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In mid-March 2024, Daniel Kahneman flew from New York to Paris to unite with his wife and daughter. They spent days walking around the city, going to museums and the ballet, and savoring soufflés and chocolate mousse. Around March 22, Kahneman, who had turned 90 that month, also started emailing a personal message to several dozen of the people he was closest to.
On March 26, Kahneman left his family and flew to Switzerland. His email explained why: This is a goodbye letter I am sending friends to tell them that I am on my way to Switzerland, where my life will end on March 27.
Kahneman was one of the world’s most influential thinkers—a psychologist at Princeton University, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and author of the international blockbuster “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” first published in 2011. He had spent his long career studying the imperfections and inconsistencies of human decision-making. By most accounts—although not his own—Kahneman was still in reasonably good physical and mental health when he chose to die.
Why did he end his life? One friend said, “I think Danny wanted, above all, to avoid a long decline, to go out on his terms, to own his own death. Maybe the principles of good decision-making that he had so long espoused—rely on data, don’t trust most intuitions, view the evidence in the broadest possible perspective—had little to do with his decision.
Another friend said, “My best guess is he felt he was falling apart, cognitively and physically. And he really wanted to enjoy life and expected life to become decreasingly enjoyable. I suspect he worked out a hedonic calculus of when the burdens of life would begin to outweigh the benefits—and he probably foresaw a very steep decline in his early 90s.”
Source: Jason Zweig, “The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions,” The Wall Street Journal (3-14-25)
Work success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That’s the gist of an article in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Is This It?’ When Success Isn’t Satisfying.” The article states:
You got the job, won the award, launched the new project to accolades. So why don’t you feel better? “You get the title and it’s, like, ‘Ugh. Is this it?’” says Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who leads a study on how people thrive.
Sometimes, getting the thing is just as delicious as we imagine. Other times, we climb and climb, only to be underwhelmed by what we find at the top: more work, political wrangling, the feeling of being a fraud. Or the success high wears off fast, replaced by that old panic we hoped the accomplishment would finally cure. Then we wonder: Where’s the next win?
We’re all sprinting on what psychologists call a hedonic treadmill. That is, we might get a hit of joy when we achieve something, but we eventually return to our baseline level of happiness (or unhappiness). Whatever heights we reach, we’re still, well, us.
The article quotes a man named Andy Dunn who sold his clothing line to Walmart for $310 million. Mr. Dunn, now 44, spent years strategizing and fantasizing about such a sale but says it was a mirage. Building the company brought him more happiness, he says, than the eventual payout. Dunn said, “From the outside, people think, ‘Oh, my God, amazing, [but] I learned that those are just illusory things.”
Source: Rachel Feintzeig, “Is This It? When Success Isn’t Satisfying,” The Wall Street Journal (3-6-23)
Many adults under 35 have stopped playing it safe with money. Instead of banking as much of their pay as they used to, they’re saving less, spending more, and pursuing passion projects or risky careers. A recent study found that 45 percent of people aged 18 to 35 “don’t see a point in saving until things return to normal.”
One 27-year-old said she was prudent about almost everything until the end of last year, when she had an epiphany: “I don’t want to spend my life being so careful and cautious.” Another young adult cited the shaky state of the world. “I’m not going to deprive myself some of the comforts of life now for a future that feels like it could be ripped away from me at any moment … I’m going to spend my money now.”
Many younger adults say the isolation of pandemic life triggered the decision to enjoy the moment, no matter the financial consequences. For others, the motivation has come from worries over climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, domestic political instability, soaring inflation, through-the-roof housing costs, and a topsy-turvy stock market.
Source: Anna P. Kambhampaty, “The World’s a Mess So They’ve Stopped Saving for Tomorrow,” The New York Times (5-13-22)
Speaking to The Times, Richard Dawkins said he fears the removal of religion would be a bad idea for society because it would give people “license to do really bad things.” He likened the importance of a higher power informing our morality to the presence of surveillance cameras to prevent shoplifting, warning people would feel free to commit crimes if the need to obey the “divine spy camera in the sky, reading their every thought” was removed. He said, “People may feel free to do bad things because they feel God is no longer watching them.”
