Happiness has multi-levels. Most people perceive and understand happiness at the basic level.
It is mainly hedonic happiness or short-term, temporary happiness from gaining and receiving
both materials and non-materials. This basic happiness is based on basic natural instinct.
However, human has higher potential than to act upon basic instinct. Human is capable of
being extremely destructive as well as constructive. To promote constructive, peaceful and
harmonious living together, human must develop happiness toward higher levels. Sufficiency
Economy Approach provides a mind cultivating process that is essential for happiness
development toward true happiness that is beyond the basic happiness level. Such a higher
level happiness is indispensable to mitigate threats to sustainable development. Human must
the naturally granted high potentials positively and constructively with broader and longer
perspective. Mind training through Sufficiency Economy Approach considers human as the
core of development. It focuses on the strength of human’s capabilities and potentials to
benefit at all levels, individual, community, national and global. But human’s mind, without
training to think more broadly and ethically, will be highly self-centered, destructive and
unethical. Through the happiness development process, human’s mind can draw greater
happiness from within. Such happiness is less dependent of external influences, produces
positive outcomes with higher efficiency and ethics that are crucial for sustainable
development
INTRODUCTION