Dr. Sayed Abdul Muneem Pasha

Said Nursi’s Thought: Its Relevance for the Twenty-First Century

Prof. Dr. Leo D. Lefebure

Faith, Reason, and Science in the Modern World: The Contributions of Karl Rahner and Said Nursi

Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel

Sciences and the Scientific Approach in the Risale-i Nur

Prof. Dr. Michael J. Lenaghan

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in a Pluralistic World: Channel of Truth, Peace, Sustainable Change!

Prof. Dr. Norton Mezvinsky

Nursi, Schneerson and Ginzburg

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Materialism, Hedonism, Spirituality, and Subjective Well-Being: The Findings of an Empirical Study of Nursi's Readers

Dusmamat Karimov

The Ninth International Nursi Symposium, The Risale-i Nur: Knowledge, Faith, Morality and the Future of Humanity

Lina Stas

Globalization and Risale-i Nur

Hüseyin KURT

Towards Global Islam: Risale-i Nur Approach

Dr. Zubair Hudawi

Indian Muslims and the Secular-Religious Dilemma: Seeking Solutions from Teachings of Said Nursi

Prof. Dr. Eron Manusov - Dr. Furkan Aydıner - Materialism, Hedonism, Spirituality, and Subjective Well-Being: The Findings of a from Barla Platformu on Vimeo.

MATERIALISM, HEDONISM, SPIRITUALITY, AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING:

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF RISALE-I NUR READERS

Furkan Aydiner[1], Ph.D.,

Director of Neuroeconomics and Well-being Study, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Eron Manusov, M.D,

Associate Professor, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Abstract

Since the Enlightenment, particularly in the West, the quest for happiness has been mainly through material consumption. Even though global capitalism has been successful to produce more wealth, a large volume of studies reveal that more wealth and more consumption have not increased human happiness. Said Nursi believed that the failure to achieve happiness is due to the adherence to hedonic and materialist values at the expense of spiritual and moral values. He linked the success of RN to its different approach to happiness. In his terms, “the Risale-i Nur (RN) demonstrates that in misguidance is a sort of Hell in this world, while in belief is sort of a Paradise.” The RN points to the grievous pains in sins, bad deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and proves that in good deeds and virtues and the truths of the Shari‘a are to be found pleasures like the pleasures of Paradise.” Is Said Nursi correct that pleasures of Paradise, or true happiness, is more likely attained with a life that focuses on good deeds, virtues and the truths of Shari’a result in happiness? The purpose of this empirical study is to answer this question.

Method

We designed and conducted a comprehensive internet-based electronic survey among 1523 Risale-i Nur (RN) readers. In total, 489 individuals (32%) responded to the survey. However, those who failed to respond to the fifty percent or more of the questions were dropped. In total, the responses of 341 individuals were assessed. The RN readers were divided into three levels based on their frequency of reading of the RN and involvement in relevant activities. The survey was designed to capture the values/goals of RN readers and their subjective well-being through over 100 questions. The survey included the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Social Well-Being Scale, and the Aspiration Index as well as additional items that queried three additional domains of intellectual life, honesty and fairness, and aesthetical life.

Results

The study reveals that the more participants read the RN, the more they report the value of spirituality, fairness and honesty, family and friendship, intellectual activities, personal growth, aesthetics experience, conformity, altruism, and health. Conversely, the more they read the RN, the less they value hedonic pleasures, popularity and fame, money and material gains, image making, and fear and anxiety. Using the globally well-accepted Satisfaction with Life Scale, the study finds that 62 percent of the beginner, 82 percent of the intermediate, and 93 percent of the advanced group members of RN readers are satisfied with their life. This is much higher than the average life satisfaction of 54 percent measured by TSI in 2010 for the adult Turkish population. Even when we analyze the SWB scores based on the world life satisfaction scale, we found that the beginners report a higher level of satisfaction while the intermediate and advanced groups report the highest level of life satisfaction.

For the advanced group, spiritual, intellectual and emotional pleasures are regarded as most important to their level of life satisfaction. If pleasures can be viewed as a pleasure pyramid where the least form a base and the greatest are at the tip of pyramid, the spiritual, intellectual and emotional pleasures would be the peak of the pyramid.

The study concludes that the advancement in reading RN collection substantially increases people’s life satisfaction and needs fulfillment.

Introduction

Throughout history, people are united in their search for happiness even though the paths they take vary significantly. Since the Enlightenment, particularly in the West, the quest for happiness has been mainly through material consumption. As Jeremy Bentham the English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer stated ”the goal for human beings is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.” Capitalist ideology provides a calculator in order to assist people making estimates toward maximizing their utility through material consumption. The simple formula for happiness is defined as follows: the more you consume, the happier you will be. Indeed, the global market economy based on capitalist ideology has been very successful to produce more wealth and to give more opportunity to people to consume. However, as discussed later, many studies reveal that more wealth and more consumption have not increased human happiness as promised by capitalist ideology.

Perhaps, the main flaw in the materialistic happiness model is its perception of wealth, bodily satisfaction, and sensuous pleasure being either the sole, or the greatest source of happiness. It ignores or sometime denies intellectual and spiritual pleasures. Therefore, those who embrace materialistic values seek happiness through material possession and consumption instead of spiritual experience. However, some studies found that, paradoxically, the more materialistic a person is, the less happy he or she is. They conclude that once basic needs such as food and shelter are met, increase in income has very little impact on happiness.

Despite the failure of materialism to bring happiness, the globalization of consumer culture and materialistic values is rapidly displacing traditional spiritual values. Indeed,  those values are spreading like a cancer consuming the systems upon which all life depends. Materialism, which might be considered as a secular religion, will soon captivate everyone around the world to its tenants. Many people believe that believe that having more wealth and material consumption is essential, if not the only way, for a happy life. To scholars of the RN,   they are stuffing their houses, yards, cars, and body, while emptying their souls.

