Michael J. Fox and the Gross National Happiness of Bhutan
A few weeks ago, I caught a glimpse of the Late Show with David Letterman, featuring actor Michael J. Fox, star of the television sitcom Family Ties and the blockbuster movie trilogy Back to the Future.
Michael J. Fox (born June 9, 1961) is a Canadian actor, author and voice over artist. His most famous roles include Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982–1989), for which he won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000), for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened. He has since become an advocate for research towards finding a cure.
In recent years, he has guest starred on various television shows and appeared as himself in his prime time special Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (A Personal Journey of Hope) in May 2009.
On the night I came across the Late Show with David Letterman, Michael J. Fox was one of David Letterman’s several guests on the show and he described details of his visit to Bhutan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan) and discussed some aspects of his visit that he thought were interesting and original.
During his conversation with David Letterman, Michael J. Fox talked about the “gross national happiness” of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
While watching the show, I realized my lack of information about this country of happiness and logged on to the wikipedia.org website to find out more about this small country in Asia.
Let me share some of what I have found out about Bhutan.
The Kingdom of Bhutan (pronounced /buːˈtɑːn/) is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by People’s Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by West Bengal. The Bhutanese call their country Druk Yul which means “Land of the Thunder Dragon”.
Bhutan used to be one of the most isolated nations in the world, but developments including direct international flights, the Internet, mobile phone networks, and cable television have increasingly modernized the urban areas of the country. Bhutan has balanced modernization with its ancient culture and traditions under the guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Rampant destruction of the environment has been avoided. The government takes great measures to preserve the nation’s traditional culture, identity and the environment. In 2006, Business Week magazine rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, citing a global survey conducted by the University of Leicester in 2006 called the “World Map of Happiness”.
Bhutan’s landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the Himalayan heights in the north, with some peaks exceeding 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). The state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism, and the population of 691,141 is predominantly Buddhist, with Hinduism being the second-largest religion. The capital and largest city is Thimphu. After centuries of direct monarchic rule, Bhutan held its first democratic elections in March 2008. Among other international associations, Bhutan is a member of the United Nations and theSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The total area of the country is currently 38,394 square kilometres (14,824 sq mi) which has been reduced from previous 47,000 square kilometres (18,000 sq mi) after a boundary re-demacaration by the Chinese government in the north.
Moving on…
As discussed in his new book “Always Looking Up”, Michael J. Fox strives to find out why some people are optimistic and why some people are optimistic and also how being hopeful and positive affects happiness and quality of life.
Truly, with his new book, Fox touches upon an incredibly important topic and he does this at a time when he is battling the effects of the infamous Parkinson’s Disease.
Admittedly, I could not help being very much affected by this humble, intelligent, funny, and simply larger-than-life actor and human being talking about his valuable experiences in Bhutan, while suffering from incontrollable bodily movements.
Clearly, Fox’s trip to Bhutan had made a lasting impression on the famous actor.
To recap, in the small country of Bhutan, the Gross National Product is replaced by Gross National Happiness.
According to an article in New York Times, the Bhutanese constitution clearly states that government programs should be judged by the happiness they bring rather than by the economic benefit. According to Bhutan’s Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, “Happiness is complete well-being…being content with what is and with what one has.”
In this case, talk is clearly not cheap because people of Bhutan clearly live by these principles. The people of Bhutan only do things that make them happy, not things that make them materially richer.
Fox has experienced this first hand when he discovered that being immersed in this pool of happiness actually diminished the effects of his Parkinson’s Disease. To his amazement, Michale J. Fox found out that he can even hike up a mountain without encountering any problems. The jerking motions that plague him dissipated in Bhutan and he simply felt better.
In an effort to understand optimism better, Fox reportedly consulted a scientist who has isolated a gene that predisposes one to optimism. Furthermore, it turns out that Fox is a carrier of this gene, a result that does not really surprise Fox’s fans.
In retrospect, “being content and happy with what it is and with what one has” is, indeed, the easiest and surest path to happiness. The people of Bhutan are, in fact, living by what the Sufi has practiced several centuries ago.
Indeed; after a certain minimum level, more of material gain bears no direct correlation to happiness. In fact, in the world we live in, there is an evident negative correlation between highly-increased material wealth and happiness.
Apparently, the free market economic system is a self-defeating mechanism as far as being happy is concerned.
The question is:
“Do you need to visit Bhutan in order to realize that all of your actions need to be determined according to how much and whether they contribute to your own gross personal happiness (GPH)?”
Thanks a lot, Mark, for the gorgeous essay and the information on the fact that there is a place in the world where peoples’ GNP is less important than their GNH. A couple of rhetorical questions and remarks need to be put though:
1. What does make Bhutanese people happy? (Being hopeful is certainly just an aspect of the total quality of life)
2. How do Bhutanese calculate their GNH?
3. Why should happiness be a good thing for there might be circumstances where you “should be” unhappy (for if you are unhappy about your terrible situation, you might be willing to “change” it (remembering the movie “Life is Beautiful” with Roberto Benigni?)
4. Elliot Aronson (a social psychologist) once wrote that people claim to be “happy” about certain negative situations particularly when it is impossible to change them (one of our kind’s major defense mechanisms).
5. I am not going to make the infamous Californian orange joke:))
Well I admit, I do not know much about Bhurma. Thanks a lot for the great note.
ODA