Editorial
GNH-In quest for a nation's happiness
Gross National Happiness is engaging because happiness is a universal human aspiration. All of us may not agree that the ultimate aim of life is happiness but we would agree that it is better to enjoy our lives than to suffer. Certainly all of us would desire happiness over suffering.
While to a large extent we do know what it means to be happy or unhappy, the reasons for being happy and unhappy can be very complex. Happiness is one of the greatest philosophical deliberations at least since the time of Socrates. While many authors have made contributions in our understanding of happiness, governments have always thought happiness is human experiences too subjective to be integrated into the government’s development policies. Therefore, Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness is a bold concept, which does just that.
Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) is about a nation’s happiness and the nation’s quest for the best way to deliver happiness to its people.
GNH is a development concept that has now drawn attention of the world as an alternate development model. The greatness of the GNH concept lies not in its pursuit of human happiness. Happiness has in fact been an established worthwhile quest since the times of Socrates in the olden days. The nobleness of the GNH concept is its audacity to make the pursuit of happiness a deliberate government role.
Bhutan thus is the first country to challenge itself to integrate the pursuit of human happiness in its public policies. In the process, GNH challenges the present
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economic development models as being either inadequate or perhaps obstructing the very quest for happiness. Therefore, progress measured in terms of GDP is at best not a holistic progression.
Although apparently today, Bhutan tries to conceptualize the GNH into a practical development model, the GNH had been a guiding development philosophy ever since. GNH with its roots in the Buddhist values, Bhutan’s socio economic and political development were influenced by such Buddhist values as the middle path, compassion, tolerance, etc. Perhaps GNH now needs to learn to speak the language that development scholars and experts can understand.