A New and Improved Whole Life Satisfaction Account of Happiness


Timsit, J. (2011). Forward on Project +. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1 (2), 195-196. 

doi:10.5502/ijw.v1i2.2 

 

Jean Timsit 

Franco American Charitable Trust 

jean.timsit@wanadoo.fr 
 

Copyright belongs to the author(s) 

www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 

195 

EDITORIAL  

 

Forward on Project + 
 

Jean Timsit 

 

 

This symposium on Felicitators contains the first collective output of an interdisciplinary group 

of wellbeing researchers invited to contribute and combine their efforts to synthesize and 

expand what can usefully be learned from the rapidly enlarging science of wellbeing. The two 

main goals of Project +, as the collective effort has been named, are: 

1) To produce a synthesis of what is known about the ways one can or cannot achieve 

human fulfillment, personal wellbeing and happiness, and  

2) To investigate the consequences of these findings at the collective level of countries or 

societies, including those at very different stages of material development. 

 

Project + researchers were invited to consider the following questions, amongst others: 

 How do recent discoveries and methodologies help answer very old and traditional 

questions relating to the ‚good life‛? 

 What are the paths to personal wellbeing, life satisfaction, contentment or happiness? 

 Which paths are counterproductive?  

 What are the conflicting forces in place, or contradictions, the ‚dark points‛?  

 What do we need more of? Less of?  

 Are current approaches delivering the expected progress for civilization? 

 Can sustainable paths to personal happiness be generalized to the societal level? 

 How can one balance the outside/in and the inside/out approach? 

 How might paths to personal happiness affect public policies?  

 How can we redefine ‚progress‛ and the goals of economic development? 

 How can we release the energies of altruism and generosity (rather than selfishness and 

carelessness)?  

 Could a clarified path towards wellbeing and happiness be the ‚missing link,‛ or the 

motivation, to challenge our contemporary way of life and allow a paradigm shift that 

might lead to a better world? 

 

Answers to these questions could provide a new framework for how decisions are made on 

many different levels – individual, collective, organizational, institutional and governmental. It 

would enable a person wishing to live a ‘good life’ to have a more precise idea of how to 

achieve it as well as enable policy makers, in education, health, government, and businesses, to 

make decisions that facilitate personal and social wellbeing instead of relying exclusively on a 

narrower range of objectives, often defined in purely material terms. 

The project reflects the perspectives of several different disciplines, and is based on 

dialogues among scientists who otherwise may not have the opportunity to work closely 

together. Multiple disciplines’ perspectives on happiness are represented, including 



 Forward on Project + 

 Timsit 

 

www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 196 

contemplative studies, religious studies, psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, 

ecology, history, philosophy, and neuroscience.  

The aim of the project is to use dialogues among experts to facilitate breakthroughs in how 

we think about happiness and what we have traditionally believed leads to happiness. Whereas 

these topics are often studied by isolated individuals, each working from a single perspective, 

Project + is unique in its emphasis on creating small-group collaborations for the purpose of 

generating new ideas about happiness. Too often the individuals who conduct basic science 

and/or who publish in philosophical or scientific journals do not share their knowledge across 

disciplinary boundaries, or with the general public, leaving to others the task of reaching 

practical conclusions and communicating them to a lay audience. An important aspect of 

Project + is its goal to share accessible, applicable models of happiness that protect the planet’s 

resources. 

These are complex and controversial topics, but bringing in the best of contemporary 

science and multi-disciplinary methodology offers an extraordinary opportunity to address 

some of the current challenges facing modern societies.  

 
Author 

Jean Timsit 

Franco American Charitable Trust