Which idol do you serve?

A free post

Life Intelligence exists thanks to the handful of paid subscribers who appreciate it. I hope you can be one of them, too. 😊

I am working through all the pictures from Lulu and my adventure in the last three days in the mountains and will publish them with my regular Wednesday post. Can’t wait to share and show you guys this magical place! Yes, it will be for paid subscribers only. Thank you guys!

I aim to optimize. It leads me on a fascinating path of discovering and re-discovering ideas, thinking and rethinking, and shifting and adjusting my understanding and practices. Of course, I'll stumble on Arthur Brooks and his research on happiness and well-living. You might have, too. If so, you may have found yourself in my shoes.

Today, I am noodling around the concept of the "four idols" and wondering which one is my number one. According to him, we all revere all four but are specifically attached to one above all. So, how about some Sunday self-exploration? It will contribute to your happiness, he says.

Why The Four Idols?

Historical Context: Brooks draws from classical philosophy, particularly Francis Bacon's "Four Idols," which describes common errors in reasoning.

Psychological Insights: Modern psychology supports the idea that these four areas (explained below) are common but flawed paths to happiness. They align with fundamental human desires but often lead people astray.

Personal and Observational Insights: Through his career and research, Brooks has observed that people frequently fall into these traps. In essence, these particular "idols" represent pervasive, yet often misguided, pursuits that many people believe will bring happiness.

Get to know your idols and find out which one is the #1 you absolutely can't live without. It matters because your primary idol is your primary focus. It influences your behavior, decisions, and overall well-being. Your primary idol often determines your goals and priorities, affects your interactions with others, and may harm your relationships. In addition, your identity is likely tightly bound to your primary idol, reflecting your deeper values and beliefs.

Money as your idol:
This is the belief that wealth and material success are the primary paths to happiness. This idol emphasizes financial achievements as the end-all-be-all of personal fulfillment. We equate wealth and success with happiness and contentment. Money solves all problems. Therefore, more is always better. Yet, numerous studies show that beyond a certain income level, additional wealth has a minimal impact on overall happiness.

Power as your idol:
Power promises control, influence, and status. People pursuing power need it to feel significant and secure, whether professionally, politically, or even socially.

Pleasure as your idol:
Folks bowing to pleasure seek sensory and hedonistic experiences as their highest good. It includes indulgence in food, drink, entertainment, sex, and other immediate gratifications. They consume and live it up even if they can't afford it.

Honor as your idol:
If honor is your idol, you seek recognition, fame, and social validation and focus on gaining approval and admiration from others as a key to self-worth. Social media and celebrity culture amplify this, making fame and honor appear as ultimate goals.

To find out which one you serve, scratch off the least important one for you. It should be obvious and easy. Repeat with the remaining three. The one left at the end is your primary one. Clearly, you had the hardest time giving it up.

Don't judge yourself. Consider this an opportunity for personal growth. Identifying your primary allows you to critically assess your motivations and potentially reorient your life toward more fulfilling pursuits. Just because you've always done what you've always done doesn't mean you couldn't change.

For example, realizing that pleasure is your main focus might encourage you to find a balance, incorporating more purposeful and long-lasting sources of happiness. If power motivates you above all, you may consider how this affects your relationships. If money motivates you, think of what you may be sacrificing to achieve more and if it is really what you need. If honor rules supreme, consider other more meaningful and lasting ways to get significance and feel validated.

I see everything as an equation. On one side, you add up the parts that make up the total on the other side. However, different factors can add up to the same outcome. Just like 1+4=5, so does 2+3. Can you get to the outcome you seek in better, more meaningful, personally enriching ways?

Research contests that these four "idols" are the best path toward happiness and contentment. Instead, science always points towards faith, family, friendships, and meaningful, purposeful pursuits as the most reliable paths to the highest life satisfaction.

Sadly, the four idols align well with fundamental human desires and societal values. We are wanting creatures, and we want things sooner than later, bigger than smaller, and more than less. It's not that we "can't get no satisfaction." We just can't keep it for long because what we have is never enough and we just don't know when to quit working, accumulating, and climbing the corporate and social ladder. We experience FOMO, socially compare ourselves not to ourselves in the past but to the richest and the most famous out there, and rely on external validation for self-worth.

Luckily, we also have tools and resources to help us transcend social conditioning and pressures, as well as our own instincts and inclinations. Yep, they are the usual ones: mindfulness, contemplation, meditation, journaling, counseling and therapy, community, supportive relationships, and plentiful education and information.

Notice how everything always leads to mindfulness? It's the Rome of emotional intelligence and the main ingredient in every happiness and better life recipe.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting my work. And thank you for the likes, comments, and shares!

Contact me if you need help figuring out your situation, relationships, priorities, plans, and purpose. I can help!

My services: www.valpetrova.com

Yours truly,

V