More excellence from Umair Haque in his recent post: Is a Well-Lived Life Worth Anything?

As ever, Umair is looking for betterness models and here, in the ancient greek word of Eudaimonia, he seems to have found a term that encompasses the concept of living well (“eu meaning ‘well’ and daimon - daemon, which refers to a sort of guardian spirit.”)  in a more profound manner than just simple happiness. Importantly…

“The multiplication of eudaimonia can be gauged neither by “GDP,” then, nor by tracking self-reported happiness, nor by basic, simple measures of basic human development, like the HDI — but rather, by understanding whether or not people are becoming their better, wholer, grittier, wiser, fundamentally more accomplished selves.”

This takes me back to Solitaire Townsend’s recent tweet “Don’t try to be happy, be passionate about something instead (it’s more likely to work).”

In contrasting the old order of ”hedonic opulence” with the new order of “eudaimonic prosperity” Umair continues his search for meaning and encourages us to do the same:

“…it’s about living meaningfully well. Its purpose is not merely passive, slack-jawed “consuming” but living: doing, achieving, fulfilling, becoming, inspiring, transcending, creating, accomplishing — all the stuff that matters the most. See the difference? Opulence is Donald Trump. Eudaimonia is the Declaration of Independence.”

“It’s a movement to do meaningful stuff that matters the most — and if you’re not part of it, well, the hard-nosed chance is: you’re kissing your future goodbye.” More betterness from Umair.