Master of Arts
in Happiness Studies

This short and intensive course provides students with a technical foundation as well as a psychological foundation for the entire program. In terms of the technical foundation, students will learn to navigate through the syllabus, understand the ins-and-outs of the Learning Management System (LMS) and become familiar with the building blocks of each course. In terms of the psychological foundation, students will learn a set of particular tools and techniques, as well as some general approaches, that will accompany them and help them grow throughout the program. The two-week course includes a fair amount of preparation that primarily includes reading texts, experimenting with various practices, and watching online lectures.

This course explores seven disciplines—Economics, Business, History, Religion, Education, Biology and Music—through the lens of fourteen influential thinkers. The work of each of the thinkers is integrative, in that it brings together theory and practice, different aspects of their chosen discipline, as well as different elements of SPIRE. They have shaped and continue to shape their discipline, while contributing both breadth and depth to our understanding of wholebeing.

The course explores happiness through the lens of wholeperson wellbeing (wholebeing). Drawing on psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, economics, theology, literature and other disciplines, this survey course focuses on each of the five dimensions of wellbeing: Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational, and Emotional (SPIRE). The course is both theoretical, providing an overview of the twelve principles that define wholebeing, as well as practical, providing tools and techniques for helping individuals and groups pursue and attain higher levels of wellbeing.

Facilitating Happiness focuses primarily on tools and techniques that can help individuals and groups increase levels of wellbeing. The course introduces the topic of change, followed by twelve lectures, each delving into a particular technique or set of techniques. Each of the lectures introduces the science behind a particular technique and then provides concrete steps that you can take to make a meaningful difference in your life and the life of others. To gain a deeper grasp of the material, beyond understanding the theory, it is essential that you experiment with, and apply, the tools and techniques in your life.

This course explores how philosophy, considered the mother of all disciplines, informs the study of happiness. Each week, students delve into a seminal philosophical text and with the help of complementary material explore its relevance for personal and societal wellbeing. The texts that students read each week are roughly associated with one of the twelve principles; however, given the interconnectedness of all things, each text sheds light on the different elements of happiness, on wholebeing.

In this course students get to apply as well as deepen their understanding of much of what they’ve learned in previous courses. The focus will be on bringing together reflection and action (ReflAction) for the purpose of personal and collective transformation—for students to help themselves become happier, as well as for students to learn how to help others do the same. Students will spend an average of 80 minutes each day engaged in individual as well as group activities that cultivate the SPIRE elements, including but not limited to the following: Meditation, Goal setting, Yoga, Physical exercise, Breathwork, Different forms of journaling, Reminders.