As discussed later, the empirical studies in the West on materialism and subjective well-being clearly indicate that intrinsic values, not extrinsic ones make people happier. Unfortunately, we do not have such studies for Muslim societies. This study will be one of the first of its kind conducted on Muslim group capturing 15 different domains of their life experience. The study is designed to reveal the picture of inner world for Muslims and compare it with the relevant studies in the West. The study provides empirical evidence regarding the impact of Islamic values compared to materialistic and hedonic values on subjective well-being. The survey data is used to test a comprehensive theory of human nature and happiness model from an Islamic perspective. It has a great potential to explain whether Islam could provide authentic happiness to humanity in this life.

In short, the quest for happiness is not particular to any culture or society. It is a universal one. Perhaps, human history is the history of the pursuit of happiness in a variety of different ways. However, despite this persistent search, happiness is still something missing, at least for many people. The global market economy based on materialistic values has been successful in a few sources of happiness such as health, wealth, and quality of work in the last century. However, other sources of happiness such as family relationships, security, spirituality, and trust have diminished (Aydin 2010). This study is an attempt to examine a happiness model proposed by a Muslim scholar to see whether it helps to achieve more happiness with less/moderate consumption.

Brief History of Happiness

Since the ancient Greek philosophers, happiness has been a major discussion topic. Plato (428–347 B.C.) wrote a series of dialogues covering Socrates. In selected excerpts from the Plato’s Republic, Socrates is challenged to defend his idea that a life of injustice leads to unhappiness, while living justly results in happiness (Plato and Lee 1974). Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), a student of Plato, in The Nicomachean Ethics, developed the view of happiness as a life activity in accord with virtue and contemplation of scientific and philosophical truths. He argued that people pursue sensual pleasure, the pleasure of honor, and intellectual pleasure in their lives. Seneca (3 B.C.–A.D. 65), a Roman philosopher, argued that happiness requires living in accord with reason, putting aside desires and fears, and being dutiful.

Saint Augustine (354–430), a Christian theologian, argued that the happy person possesses wisdom that comes from God. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a great theologian and philosopher of the medieval period, argued that the greatest happiness cannot be found in bodily pleasures, honors, wealth, power, glory, or even moral actions. Rather, it can be found in the contemplation of God.

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), a founding figure in English moral and political philosophy, argued that individuals driven by self-interest will fail to reach happiness if there is no effective government. David Hume (1711–1776), one of the most influential philosophers, argued that life is governed more by chance than by reason; therefore, we should not expect a perfect correlation between virtue and happiness. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), also a preeminent figure in the history of philosophy, argued that the existence of God cannot be proved but needs to be postulated in order to ensure a correlation between morality and happiness. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), German philosopher, argued that we live in the worst of all possible worlds, and all happiness is but an illusion.

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1822), the father of capitalist consumer theory, argued that the goal for human beings is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain (Bentham 2007). He developed a “utility calculator” in order to assist people making estimates toward maximizing their utility through material consumption. The simple formula in his happiness model is defined as follows: the more you consume, the happier you will be. John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), a leading British philosopher of 19th century, argued that pleasures differ qualitatively. In his words, “it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a fool satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied” (Mill and Crisp 1998, p.57).

More recently, while psychologists analyze the sources of human satisfaction, economists use happiness data to retest old assumptions about consumer preferences and utility maximization. They have used subjective well-being data to measure the non-pecuniary effects of unemployment (Clark et al. 1994; Darity Jr and Goldsmith 1996, 121), to study the relationship between happiness and economic growth(Kenny 1999, 3), to measure the effects of political institutions (Frey & Stutzer, 2000), and to study the non-monetary effect of crime (Powdthavee 2005, 531-547) on well-being. Over the last decade, there has been a growing interest among economists in the analysis of subjective well-being data. Indeed, a recent study examining ECONLIT from 1960 to 2006 found that 61% of publications on subjective well-being have appeared since 2000 (Clark, Frijters, and Shields 2008, 95).

The results of these studies report on the negative impact of materialistic (or extrinsic) values on subjective well-being. For example, extrinsically oriented teenagers, college students, and adults report lower rates of self-actualization and positive experience, along with higher rates of depression, anxiety, narcissism, and substance abuse. (Kasser T and Ryan RM 1993, 410-22; Kasser and Ryan 1996, 280; Kasser 2002; Sheldon KM and Kasser T 1995, 531-43; Williams et al. 2000, 1756) The opposite was found for intrinsically oriented people. (Richins and Dawson 1992, 303; Sirgy 1998, 227-260). They argue that, compared to those who are low in materialism, those who are high in materialism have an underlying feeling of insecurity, poor interpersonal relationships, and a low or contingent sense of self-esteem. Also, those who are high in materialism tend to ignore psychological need-satisfying behaviors, such as social engagement and affiliation (Duriez B et al. 2006, 2892-2908). They argue that intrinsic values for self-acceptance, affiliation, and community feeling increase psychological well-being while extrinsic values for material success, fame and image experience decrease personal well-being.

Global Happiness Crisis[2]

With the fall of socialist regimes at the end of last century, the free market capitalism, which started in Europe a few centuries ago, has become the dominant system across the world. The system has provided an unprecedented level of production and consumption to the people of developed countries through increasing productivity and efficiency in the use of limited resources. Capitalist countries have gone through industrial, communication and information revolutions to generate enormous wealth. It is fair to say that most people around the world benefit from the material gains despite the unfair distribution of wealth. People are better off compared to those who lived a century ago in terms of material possessions. Particularly in the developed countries, there have been dramatic changes in the real income per capita, which is the best indicator of the purchasing power. In other words, people now could purchase and consume much more than what they were able to do few decade ago. However, this material gain has not translated into happiness.

