A major focus of attention in psychology has been on the consequences and determinants of well-being. Religiosity and personality have both been shown to predict mental health and well-being, but the two predictors have not often been investigated together. In 4 studies involving 7 surveys (total N = 1,530) in various social and religious contexts, the relations among well-being, religious orientation, and personality factors were studied. Results showed that Extraversion was the single strongest correlate of higher levels of subjective and psychological well-being. Religiosity had null or weak positive relationships with well-being, and managed to explain variance in some aspects of positive functioning beyond personality factors. The null or week relationship of religiosity with well-being beyond personality was consistent across the HEXACO and the Big Five models of personality structure. It has been suggested that religion is relatively more important for eudaimonic than for hedonic way of living.
Income inequality and its potential effect on human wellbeing is one of the key research areas in social science. Likewise, there is a lively debate about the optimal degree of government intervention to ensure wellbeing of citizens. The paper investigates impact of inequality and welfare on happiness in a panel of West European countries from 1970 to 2002, taking into account both individual and country-level variables. The results suggest that inequality hurts our wellbeing. Welfare states are happier than countries with limited welfare. Public policy implications are discussed.
The perennial tradition of virtue, grounded in the real natures of human persons, is essential for giving a robust answer to the question: ‘What is happiness, and how do we get it?’ This essay principally follows the metaphysical, psychological, ethical, and theological principles as expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas, primarily as found in his Summa Theologiae. These principles give us a solid foundation in order to build upon the work of more recent figures, especially Fr. Erich Przywara, Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and Josef Pieper. Their insights, grounded in personalism, produce a genuine and faithful development of a Thomistic understanding of personal happiness as the end of man.
This article explores the reasons behind the high economic and social rankings for Finland. It also reflects on why Finland is considered the “happiest” country in the world (according to a World Happiness Report). Using empirical data from two studies - an article comparing high-andlow-tax countries, and the aforementioned recent World Happiness Report - it compares Finland with its Nordic neighbours and other Western, especially Anglo-American, countries. The essay outlines a so-called “Finnish model' and looks for the roots of this model. Comparing measures in several dimensions - effort, culture, institutions, and economic and social outcomes - the essay tries to find characteristics that are particular for Finland. Education, innovation, and economic security, as well as trust, gender equality, resilient conflict solutions, and geo-historical luck, are crucial to Finland's success. Three notable Germans - Luther, Hegel, and Marx - have influenced Finnish culture and society in different ways. Is Finland the country that comes closest to the ideal - “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Marx, 1875).
The relationship with God allows man to find the sense of life. Christianity is a humanism – it positions man in the very centre of the world according him the highest place – of the being created after God’s image. The revelation of God’s Love endows man with a new way of enriching himself and others. Thus the desire for happiness gains a new perspective of the divine longing for good.Happiness which Christ promises exceeds the limits of our imagination. It is inconceivable and incomprehensible to those living on earth. Heaven is beyond every word, beyond our conception for it bears the meaning which man cannot fully understand. It is the most supreme happiness, absolutely perfect and complete which no one has ever known.A Christian has to achieve in his life something more than the worldly aims. Whoever limits their life to the earth, focuses only on enjoying and using this life to the full; squeezing from it the last drop heedless of the needs of others.
The article discusses a ąuestion of the celestial happiness as a certain State, into which, according to the teaching of Gregory the Great, the human being was called by God and which was given to him/her as a gift. From the beginning of his/her existence, the human enjoyed the happiness of paradise and could achieve, in futurę, the higher State of happiness, which was the celestial happiness, on the condition that he/she will be obedient to God’s commandment. However, the human did not observe obedience towards God and not only did the human not achieve the higher State of happiness, but also lost the happiness of paradise. The human being, on his/ her own, could not regain the possibility of achievement of celestial happiness. The necessary condition was God’s action. Creator did not change the divine plan towards the human being and still desired him/her to be happy. God accepted the human body and redeemed humanity. God restored the human being not only to the former glory of paradise, but also opened access to heaven, i. e., to the State of the highest happiness. The human person should advance spiritually during the earthly life to become apt to accept the gift of the eternal happiness.
