The findings in the above-mentioned studies, and in many more, challenge the most fundamental conventions in our society. We are beginning to realize that the current equation of money = happiness is simply not true. Instead, the pursuit of wealth causes frustration, harms our health, and damages our relations with others by cultivating competition and self-centeredness. Our thinking is beginning to change from an individualistic and competitive one to one that is more balanced and harmonious with the environment and with others.
Our behavior as consumers, our attitude toward money, and the satisfactions ascribed to having money are all beginning to adjust themselves to the global and interconnected reality we live in, where we are all tied to one another, affecting one another like pieces in a global puzzle. In that system, which can be called “global-integral,” we are beginning to feel the emptiness of the values of consumerism and the pursuit of material goods. Those who do strive for them and believe that money means happiness are beginning to realize that the traditional methods to obtain that happiness are no longer working because the world has changed into a global-integral unit. For this reason, we cannot arrive at happiness if it is not tied to the happiness of others, and certainly not if it comes at others’ expense.