Put your definition of happiness on trial
You already have one — it just runs quietly under your decisions. More Than a Feeling takes the answer you've been living by, tests it against three thousand years of philosophy and the best evidence psychology has, and then hands you the pen.
$39 one-time, plus applicable taxes · Full access
Read 3 lessons free first — no account neededSince Aristippus first argued in public that happiness is simply feeling good — the position this course opens by defending, not mocking.
The year the Harvard Study of Adult Development began following the same lives. It is still running, and Module 5 reports what it actually found.[1]
Claims about happiness you judge true or false on day one, unscored — each settled, with the evidence, in a later lesson.
Sources
- [1] Harvard Study of Adult Development — the longest-running study of adult life, begun in 1938 and ongoing. View source ↗
Uncited figures are editorial round numbers taken from the course's own lessons, where the underlying sources are given in full.
What you'll learn
Three strands usually taught apart — history, the philosophical and religious traditions, and modern psychology — braided into one long argument that ends with your answer, not ours.
What travels with you
Four things run the whole length of the course, and all four are cheap to keep up.
- The journalOne specific reflection prompt at the end of every lesson — never “reflect on happiness,” always something with an edge. Any medium you like; a printable template comes with the course.
- The Definition LedgerYour running one-sentence answer to “Happiness is …”, dated and revised at the end of every module into eight versions you finally read side by side.
- The Happiness Beliefs Self-TestTwelve claims you judge true or false on day one, unscored on purpose. Each is settled in a later lesson; you retake the whole thing with the full key in the capstone.
- A quiz in every lessonThree to five questions whose wrong answers are real misconceptions — usually the exact one the lesson just corrected, occasionally the one you walked in with.
One simple price
Everything below for a single payment. No subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Is this therapy, or a substitute for it?
No. This is education. Examining your beliefs about happiness is a different project, with different tools, from treating depression, anxiety or grief. If you're struggling right now, start with real help instead, such as findahelpline.com, which lists free, confidential helplines by country. The course will still be here afterward.
Do I need any background in philosophy or psychology?
None at all. The course assumes no prior reading: every term is defined where it first appears and again in the glossary, and every thinker is introduced properly before they're argued with.
Will I end up with one correct answer to what happiness is?
Not one for everyone, but not a free-for-all either. Some claims get settled along the way, and the popular myths don't survive the data. The big question stays yours. First you'll find out why one word has been hiding four different things; then you'll write, and defend, your own answer.
How long does it take?
About twelve and a half hours of reading. Two or three lessons a week — the pace it was written for — puts you at ten to fourteen weeks; a lesson a day finishes it in roughly a month. The capstone self-experiment then runs two to four weeks alongside the later modules.
Is it religious?
No, and it isn't anti-religious either. One module of seven covers what Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Hindu thought did with happiness, taught accurately and respectfully. The other six ask you to hold no position at all.
Can I read some of it before I buy?
Yes. Three lessons are free and open: the welcome, with its twelve-item self-test; Lesson 1.1, on whether happiness is just a feeling, the course's first full argument; and Lesson 5.2, on fifty years of research into money and happiness. Both lessons run start to finish, quiz and all.
How do payment and access work?
A single one-time payment, handled by Stripe. There is no subscription and nothing to cancel. You get every lesson, the downloadable course PDFs, and free updates as the course is revised, on any device, for as long as the course is offered.
Will your idea of happiness hold up?
$39 one-time, plus applicable taxes, then every lesson, every worksheet and any future updates. Read the 3 lessons free first and see whether it's for you.