Sacramento Homeless blog

What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama At the end of his highly-regarded (by critics) and uber-mightily highly-regarded (by me) book in 2006, The Happiness Hypothesis , Jonathan Haidt [pronounced "hite," not "hate," btw. Who'd want to read a book on happiness by a guy named hate?, I ask you.] addresses the ultimate question:  What is the meaning of life, and answers it. A prime area of my recent homeless studies relate to happiness and meaning:  Two things that homeless folk have in short supply.  Because the book is four years old, I think it is OK to, sort of, give away the ending.  Indeed, since the book has been around (but is not dated!), I think it might re-arouse interest in the book to give away the ending.  The ending is in context of the chapters previous, so I've included links and footnotes to explain what Haidt is aluding to here and there. So, here it is, from near the end of The Happiness ...