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Researchers Crown Buddhist Monk the World's Happiest Man
concealment writes in with a story about a man who has been crowned the world's happiest. "Tibetan monk and molecular geneticist Matthieu Ricard is the happiest man in the world according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin. The 66-year-old's brain produces a level of gamma waves — those linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory — never before reported in neuroscience. The scans showed that when meditating on compassion, Ricard's brain produces a level of gamma waves — those linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory — 'never reported before in the neuroscience literature,' Davidson said. The scans also showed excessive activity in his brain's left pre-frontal cortex compared to its right counterpart, giving him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity, researchers believe."
The psychological research on this is pretty clear (sorry no refs to hand). Below a threshold of income, happiness & material wealth are pretty tightly correlated. Above that threshold, however, the correlation drops rapidly to zero. What that threshold is is open to question - I believe some posit that the threshold is at subsistence level, others maintain its higher, perhaps higher even than median income levels. And of course, Matthieu Ricard, while he is provided with clothing & food, as a monk probably has no income or possessions (other than, traditionally, robes, begging bowls & a few ritual items).
Good talk on this.
http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html
Don't point that gun at him, he's an unpaid intern!