            It was Easterlin (1974) who first came up with some quantitative signs of the happiness crisis in capitalism. In his study which covered the years between1946-1970, he found that despite a great increase in the real income per capita, there was not a significant change in subjective well-being. He later completed a similar study for Japan and found that the average self-reported happiness level did not increase in Japan between 1958 and 1987 despite a fivefold increase in real income. Since this study, we have seen a surge in studies on happiness. Most of them confirm Easterlin’s findings in terms of the impact of monetary wealth on happiness. A recent study shows that the case is not quite different for China which has been experimenting with consumer culture for the last two decades. The study found that remarkable economic growth from 1994 to 2005, with real income per capita increase of 250 percent, ownership of color television sets rose from 40 percent of households to 82 percent, and the number of people with a telephone jumped from 10 percent to 63 percent. Yet, this did not translate into higher life satisfaction. Rather, the percentage of people who say they are dissatisfied has increased, and the percentage who says they are satisfied has decreased (Kahneman and Krueger 2006, 3-24).

In the last few decades, real income per capita has doubled or even tripled in many developed countries. Goods and services which are available to a poor person now were not available to kings a few centuries ago. However, paradoxically, the increase in wealth and consumption has not brought more happiness to people. For instance, in the U.S., according to subjective well-being surveys, people have not seen any positive change in their level of subjective wellbeing even though their real income per capita has tripled  since 1960 (Myers 2000). In other words, for an American, the ability to purchase car, refrigerator, washing and drying machines or going to restaurants have tripled since then. On the other hand, the divorce rate has doubled, the youth suicide rate has tripled, and the number of depressed people has increased ten fold (Newsweek 2002). In short, people in the developed countries are not happier. Actually, they are experiencing a growing “happiness crisis”. Significant increases in stress, suicide, crime, alcohol and drug use, and depression are an indication of this happiness crisis. In the happiness literature, this is known as “progress paradox” (Easterbrook 2003) or the “American paradox” (Myers 2000). Perhaps, it is better to call it a “capitalist paradox”, because it is not limited to the United States. It is common across all developed capitalist countries. It is like a growing “tsunami” destroying human happiness despite enormous increase in material consumption.

In short, wealthy capitalist nations are currently experiencing a serious “happiness crisis”. It is spreading around the world with the globalization of capitalism. Actually, it is more dangerous for capitalism than the recent financial crisis because of its complexity. There are many studies presenting evidences for the existence of the happiness crisis without delving into its root causes (Lane 2000). In other words, they are discussing symptoms without diagnosing the disease.

A New Theory of Human Nature[3]

We suggest that a major shortcoming of existing happiness theories emanates from a misinterpretation of human nature. Navigating a path to happiness requires a journey through consciousness and an understanding of what we refer to as the human “Inner Universe”. Since ancient Greece, many philosophers and scholars have argued that it is impossible for any person to reach authentic, pure, and lasting happiness without becoming aware of the key elements of the inner universe and knowing how to utilize the elements that lie within that universe. Jonathan Haidth, the author of the Happiness Hypothesis, emphasizes the importance of understanding human nature when he writes, “I realized why modern philosophy seemed sterile: it lacked a deep understanding of human nature... only by knowing the kinds of beings what we actually are, with the complex mental and emotional architecture that we happen to possess, can anyone even begin to ask about what would count as a meaning of life” (Haidt 2005, p.205)

By human nature, we mean the common universal elements shared by humanity. It does not matter whether human nature is shaped by God, nature, or nurtured by society. It is the fact that we all have similar biological needs like food, water, oxygen, etc. While types of food may vary from culture to culture, the need for food is common across all cultures. Similarly, we all experience sensual, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual need because of the universality of our nature. Although methods to satisfy these needs vary among cultures, existence of the needs is shared by all human beings. For instance, every human being has the capacity to love and the desire to be loved. It is only the objects of love and values surrounding the concept that differs across cultures.

Since the time of Plato, Epicurus, Socrates and other Greek philosophers, there have been many explorations of the “Inner Universe” in the Eastern and Western worlds. In the Twentieth Century, Carl Jung (1980) tried to define the collective unconscious of humanity through what he called archetypes. Jung argued that we all are connected with our fellow humans and with nature through this collective unconscious. In this regard, Jung’s archetypes are like a big ocean that connects individual islands of human society.

Established on the writings of preceding Muslim scholars such as Al-Ghazalli (2007) and Rumi (2004), Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960) developed a comprehensive theory of human nature (1996c; 1996a; 1996b). Even though Nursi uses a palace as a metaphor for human body and residents as human faculty, we would like to use a recreational vehicle (RV) and its residents as metaphors which include King, Judge, Dog, Adviser, and Guard. The King is the spiritual heart that is the source of love and inspirational knowledge. The Judge is the conscience that is the source of positive feelings after performing “good things” and negative feelings experienced after doing “bad things”. The Adviser is the mind. The Dog is the animal spirit, which is the source of animalistic desires. The Guard is the ego (or self) that gives us feelings of possession, power, and control.

Nursi’s Happiness Model

In Nursi’s view, it is not possible for a person to talk about “happiness” in the singular form because there are many “residents” (selves) who are competing within the human “vehicle”. In this sense, “I” takes the plural form and one could not start with “I” to express the view or desires of a plural entity. One needs to identify for whom they are speaking when they say, “I am happy.” Do we mean the Dog, the King, the Judge, the Adviser, or the Guard? Of course, we could make a collective statement on behalf of all the residents if they all experiencing the same level of happiness. In this regard, happiness is not a destination; it is experience on the highway of life. Therefore, we need know the way of happiness for the residents of the human vehicle on this highway. Nursi’s view of human happiness could be summarized in the form of a happiness matrix as shown below.

