“Happiness is love: full stop.” George Valiant, MD, said that in 2009, when asked to summarize the Harvard University Study of Adult Development. The Study of Adult Development began in 1938 and is still active today. The study aimed to observe 268 third-year Harvard University students and 724 troubled adolescents from the Boston area over their entire lives to determine what makes people flourish. It sought to answer the questions: what factors in a person’s life lead to a long, healthy, happy, and productive life? This study is still active today and now includes the original participants’ spouses, children, and grandchildren.
Doctor Valiant was the director of the study for over forty years. Throughout the study, in addition to regular interviews and visits with the participants, they took their blood samples and measured their physical fitness. They performed a myriad of IQ and other cognitive tests on them. This type of study is called a longitudinal study; it follows the participants over long periods. Time-consuming and expensive to develop, maintain, and administer, longitudinal studies often give us the most accurate and valuable conclusions.
Doctor Valiant received criticism for his statement, “Happiness is love,” from some. “How can you summarize a multimillion-dollar study lasting over seven decades with such a simplistic conclusion?” they asked. “Surely, it is more complex than that!”
In January 2023, the study’s current director, Robert Waldinger, MD, and associate director, Marc Shulz, Ph.D., backed up Doctor Valiant’s conclusion and said of the Study of Adult Development, “It’s the longest in-depth longitudinal study on human life ever done, and it’s brought us to a simple and profound conclusion: Good relationships lead to health and happiness.”
Matthew 22:36-40 records a similar question asked of Jesus and his answer. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (NKJV)
The Bible does not record the reaction of the people gathered around Jesus that day, but perhaps Jesus was met with the same sort of criticism as Doctor Valiant for his seemingly simplistic answer. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, (which is now in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.) “Jesus, how can you summarize the Torah into such a simple statement? Love God, love your neighbor? That’s it? Surely, it is more complex than that!”
Isn’t this great news, though? Love, the key attribute that Jesus told us is the greatest commandment, the critical action that will bring us closer to God, is also the most important thing that numerous psychological studies have shown will make us happier.
Now, here is the challenging part. Love is not simply a feeling; it is accompanied by action. Love is shown to people by interacting with them, talking to them, caring for them, and finding out their hopes, their dreams, their goals, and their challenges. As Jesus said, loving God was the greatest commandment, and loving your neighbor was the next. Love is not just an intellectual concept or feeling you only harbor in your mind. Love requires action.
Throughout the Bible, we are instructed to practice love.
It starts with loving our family. The fifth of the Ten Commandments is, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12 NKJV)
The Bible instructs us to love our church family and fellow Christians.
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 NKJV)
We even need to love those who might not be in our close circle of friends.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ( Matthew 22:39 NKJV)
We are even commanded to love our enemies.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-44)
Practicing love has great rewards; it leads us closer to God, it makes us happier. Yet, love is not always easy. It takes work, and it takes effort. Even with those closest to us, immediate family and close friends, it can take work. Robert Waldinger, MD, and Marc Shulz, PhD, current director and associate director of the Study of Adult Development, observed, “Good relationships lead to health and happiness. The trick is that those relationships must be nurtured.”
Modern social science and the Bible agree that love is the most important aspect of our spiritual and practical lives. Love more, and you will get closer to God. Love more, and you will be a happier, healthier person.
