"In his new book, Mark Vernon discovers that happiness cannot be found by seeking it directly. Indeed, this is the key insight of nearly every philosopher who has ever considered it. Rather, as Vernon shows, the crunch issue is our ability, or inability, to find a sense of meaning or value that goes beyond everyday life. The search for transcendence, argues Vernon, is the greatest challenge of our day. The idea that we are part of "something bigger", something unfamiliar and unknown, was, until modern times, a fundamental step in cultivating wellbeing. Whereas today happiness is all too often associated with pleasure, a concern with the bits and pieces that might make up a good life, rather than a love of the good itself and a search for the good in life. Unless our understanding of wellbeing is both more expansive and profound, Vernon argues, people will only be let down, for all the warm-sounding words that are uttered." "Drawing on the insights of the ancient Greek philosophers, Wellbeing challenges us to think about our values and beliefs, to discover a sense of place in the universe, and to work out how to give ourselves to love and life. In doing so, wellbeing is found to be within the grasp of us all."--BOOK JACKET.