The Ecological Worldview: Hearing the Cries of the World | Center for Ecoliteracy: Thirty years ago, the king of Bhutan proclaimed, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.” It’s easy to trivialize personal “happiness” as a goal, and for that reason I find “well-being” to be a more helpful concept, but the analysis of the Bhutanese government, under the leadership of its remarkably eloquent prime minister, Jigmi Y. Thinley, is sophisticated. This happiness, he says, differs markedly from the common use of that word to denote an ephemeral, passing mood due to some temporary external condition like praise or blame, gain or loss. “Rather it refers to the deep, abiding happiness that comes from living life in full harmony with the natural world, with our communities and fellow beings, and with our culture and spiritual heritage â in short, from feeling totally connected with our world.”