The Oxford University fellow recalled an experiment that had been set up in a University coffee shop by his former pupil, Melissa Bateson, at the University of Newcastle which allowed students to pay for their hot drinks via an “honesty box.” The price list was displayed on the wall and was decorated with either floral imagery or a pair of staring eyes depending on the week. Bateson published her findings in a paper, saying: “people paid nearly three times as much for their drinks when eyes were displayed.”
Dawkins concluded that “whether irrational or not, it does, unfortunately, seem plausible that if somebody sincerely believes God is watching his every move, he might be more likely to be good. I must say I hate that idea. I want to believe that humans are better than that. I'd like to believe I'm honest whether anyone is watching or not.”
Source: David Sanderson, “Ending religion is a bad idea, says Richard Dawkins,” The Times (10-5-19)
In writing his book, The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones, Rich Cohen had a unique insider’s access to Mick Jagger, one of the most famous rock n’ rollers of all time. But what struck Cohen the most was Jagger’s seeming lack of what we might call an inner core. Cohen writes:
When you interview Mick Jagger, you become aware of a strange phenomenon … As he talks, you look at your tape recorder and think, “I’m a fisherman catching wonderful things in my nets.” Every turn of phrase feels like a scoop summoned by your own trusting presence. But later, when those interviews are transcribed, you realize your nets are empty. Once again, the mythical beast has slipped away …
You want to peg him and walk away but can’t; so you keep listening forever. It’s a paradox … He’s among the most famous people in the world, but who is he really? Does anyone know? Does even he know?
Possible Preaching Angle: Emptiness; Fame; Worldliness – This interview highlights the emptiness of celebrity when combined with a life of hedonism. Ultimately this is what Jesus describes as one who “gains the whole world but loses his own soul” (Matt. 16:26).
Source: Rich Cohen, “The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones,” Spiegel and Grau (Random House, 2016), page 96
On an episode of the podcast Under the Skin with Russell Brand, actor and comedian Russell Brand explained his fear of atheism:
My fear of atheism is, that if there is nothing else, if this is all there is, the material, the mechanical, then why not individualism? Then why not materialism? Then why humanitarianism? It feels good because it’s nice to be nice to people. But for me, without some sense of a deeper truth, for me there’s only hedonism, there’s only indulgence.
Source: Russell Brand, “Is There Any Point With God?,” Under the Skin Podcast (07/26/2017)
Celebrity chef, writer, and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, who wore a tattoo on his arm that read in ancient Greek, "I am certain of nothing," committed suicide on June 8, 2018, at the age of 61. In an interview for Men's Journal from 2014, Bourdain was asked: What are the benefits of hedonism, and what are the risks?
Bourdain replied, "Look, I understand that inside me there is a greedy, gluttonous, lazy, hippie—you know? I understand that. … there's a guy inside me who wants to lay in bed, and smoke weed all day, and watch cartoons, and old movies. I could easily do that. My whole life is a series of stratagems to avoid, and outwit, that guy. … I'm aware of my appetites, and I don't let them take charge."
When asked: How should a man handle regret? And what's your biggest regret?
Bourdain replied, "Regret is something you've got to just live with, you can't drink it away. You can't run away from it. You can't trick yourself out of it. You've just got to own it. I've disappointed and hurt people in my life, and that's just something I'm going to have to live with. … You eat that guilt and you live with it. And you own it. You own it for life."
Source: Sean Woods, "Anthony Bourdain on Writing, Hangovers, and Finding a Calling," Men's Journal (2014)
Four psychologists did a study of notable quotations from famous people around the world about the meaning of life. The study analyzed the quotes of 195 men and women who lived within the past few hundred years. Here's a summary of the major themes and some of the people representing each theme:
Source: Richard Kinnier, Jerry Kernes, Nancy Tribbensee, Christina Van Puymbroeck; The Journal of Humanistic Psychology (Winter 2003)
I used to believe in God. The Christian one that is. I loved Jesus. He was my hero.
[But later on] I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God—what a relief for a working-class mother …. I was happily drawing my hero [Jesus] when my big brother Bob asked, "Why do you believe in God?" Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. "Bob," she said in a tone that I knew meant, "Shut up." Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong, it didn't matter what people said.
Oh … hang on. There is no God. [My brother] knows it, and [my mom] knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.
Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world …. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.
Source: Ricky Gervais, "Ricky Gervais: Why I'm an Atheist," The Wall Street Journal (12-19-10)