Ideas

Five Baha’i Lessons for a Happier Life

This 19th-century Persian religion has deep, humanistic teachings we can all benefit from.

First published in The Atlantic on August 8, 2025

by Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic
August 28, 2025 | reading time: 7 Min.

One of the biggest gripes I have about my academic field of social science is that it explains a lot about human behavior but is very short on prescriptions for how to live day to day. Even when it does have something suggestive to offer, the research almost never supplies evidence of whether its widespread adoption would have a positive effect. The same deficiency is even truer for philosophy, a realm in which big thoughts about life usually remain abstract ideas.

© SZ - You can acquire rights to the article here.