Happiness Matrix for the Residents of Human Vehicle

The happiness matrix above captures five different dimensions of the human experience as represented by the residents of the vehicle. For instance, happiness for the King depends on how one fulfills the needs/desires of love, compassion and inspiration. Love pursues beauty, perfection and benefits. Life for the King in this regard is a journey of making attachments. The number, intensity, and duration of attachments produce spiritual or esthetical pleasures. As the King gains pleasure by making attachments through love, compassion, and inspiration, he also suffers from any detachments that occur. Like the King, each resident of the human vehicle experiences pains and/or pleasures from daily activities. Therefore, if we follow Nursi’s understanding of human nature, we should define happiness as a function of subjective well-being for all residents in the matrix as shown below:

H = f (King(K), Judge(J), Adviser(A), Dog(D), Guard (G))

This implies that authentic happiness is possible if individuals listen to the voices of all residents of the human vehicle and try to fulfill their needs and desires in a balanced manner. One cannot achieve true happiness by listening to only one resident while disregarding the others. By knowing each resident in terms of their needs, desires, and dangers an individual can attempt to find that balance. In many ways, the residents of our body are quite similar to the members of a family living in the same house. As the entire family’s peace and happiness is possible if each family member lives in peace and prosperity, the inner peace of a person is also possible if each resident of his vehicle lives in peace and prosperity. Making one family member happy and leaving the rest of the family in misery is not true happiness for the family. Likewise, making one resident of the human vehicle happy, but neglecting the others, is a recipe for discontent. Therefore, it is important to define the happiness function for each resident separately as shown below: 

K = f (love, faith, sharing, caring, meditation)

J = f (treatment of/by others)

A= f (learning, reasoning, contemplating)

D = f (eating, drinking, sleeping, sex)

G = f (images, power, awareness)

In order to achieve overall happiness, each resident’s happiness should be considered. Prioritizing the needs and desires of residents in case of scarcity and conflict allows harmony. For instance, if we spend too much time earning money for sensual pleasure, we will have less time left for pursuing other pleasures. Furthermore, things that give pleasure to one resident might be painful for the other. For instance, drinking too much alcohol might create sensual pleasure, but it kills intellectual pleasure. Thus, overall happiness requires effort to balance the need and desires of all residents.

Our study is designed on the conceptual and theoretical framework of Nursi’s spiritual happiness model. We would like to test his view that the materialistic happiness model partially recognizes human nature while the spiritual happiness model relies on comprehensive understanding of human nature. 

Why Nursi?

Why Nursi’s happiness model? It could offer an alternative way of happiness to those who are trapped in the “Hedonic treadmill.” While materialism attempts to fulfill sensual desires of human beings through conspicuous consumption, Nursi suggests a happiness model through moderate material consumption and spiritual nourishment. He also provides means to control sensual desires. He thinks that it is necessary to be freed from material desires in order to develop our spiritual dimension. He believes that we are spiritual beings sent to this materialistic world to find and reach the Divine, not to live an animal form of life. Therefore, spiritual development is the essential goal for a practicing Muslim who is supposed to detach his/her heart from all material attachments and adhere to the Divine. In Nursi’s view, although happiness is not life’s purpose for a Muslim, it is the byproduct of his spiritual journey.

Nursi challenged consumer culture with his writings and Sufi type life style. He argued that "absolute vice" was being called civilization and he was severely critical of this "dissolute civilization" which promotes a consumer culture. He says that it casts humanity down to the level of animals: "... its alluring service is to excite lust and the appetites of the soul and facilitate the gratification of whims, and their result is vice.”The mark of lust and passion is always this: they transform man into a beast, changing his character; they deform him, perverting his humanity."(Nursi, The Words, p. 745).

Nursi refers to the civilization based on Abrahamic tradition as a“virtuous civilization” because it takes all man's subtle faculties into account, causes him to progress spiritually, and to rise higher than even the angels.[4] For virtuous civilization, Nursi says: "Its aim is virtue instead of self-interest ... Its service takes the form of guidance and direction instead of lust and passion. And the mark of guidance is progress and prosperity in ways befitting humanity; "The spirit is illumined and perfected in the way it requires" (The Words, p. 745-6). In Nursi's view, dissolute civilization looks on life as a sort of amusement and makes the world into a “theme park.” It tries to gratify people's instinctual souls through entertainment of all sorts. It is because of this that whenever they can, its pupils organize gatherings for fun and want to experience carnal pleasures of every kind. Where dissolute civilization amuses the instinctual soul, virtuous civilization gratifies the spiritual subtle faculties, and chiefly the heart, affording happiness.

Hypotheses

In his answer to a question asked by many on the secret for the success of RN, Nursi says that “the Risale-i Nur demonstrates that in misguidance is a sort of Hell in this world, while in belief is a sort of Paradise.” It points out the grievous pains in sins, bad deeds, and forbidden pleasures, and proves that in good deeds and virtues and the truths of the Shari‘a are to be found pleasures like the pleasures of Paradise. In this way it saves the sensible among those who have fallen into vice and misguidance”[5] He also argues that this is the only effective way to save people from the contemporary temptation: “Since man’s emotions, which are blind to the consequences of things and prefer an ounce of present pleasure to tons of future joys, have prevailed over his mind and reason, the only way to save the dissolute from their vice is to show them the pain present in their pleasure and to defeat their emotions. Although they are aware of the diamond-like bounties and pleasures of the hereafter, as the verse (they deem lovable the life of this world (Qur'an, 14:3)) indicates, while being believers, the people of misguidance choose worldly pleasures, which are like pieces of glass soon to be shattered. The only way of saving them from this love of the world and from the danger of surrendering to it is by showing them the hell-like torments and pains they suffer even in this world. This is the way the Risale-i Nur takes.”[6]

Nursi further argues that it is no longer possible to affect people’s behaviors by reminding the reward and punishment of the hereafter. “For at this time, due to the stubbornness arising from absolute unbelief and the intoxication caused by the vice and misguidance arising from science, perhaps only one in ten or even twenty can be induced to give up his evil ways by proving the existence of Hell and its torments, after having told him of Almighty God. Having heard this, such people are likely to say: “God is Forgiving and Compassionate, and Hell is a long way off,” and continue in their debauchery. Their hearts and spirits are overcome by their emotions. Thus, by showing through most of its comparisons the grievous and terrible results in this world of disbelief and misguidance, the Risale-i Nur makes even the most stubborn and arrogant people feel disgust at those inauspicious, illicit pleasures, leading them to repent.” Nursi makes a very bold argument in the same book: “those who follow vice and misguidance, suffer a hellish torment in this world too, while through the manifestations of belief, the believers and righteous may taste through the stomachs of Islam and humanity the pleasures of Paradise. They may benefit according to the degree of their belief.”[7]

This study is an empirical test of Nursi’s happiness model and arguments above. Nursi’s argument could be reformulated in the form of hypotheses as follows:

·         Hypothesis 1: Happiness is measurable in terms of pleasures, positive feelings, and overall satisfaction and can be related to the fulfillment of human needs. The higher level pleasures will result in a greater, longer lasting life satisfaction.

