According to the 2025 World Happiness Report, Finland is believed to be the happiest country in the world, while the U.S. once again does not appear in the top ten. New York Times Best-selling author and Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor at Harvard University, Arthur Brooks, explores how happiness is measured differently across cultures. 

He explains the impediments to happiness, which often center around human mortality, detailing why the fear of not existing overrides the fear of dying. Arthur also discusses how religion plays a role in the fear of death and describes why 'working on the soul' will help remove the barriers to happiness. 

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