Religion and politics have long been intertwined in Japan, to the extent that it is often difficult to draw lines of distinction between one realm and the other. The ancient Japanese term for the affairs of the state—matsurigoto 政 (lit., festival doings)—is a classic instance of this, implying as it does “the unity of worship and rule” (saisei itchi 祭政一致). In modern times, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 brought with it a renewed fusion of religion and state, in the guise of State Shinto. Japan’s defeat in 1945, however, saw a turn—both legal and social—towards a Western style “separation of Church and State.” At the same time, the decline of traditional religions led to an explosion of so-called “new religions” (shin shūkyō 新宗教), many of which have made forays into the political realm. The best known—and most controversial—example of a “political” new religion is Sōka Gakkai 創価学会, a lay Buddhist movement originally associated with the Nichiren sect that in the 1960s gave birth to a new political party, Komeitō 公明党 (lit., Clean Government Party), which in the past several decades has emerged as the third most popular party in Japan (as New Komeitō). Since the 1980s, Japan has also seen the emergence of so-called “new, new religions” (shin shin shūkyō 新新宗教), which tend to be more technologically savvy and less socially concerned (and, in the eyes of critics, more akin to “cults” than the earlier new religions). One new, new religion known as Kōfuku-no-Kagaku 幸福の科学 (lit., Institute for Research in Human Happiness or simply Happy Science), founded in 1986 by Ōkawa Ryūho 大川隆法, has very recently developed its own political party, Kōfuku Jitsugentō 幸福実現党 (The Realization of Happiness Party). This article will analyse the political ideals of Kōfuku Jitsugentō in relation to its religious teachings, in an attempt to situate the movement within the broader tradition of religio-political syncretism in Japan. In particular, it will examine the recent “manifesto” of Kōfuku Jitsugentō in relation to those of New Komeitō and “secular” political parties such as the Liberal Democratic Party (Jimintō 自民党) and the Democratic Party (Minshutō 民主党).
PL
W Japonii religia i polityka od dawna są ze sobą związane do tego stopnia, że często trudno oddzielić jedną rzeczywistości od drugiej. Najlepiej udowadnia to klasyczne, starożytne słowo japońskie na oznaczenie spraw państwa — matsurigoto 政 (dosłownie, roboty festiwalu), ponieważ zawiera w sobie „jedność kultu i władzy” (saisei itchi 祭政一致). Czasy przywrócenia epoki Meiji w 1868 roku przyniosły ze sobą odnowione połączenie religii i państwa pod pozorem Państwa Shinto. Natomiast klęska Japonii po 1945 roku wprowadziła znaczne zmiany zarówno prawne, jak i społeczne w kierunku zachodniego stylu rozdziału Kościoła od państwa. Towarzyszył temu stopniowy upadek tradycyjnych religii i wzrost popularności tak zwanych “nowych religii” (shin shūkyō 新宗教), z których wiele spróbowało wejść na arenę polityczną. Najlepszym i najbardziej znanym przykładem takiej politycznej nowej religii jest Sōka Gakkai 創価学会, świecki buddyjski ruch pierwotnie skojarzony z sektą Nichiren, który z kolei w latach sześćdziesiątych przekształcił się w nową partię polityczną Komeitō 公明党 (dosłownie. „Partia Czystej Władzy), będącą w ostatnich latach trzecią najpopularniejszą partią polityczną w Japonii, znaną jako Nowa Komeitō. Od lat osiemdziesiątych powstały również inne tak zwane “nowe, nowe religie” (shin shin shūkyō 新新宗教), które są lepiej zorientowane w technologii, a mniej zainteresowane sprawami społecznymi. W oczach wielu krytyków Nowa Komeitō, w przeciwieństwie do swoich poprzedników, jest jednak partią o charakterze zbliżonym do sekty. Jedna z nowej, nowej religii Kōfuku-no-Kagaku 幸福の科学 (dosłownie „Instytut do Badania nad Szczęściem Człowieka, lub po prostu Szczęśliwa Nauka), założona w 1986 przez Ōkawa Ryūho 大川隆法, została niedawno przekształcona w partię polityczną Kōfuku Jitsugentō 幸福実現党 (czyli Partia Realizacji Szczęścia). Artykuł jest próbą analizy ideałów politycznych Kōfuku Jitsugentō w stosunku do jej nauczania religijnego oraz próbą usytuowania tego ruchu w szerszym kontekście synkretyzmu polityczno-religijnego w Japonii. W szczególności skupia się na ostatnim manifeście Kōfuku Jitsugentō, porównując go do deklaracji innych partii świeckich, takich jak Nowa Komeitō, i innych świeckich partii politycznych, np. Partii Liberalno-Demokratycznej (Jimintō 自民党) i Partii Demokratycznej (Minshutō 民主党).
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