ü  Specific Aim 1:  To modify the Aspiration Index to identify domains of human experience as they relate to a hierarchy of pleasures.

ü  Specific Aim 2: To correlate the pyramid model of pleasures to a greater sense of well-being and life satisfaction.

·         Hypothesis 2: RN readers are well informed about the undesired consequence of materialist, hedonic, egoistic values.

ü  Specific Aim 1: To measure the success of RN readers in terms avoiding hedonic and materialist life styles.

ü  Specific Aim 2: To measure the correlation between intrinsic and extrinsic values and subjective well-being for different groups of RN readers.

·         Hypothesis 3: RN readers gain comprehensive understanding of human nature and human needs. As they read RN, they are involved in more spiritual, intellectual, and social activities. Therefore, they are expected to have greater life satisfaction.

ü  Specific Aim 1: To measure the change in need fulfillment for the different groups of RN readers in order to see whether advancement in reading of RN results in the greater fulfillment of needs.

ü  Specific Aim 2: To measure the level of subjective well-being among RN readers comparatively to see whether advancement in reading of RN increase the level of subjective well-being as suggested by Nursi.

Research Design

The survey was conducted in Summer 2010 among 1523 Risale-i Nur[8] (RN) readers using Vovici, an online survey tool. The emails of participants were provided by Istanbul Science and Culture Foundation, a foundation with the mission of promoting Said Nursi’s views. The Foundation collected email addresses from the RN readers during its past activities. Participants were NOT asked to provide any personal information such as names, address, and phone number. They were told that their responses would be kept anonymous. In total, 489 individuals (32%) responded to the survey. However, those who failed to respond to the fifty percent or more of the questions were dropped. In total, the responses of 341 individuals were assessed. The demographic profile of the respondents is very much in line with the known profile of RN readers. Even though the number of females is one fourth of the participants, the sub-sample of women is sufficient to conduct a gender analysis. Overall, the response rate and the sample size are considered high compared to other web-based surveys[9]

The survey consists of three sections. The first section includes 13 questions about demographic information, such as gender, age, level of education, household income, and marital status, the frequency  of RN and the number of time of reading of the entire RN collection and participating in the relevant activities. The second section includes 86 questions aimed to capture the frequency of certain activities within 14 life domains using 9-point Likert-type scale (the choices given range from almost never (1) to almost always (9)). This section reproduces the well-known Aspiration Index. The Aspiration Index captures eleven domains of human experience that include self-acceptance, affiliation, community feeling, money, image, popularity, spirituality, hedonism, conformity, security, and health. Our survey adds three more domains, namely intellectual life, honesty and fairness, and aesthetics experience. The life domains, number of questions per domain, and an exemplary question per domain are presented in the table below:

The third section of the survey captures three sets of questions on life satisfaction, needs, and pleasures. The first set includes five questions of the Satisfaction with Life Scale developed by Ed Diener and colleagues to measure life satisfaction. The second set includes ten questions on the satisfaction of certain needs. The third set asks participants to rank ten pleasure types in terms of their contribution to happiness, ranking from the lowest (1) to highest (10) based on the degree and intensity of their contributions.

The questionnaire was validated with senior researchers in the field of well-being, including the author of the Aspiration Index. The questions measuring the profile of RN readers were shared with several experts on Nursi’s works. Many questions were modified based on feedback from the experts.

Data Analysis and Results

Profile of Participants by Levels

For comparison, the participants were divided into three subgroups based on their responses to the following questions: (1) the number of times they read the entire RN collection; (2) the number of pages per day they read from the RN collection; (3) the number of RN study circle they attend per week; (4) the number of times they recite long dhikr (tasbihaat) after five daily prayers; and (5) the number of years they have studied the RN collection. The level of participants was determined based on the weighted scores of their responses to the questions above. The weighting factor was 30 percent for the questions 1 and 2, 15 percent for the questions 3 and 4, and 10 percent for the question 5. The weighted score is 0 to 1.5 point for the beginner; 1.5 to 4.1 points for the intermediate; and 4.1 points and above for the advanced level. 

The beginners, on average, read RN collection less than one time. They rarely read the RN and recite tasbihaat. They generally attend one RN study circle per a week. They have known RN for up to 4 years. The individuals at the intermediate level, on average, have read RN collection 1-3 times; read up to five pages of RN per day; recite tasbihaat few times per day; attend 2 weekly RN study circles per week; and have known RN for 4-12 years. The individuals at the advanced level, on average, have read RN collection 7 or more times; read 10-15 or more pages from RN collection every day; recite tasbihaat regularly after daily prayers; attend 3-5 weekly RN study circles per week; and have known RN for 13 years or more. As is expected from the  factors used to define the RN reader’s levels, the beginners are relatively young and less educated compared to the other two groups. The three groups are otherwise comparable as demonstrated in the table below.

                        Table: Demographic Information for the RN Readers by Levels

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Values and Subjective Well-being

The second section of the survey is based on the well-known Aspiration Index. The questions were designed to capture the values and goals of individuals within 14 different domains. This measurement allows for the assessment of the relative centrality of particular goals/values within an individual's personal goal/value system. In our survey, we measured the importance of goals/values based on the frequency of occurrence of relevant activities. We consider this as an indirect and more reliable measure of personal goals/values.

