This HTML book was developed by the 2020 internship cycle at the Qualia Research Institute (QRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying consciousness and well-being. At QRI, we believe that by understanding the fundamental nature of experience, we can develop more effective strategies for increasing happiness and reducing suffering.
The book is broken down into various "camps" of a fictional future World Happiness Festival. It details how various approaches to happiness have emerged throughout history and where we're at currently.
Each chapter builds on the previous one; the strategies you pick up as you go along are additive and complementary rather than exclusionary.
Clusters of People: We think that a lot of people could be accurately described as belonging to a specific given camp. So one could think of each of these camps as clusters of people. Alas, clustering in the real world is rarely clean. We are not saying that each person belongs cleanly to a single cluster. But learning that a person has certain beliefs, attitudes, and participates in activities associated with a given camp increases the chances that such a person also has other characteristics of that camp. In other words, the properties of each camp are correlated with each other.
Worldviews: From another perspective, each camp can be viewed as expressing a worldview about the nature of happiness. The beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of each camp coalesce together to form a coherent picture.
Generators of Ideas: The worldview of each camp works to generate further beliefs, attitudes, and practices. So while casually picking and choosing strategies to increase happiness can be quite useful, mastering the core ideas behind the worldview of a given camp unlocks the ability to come up with novel and even customized practices that fit that worldview. Presenting each worldview by describing its core constituents is much akin to the old saying:
"Give a man a fish/carrot and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish/farm and he'll eat for the rest of his life".
In brief, you can think of these camps as either (1) clusters of people, (2) worldviews, or (3) generators of ideas. They are, in fact, all three at once.
May this be of benefit to you, your loved ones, and the world at large!