One thing I learned about Bhutan recently was that they came up with the measure Gross National Happiness to measure a country's success! I think it's a really great way to look at things, rather than just focusing on money and dollars - it considers things like preserving and promoting cultural values, and sustainable development. What do you think about this kind of measure in terms of indicating whether a country is successful and doing well for its' people?
What does the measure entail? Did they just come up with a way on how to measure Gross National Happiness, or how to ensure gross national happiness?
We need to understand this a little better. Gross National Happiness has been the King of Bhutan's Policy since he came to power in 1972. Because Bhutan is the only nation to focus on Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of Gross National Product (GNP or GDP), there is no established way nor even a comparative need to measure GNH! Now, this policy means that every decision the King makes will directly raise the people's happiness. His policy of GNH was directed into four main areas: environmental protection, cultural promotion, economic development and good governance. You can read up on what has been achieved using wiki, for example. This policy, as you can see, is in sharp contrast to those of now-declining western nations which have for generations focused on making 'the powers that be', Banks and other lobby groups happy at the expense of the people.
That's a lie Bhutan is telling to the world. During the 1990's, Bhutan evicted the ethnic minorities from the country. This ethnic cleansing is one of the worst in the history of mankind. Since the minorities were of Nepali origin they came to Nepal as refugee. During the 1990's Bhutan evicted 65 thousand minorities from the country. These minorities were living in Bhutan since the beginning of Bhutanese history.
Gross National Happiness is something which my Spiritual Master H.H. Sri Sri Ravishankar also advocates. In fact, the volunteers of our NGO Art of Living has been told by Sri Sri to conduct happiness surveys and we have been conducting hapiness surveys for last 4-5 months. Sri Sri often says that a person's success should be measured by smile-o-meter. In fact, the purpose of all progress, success and development should be happiness. I think other countries should learn from Bhutan and focus on Gross National Happiness.
Goodness, I didn't know about this - I'll have to educate myself about it more. Thank you for letting us know. I appreciate that I can learn through others on the forum here.
Does this measurement mean that the country measures how happy the people are> I would see measuring your success on the industry and work, but on happiness seem a little strange to me.
I have the same thoughts about Bhutan and its people. Western societies have set a standard for success and the rest of the world followed suit. It's relieving to know that there are nations that have their own perception of success and in Bhutan's case, it's their level of happiness. It's weird when we see rich industrialized countries having high suicide and crime rates when they should have had better a happiness index than less industrialized countries like Bhutan.
I think it is a great idea, but I understand how it is also a control mechanism. Bhutan is very happy to maintain a rigid and traditional system. They do not want a western society. The GNH is really an effort to control their culture, making sure there is a heavy influence of tradition on society. This leads to stability and happiness, but also prevents progress as we would define it in the west. Honestly, I am fien with it, because I like to see a variety of cultures. I really don't want everywhere I go in the world to be McDonalds and Starbucks.