To measure the relative importance of each value/goal within the entire value/goal system, we conducted the following steps: First, we calculated the mean score for each value domain by taking the average ratings of relevant questions. Second, we calculated the mean of 14 domain scores to find the total importance of values/goals for an individual. Third, to find the relative importance an individual place on each type of aspiration, we subtracted the total importance score (the mean score of 14 domains) from each of the 14 raw subscale scores. This gives us 14 different mean-corrected importance scores, one for each type of aspiration.  We also calculated a summary intrinsic score by averaging the 7 intrinsic mean-corrected importance scores (spirituality, honesty, affiliation, intellectual life, personal growth, aesthetics experience, altruism) and a summary extrinsic score by averaging the 4 extrinsic mean-corrected importance scores (hedonism, popularity, money, and image). 

The results by for each level of RN readers are presented in the two tables below. Table 2 shows the domains with positive mean-corrected scores while Table 3 shows the domains with negative mean-corrected scores. As seen in Table 2, spirituality, fairness and honesty, affiliation, intellectual activities, self-acceptance and personal growth, aesthetics experience, conformity, community feeling, and physical health have positive mean-corrected scores. The mean score for all of goal/value domains mentioned are consistently higher for higher levels of RN readers. In other words, the more they read RN and are involved in relevant activities, the greater importance they place on these goals/values in their life.

Table 2: Life Domains with Positive Aspiration Index Scores

As seen in Table 3, hedonism, popularity and fame, money, image, security and fear have negative mean-corrected scores for all three levels of RN readers. Again, the negative scores are consistently greater for higher levels of RN readers. In other words, the more they read RN, the lesser importance they place on these goals/values. For instance, the scores for hedonism are -2.9, -3.2, and -3.5 for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, respectively. In short, reading RN and participating in relevant activities makes people to place greater importance on goals and values with positive mean-corrected scores while lesser importance on goals/values with negative mean-corrected scores. In other words, the more they read RN, the more they value spirituality, fairness and honesty, family and friendship, intellectual activities, personal growth, aesthetics experience, conformity, altruism, and health. On the other hand, the more they read RN, the less they value hedonic pleasures, popularity and fame, money and material gains, image making, and fear and anxiety.

Table 3: Life Domains with Negative Aspiration Index Scores

Since the mean-corrected importance scores peak for the advanced level of RN readers, we would like to focus on this group in terms of their world value system and subjective well-being. Chart 1 captures the world value/goal system for the advanced level of RN readers. Based on the mean-corrected importance scores, the chart shows that the advanced level RN readers place great importance on spirituality, honesty and fairness, family and friendship, intellectual activities, personal growth while they try to stay away from hedonic, egoistic, and materialistic goals/values. 

Chart 1: The World Value/Goal System for the Advanced Level RN Readers

Discussionof the Findings

Both the positive and negative aspiration index scores affirm Nursi’s teachings. Nursi places great importance on a spirituality based on a verified belief set not on blind imitation. For that he insists on intensive involvement in reading and reflection in addition to worshipping. Therefore, it is not surprising to see spirituality as the most important life domain for RN readers. Second, Nursi mentions conscience, or as Freud refers to as the Super-ego, is an important human psychological process that results in discomfort when we act unfairly and dishonestly. For that reason, RN readers place high importance to fairness and honesty in their life. Third, the high scores for affiliation, intellectual life, and personal growth are consistent with the teachings of RN. Indeed, RN puts great emphasis on sincere friendship and family values. RN readers regularly come together for intellectual and spiritual activities. Fourth, the positive score for the aesthetics experience is reflected in Nursi’s emphasis on the artistic dimension of God’s works in the universe. Nursi urges his readers to observe the manifested beauty in the universe as a great sign of God’s existence. RN readers focus on the beauty of the Universe and therefore regard aesthetic pleasure as important to their level of well-being.  Fifth, the positive score for conformity may be due to Nursi’s teaching of tolerance and universal friendship. Indeed, Nursi encourages his readers to feel a friendship with everything in the universe through understanding their interconnectedness as creatures of God. Sixth, the positive score for altruism might a result of Nursi’s emphasis on sacrifice as a required quality of sincere friendship and brotherhood/sisterhood.

The importance of Nursi’s teaching can also explain the negative aspiration index scores as well. First, it is not surprising that for RN readers, hedonism is least important or deleterious to their level of happiness. Nursi provides compelling evidence against hedonic pleasures as a source of happiness. Nursi argues that hedonic pleasures contain poison; therefore, they result in painful rather than pure pleasures. In his view, the source of this type of pleasure is the instinctual soul (nafs). He encourages his readers to stay away from these types of pleasures. He provides spiritual and intellectual training for such restraint. The more people read the RN collection, the more they avoid hedonic pleasures. Second, the high negative scores for both popularity and image might be due to Nursi’s emphasis on the ego/self (ana) as the most dangerous internal enemy. Nursi argues that the understanding of God and submission to His power could only happen if we understand who we are and give up our imaginary egotism/godship. Third, the negative score for materialist values and money might reflect Nursi’s emphasis on the worldly possessions as means rather than end goals. Even though Nursi acknowledges the importance of material gains as means, he warns his readers on the indulging in material possession as an end goal. Finally, the negative score for the fear and insecurity might be due to Nursi’s emphasis on absolute control of God in all worldly affairs. Nursi argues that those who have certainty in God as the Absolute Power in control of everything with infinite mercy and absolute goodness would not worry about anything. They will do their part and place their trust in God.

Subjective Well-being of the RN Readers

We used the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)[10] to measure the subjective well-being of RN readers.  The SWLS is a short 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive judgments of satisfaction with one's life. Participants were asked to indicate their relative agreement with each item in Table 5 by placing the appropriate number ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).  Based on the findings of numerous studies, Diener published a guideline on how to interpret the SWLS scores.[11] As seen in the table below, the guideline divides the SWLS scores into six categories of life satisfactions ranging from extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied.

