status. Much of the communist doctrine is based on
the notion of wealth distribution and equality among people. The communist experiment
has failed. It failed miserably because inherent in this doctrine are assumptions that do not
reflect the true nature of humanity and well-being. Well, embracing such false dogma has
generated much conflict and strife in the last 130 years. Should we now embrace another
false dogma? Our understanding and our vision of humanity cannot be based on dogma. It
has to be based on scientific findings of the many hundreds and thousands of QOL studies.
These studies although are not as profound in their revelation; nevertheless, they do
contribute to our understanding of the human condition and well-being, in small measuresone ounce of contribution at a time. Eventually and in due time, our bucket of
well-being knowledge will get filled to the extent that we can make profound statements
about the human condition and well-being. Eventually!

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