The past week has been filled with articles promising “simple” routes to happiness. One in particular - a Washington Post piece summarizing a six-year Cornell study - argues that helping others might be the shortest way to increased well-being. The idea is appealing: turn outward, contribute, and the psyche steadies.
Yet the argument also reveals a familiar pattern. We keep mistaking purpose for meaning. We assume that a good action explains itself, and that the feeling it produces is evidence of depth. The study is valuable, but the enthusiasm around it exposes a deeper tension in our culture: the impulse to treat happiness as a technique rather than an interpretation.
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