Table 4: The Satisfaction with Life Scale Metric

According to a comprehensive life satisfaction survey conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2010, 54 percent of people are satisfied with their life. The response to the comparable question (the question # 3 in Table 5) in our study, 62 percent of the beginner, 82 percent of the intermediate, and 93 percent of the advanced group members are satisfied with their life.

Table 5 shows the SWLS scores of RN readers stratified by levels.  If we assess their overall life satisfaction based on the question 3, according to the scale in Table 4, the beginner would fall in the high level of satisfaction while the intermediate and advanced groups would fall in the highest level of life satisfaction. The mean score increases from 5.5 point to 6.3 when they advance in their reading level of RN. The increase of life satisfaction across the groups is consistent for all five questions. This is evidence that the advancement in reading RN collection increases people’s life satisfaction. According to the SWLS total score, the beginners fall in the high ceiling of the third category of life satisfaction. They have the mean score of 23.4 and median score of 25.8. On the other hand, the intermediate group falls into the highly satisfied category while the advanced group is just one point shy of the extremely satisfied category based on the median score of 28.5. This means that the individuals in the advanced group “love their lives and feel that things are going very well. Their lives are not perfect, but they feel that things are about as good as lives get.” While the individuals in the intermediate group feel that things are mostly going well.

Table 5: SWLS Scores of RN Readers

The Need Satisfaction and the Pleasure Pyramid

In order to understand the factors affecting subjective well-being, we asked the participants to express their level of satisfaction by using 1-7 scale (1 for strongly disagree and 7 for strongly agree) in fulfilling the following types of needs:

1. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “sensual” needs/wants such as eating, drinking and sex.

2. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “spiritual/religious” needs/wants such as worship and pray.

3. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “intellectual” needs/wants such as reading and contemplating.

4. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “aesthetics” needs/wants such as enjoying beauty in nature.

5. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “social” needs/wants such as friendship.

6. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “altruistic” needs/wants such as helping others through charity.

7. I am satisfied with fulfilling “self-acceptance” needs/wants such as trusting my abilities.

8. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “conscience” needs/wants such as being honest and fair.

9. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “egoistic” needs/wants such as being admired and fame.

10. I am satisfied with fulfilling my “emotional” needs/wants such as having love and compassion.

The need satisfaction scores indicate how much the respondents are satisfied with fulfilling their particular needs. As seen in Table 6, the advanced group scores extremely high for spiritual, intellectual, conscience, aesthetics experience, social, altruistic, and emotional pleasures. Second, the satisfaction scores increase as the level of RN readers rises. In other words, the advanced group has greater satisfaction in need fulfillment for all needs with the exception of egoistic need. Indeed, other questions on egoistic goals and values clearly indicate that RN readers do not think favorably about egoistic pleasures. Therefore, the decline in the egoistic score when we moved from the beginner to the advanced group is consistent with other findings. Third, the highest mean gains between beginner and advanced group (last column in Table 6) are seen for the fulfillment of spiritual and intellectual needs followed by social, emotional, sensual, aesthetics experience needs.

Table 6: Need Satisfactions for RN Readers by Levels

Immediatly after the need fulfillment, the participants were asked to rank 10 different pleasures in terms of their contribution to their happiness, ranking from the lowest (1) to highest (10) based on the degree and intensity of contributions. We calculated the final ranking based on cumulative score, not individual score for each pleasure type. For instance, the ranking of nine, we added ranking of 9 and above for each pleasure. We were NOT surprised to find out that spiritual pleasure was ranked as the highest type of pleasure. However, we were surprised to see that if ranked based on the individual score; the egoistic pleasure would be the lowest for one half and the highest for the other half. In other words, the respondents were evenly divided in their rankings of the egoistic pleasure. This is in direct contradiction with what the high negative aspiration index scores for the popularity & fame and image domains. It also contradicts with the egoistic need fulfillment score in Table 6 as well. Furthermore, when we analyzed the responses to the questions related to egoism in the second part of the survey, we found out that negative correlation between the level of RN readers and egoism. For instance, when asked about their desire for lasting fame even after their death, fifty four percent of the beginners said they never or rarely have such desire while sixty five percent of the intermediate group and seventy five percent of the advanced group said that they would desire lasting fame. Due to the conflicting evidence mentioned, we think that the statement on egoistic pleasure was not clear enough, therefore, misunderstood by many respondents. Particularly, the clarifying example given in parenthesis might have confused the respondents. Therefore, we decided to drop out the egoistic pleasure in our final analysis.

Since the advanced group falls into the highest life satisfaction level, we believe it is important to present their rankings of pleasures. In other words, we would like to see the pleasure pyramid of the individuals with highest level of life satisfaction. As seen in Table 7 and proceeding chart, spiritual, intellectual and emotional pleasures are the peak of the pyramid. This means that for the advanced RN readers, spirituality, intellectual growth, love and compassion are the most desired qualities in their life. In other words, if they were asked to give three most important keys for happiness, they would say: pray, read, and love. This is quite consistent with the teaching of RN. For instance, in 20^th Letter, Nursi argues that the most important thing in life is belief in God (iman-ı billah) followed by the knowledge of God (marifetullah), and the love of God (muhabetullah). It is important to note that the knowledge and love mentioned here are comprehensive. In Nursi’s view, the knowledge of everything could and should lead to the knowledge of God. Therefore, the knowledge of self and the universe is part of the knowledge of God. Likewise, since the source of love is God, the love for worldly things is part of the love of God if one understands that his or her object of love is nothing other than the manifestation of the names of God. According to the pleasure pyramid, the other secrets for happiness are hidden in the appreciation of the arts and beauty, in the honest and fair acts, in the altruistic behaviors, in the family and friendship, in the personal growth, and the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. Putting sensual pleasure at the bottom of the list does not mean that advanced RN readers do not enjoy sensual pleasures. Indeed, as seen in Table 6, they read RN more as they experience sensual pleasures. However, compared to other type of pleasures, for the advanced RN readers, sensual pleasure are the least important.

