The Pursuit of Meaning.

The American Declaration of Independence speaks of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Recently, following the pioneering work of Martin Seligman, founder of Positive Psychology,

there have been hundreds of books published on happiness. Yet there's something more fundamental

still to the sense of a life well lived, namely meaning. The two seem similar. It's easy to suppose

that people who find meaning are happy and people who are happy have found meaning, but the two

aren't the same and they don't even always overlap.

Happiness is largely a matter of satisfying needs and wants.

Meaning, by contrast, is about a sense of purpose in life,

especially by making positive contributions to the lives of others.

Happiness is largely about how you feel in the present.

Meaning is about how you judge your life as a whole, past, present and future.

Happiness is associated with taking, while meaning is associated with giving.

Individuals who suffer stress, worry or anxiety aren't happy, but they may well be living lives rich with meaning.

Past misfortunes reduce present happiness, but people often connect such moments with the discovery of meaning.

Furthermore, happiness isn't unique to humans.

Animals also experience contentment when their needs and wants are satisfied, but meaning is a distinctively

human phenomenon. It has to do not with nature, but with culture. It's not about what happens to us,

but about how we interpret what happens to us. There can be happiness without meaning,

and there can be meaning in the absence of happiness,

even in the midst of darkness and pain. In a fascinating article in the Atlantic, there's more to life

than being happy. Emily Smith argued that the pursuit of happiness can result in a relatively

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