In the middle of my childhood, the term “happiness” burst onto the scene in gospel discourse as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined with the wider American culture in emphasizing happiness as a life goal.
Although happiness has always been an aim of human endeavors, General Conference talks mentioning the term “happiness” noticeably increased from the 1990s through the 2010s. Similarly, Latter-day Saint scholar Patrick Mason observes that “the phrase ‘plan of happiness’ appeared in only one General Conference address from the 1850s through the 1960s. There were two mentions of the phrase in the 1970s, 12 in the 1980s, and then an astonishing 85 in the 1990s, 125 in the 2000s, and 132 in the 2010s.”
As I’ve previously discussed, it was easy to correlate the gospel with happiness during a moment of unusual prosperity and stability in America. Yet it was never easy to define what happiness means or how to attain it. Conference talks typically frame happiness through a paradigm that scholar Sara Ahmed calls “the promise of happiness,” a model that says “if you have this or have that, or if you do this or do that, then happiness is what follows.”
Most talks on the subject depict happiness as resulting from living the commandments, keeping covenants or following “the plan.” When speakers provide more detail, they often emphasize marriage and family or provide a variety of formulas for happiness that stress developing individual traits and habits. Although the early church frequently sought to promote the good through (often failed efforts at) economic communitarianism, contemporary talks rarely link happiness to material blessings or community building outside of the nuclear family. Happiness results more from performing the sanctioned scripts of Latter-day Saint life and cultivating a mindset that is largely independent of material circumstances.
The iron rod
Framing the gospel as a formula for happiness has consequences that these talks sometimes implicitly acknowledge. Despite the centrality of the Atonement to the gospel, the talks often point to the importance of rigorously following prescribed formulas because a lapse or departure from the right path could destroy the promise of happiness. Unsurprisingly, references to the iron rod — a Book of Mormon symbol of adhering to God’s commands — also begin increasing during this period. The idea of clinging to commandments becomes intertwined with happiness, and parents learn to be anxious about ensuring that their children also follow the same path to salvation. And, yet, the threat that children might not choose the right — and thus upend their parents’ happiness — also exposes the limits of this model and shifts the conversation back toward the Atonement and the need for grace.
(Illustration by Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
In this transactional model, happiness can swiftly become proof that one is following the commandments, while unhappiness can too easily be seen as a sign of unrighteousness. Despite the scriptures’ consistent warnings against pride and economic inequality, it is an easy leap from the conflation of righteousness and happiness to the cultural pressures we see within Mormonism for members to perform prosperity. One who is righteous, so the logic goes, should have the cultural signifiers of happiness.
Yet conference sermons are often vague on precisely what happiness means. More often than not, happiness is construed as a signifier of righteousness or a promised reward in the future rather than an emotion members actually feel. Once happiness is defined as the product of a formula, we face difficult questions about what it means to keep the commandments and feel unhappy — or to break them and feel good.
What do we make of the unhappy Latter-day Saint mother? Can we adequately acknowledge the loss she might feel renouncing her career when our culture tells us that she is supposed to be happy? What do we make of the child who leaves the church and says he is happier? Are we capable of truly believing him? What do we make of the young man who says that he does not feel inspired to serve a mission? Can we accept as legitimate personal revelation that runs counter to the script?
Unsurprisingly, talks often attempt to distinguish true happiness from counterfeit emotions like fun. The definition of happiness morphs into something more abstract and future-oriented when righteous Saints do not feel happy.
The consequences
It’s not difficult to see the cultural consequences of being raised in a faith that so heavily emphasized formulas for happiness during my youth. These consequences include performance anxiety among members who feel that their salvation depends on continuously adhering to specified practices; the cultural conflation of signifiers of a happy life with righteousness; toxic positivity culture that encourages us to overlook unhappy facts or people; and, above all, an inability to think productively about the gospel and our relationship to the church when the formulas fail to deliver the promise of happiness.
We have reached a tipping point in which many of the cultural formulas for happiness that we were offered within the church and within American society have failed, with the difficulty parents now face raising middle-class families being the problem that has been most on my mind.
In this moment, in which nearly all of our institutions appear at a breaking point, and in which our Earth is burning under the strains we have created, I am stepping back from regularly writing for The Salt Lake Tribune to study what the gospel has to offer when we look beyond happiness. I am no longer writing in hopes of changing our fate. I am asking mundane, practical questions about how to raise one’s family, serve one’s neighbors, and find purpose in a world moving in directions beyond our control. What wisdom do the prophets and Saints who lived through unhappy times have to offer our moment?
I hope to uncover potential values, communities and experiences that we’ve overlooked while pursuing happiness — and grace that far exceeds any formula.
(Natalie Brown) Salt Lake Tribune guest columnist Natalie Brown is writing a book on narratives of happiness.
Natalie Brown is a Latter-day Saint based in Colorado. She is writing a book on narratives of happiness in the Latter-day Saint tradition. She is speaking in her personal capacity. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the church or her employer.