Table7: Ranking of Pleasures by the Advanced RN Readers

Chart: The Pleasure Pyramid of for the Advanced RN Readers

One way is to test the hypothesis about the relationship between subjective well-being and the fifteen life domains captured in our study is to measure correlation coefficient and significance for each domain. As seen in Table 8, according to Pearson Correlation coefficients, all of domains except image and popularity are statistically significant. In other words, the significance test indicates that the correlation is a real one and not a chance occurrence. Personal growth has the highest correlation coefficient followed by spirituality, affiliation, health, conformity, intellectual growth, honesty, altruism, and aesthetics experience growth. Consistent with the aspiration index scores, insecurity and fear, hedonism, and money have negative correlation with subjective well-being.

Table 8: The Correlation between Subjective Well-being and Value/Goal Domains

*p<0.10, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01, ****p<0.001

Key Virtues of RN Readers

We would like to share some of the answers from participants in order to better portray their value system and worldview.

• RN Readers have extremely strong belief in God, find answers to their questions, and practice what they believe

As seen in the table below, RN readers have extremely strong faith in God, they almost always find satisfying answers to their spiritual questions, and they generally practice what they believe. It appears that the spirituality of individuals increase as they advance in their reading of RN and involvement of RN activities. It is important to note that the more people read RN, the more they see their life and actions being in agreement with their beliefs.

• RN Readers find strong meaning in their life

As seen in the table below, reading RN makes people find out meaning in their life. For instance, while only 37 percent of the individuals in the beginner level report that they always or most of the time consider their life meaningful and complete, 54 percent of the intermediate group, and 69 percent of the advanced group gave the same response. Likewise, while 24 percent of the beginner group report that they would prefer to be a happy animal rather than an unhappy human, only 4 percent of the advanced group gives that response. This suggests that the more the participants read RN, the more they find meaning in their life and place greater value on it.

• RN Readers are friendly and helping individuals in society

Even though the overall data indicate that RN readers are correctly altruistic and friendly, we believe that the responses below give some clue about why they do what they do. Nursi encourages his readers to consider the pleasure of God as the main if not the only motive for their good deeds. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the percentage of individuals saying they always help others with no absolutely no expectation in return goes up as they advance in reading of RN. Likewise, 25 percent of advance RN readers say they ALWAYS help those who did not help them.

• RN Readers do not place importance on materialistic values

As seen in the table below, as they advance in their level, RN readers place lesser importance in financial success as very important thing in their life. They are not indulged in consumerism. For instance, if they could not afford to buy something they would like, 67 percent of the beginner and 81 percent of the advance group never or rarely feel bad. Therefore, they remain happy despite not being able to buy something that would like.  It is interesting that RN readers with a mean monthly household income of $1000-1340 still report very high levels of life satisfaction.  It is suggestive that if your focus is on the teachings of Nursi, lack of financial security would not affect the level of happiness to a significant degree.  Further research in this area is necessary. 

• RN Readers have great sense of contentment

As seen in the table below, as people advance in reading of RN, they gain more sense of contentment. For instance, 34 percent of the advance RN readers report that they would always be happy if they their friend got a job that they both applied for. This is quite consistent with Nursi’s teaching of sincere friendship based on sacrifice. In other words, they are told not act on their self-interest, rather act on the interest of their friends and family. The survey also revealed the fact that as people advance in reading RN, they are involved less in comparison. For instance, while 79 percent of the beginner group reported that they never or rarely feel bad when they financially compare themselves with others, the rate goes up to 90 percent for the advanced group.

• RN Readers are honest and promise keeping

As seen in the table below, RN readers place greater value on honesty and promise keeping. Indeed, while 54 percent of the beginner  report that they do not tell “white lies”, the rate goes up to 70 percent as they advance in reading of RN.

• RN Readers do not value fame and other ego-boosting aspirations

Finally, RN readers do not value ego boosting admiration and praise. As they advance in reading of RN, they understand more about the downside of egoism and fame. For instance, while 54 percent of the beginner group report that they never or rarely desire their fame be lasting even after they death, the rate goes up to 75 percent for the advanced level of RN readers.

Concluding Remarks

Although this study reports significant findings of life satisfaction and happiness related to pleasures in those participants that study Said Nursi’s teachings, it is not without weaknesses.  The response rate is higher than many internet-based surveys however, there could be significant reporting bias.  It is possible that only the very motivated or ardent followers of Nursi answered the survey. Time constraints, internet availability, technology competency could have also affected the response rate.  The Vovici software has been reported to slow down with certain browsers, and prospective respondents could have been unable or unwilling to battle the technology.  A repeat study to confirm findings would be helpful.

A larger sample size with more demographic variables especially women is necessary to determine any differences lost due to a small sample size. In addition, future studies are necessary to test the findings in this study. The cohort was derived from one organization and therefore could be biased.  It is possible that followers of Nursi who do not belong to the Istanbul Science and Culture Foundation, would respond differently.

Happiness is measurable in terms of pleasures, positive feelings, and overall satisfaction and can be related to the fulfillment of human needs. Those participants that study, practice, and live according to the teachings of Nursi report great levels of satisfaction.  The teachings of Nursi emphasize a life dedicated to God, love, compassion, service to others and high spiritual achievement and de-emphasize hedonic pleasures and materialism.  Although it is not known if these teachings would result in the same findings across societies, cultures, and religions, the results suggest that the universal values taught in Islam result in high levels of life satisfaction in practicing participants. 

Finally, in order to further test our hypothesis, especially in regards to a pleasure pyramid, future studies should compare findings across cohorts that endorse varying personal values and beliefs.  For example, in order to further test the concept of a pleasure pyramid, groups that endorse spiritual, intellectual, emotional, aesthetics experience, conscience, altruistic, social, self acceptance and sensual pleasures could be queried with the same methodology. 

This study adds to the literature on well being and life satisfaction that a life filled with spiritual growth, positive emotions, psychology, and behaviors, and a desire to improve oneself and humanity evident in the writings of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi contribute more to well being and life satisfaction than a life dedicated to hedonic pleasures and materialism.  

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