Health - because if you don't have that, its very hard to have any of the

others....imo

I agree "health". If I have health I can make money, I'm happy if I feel good, love and freedom I can focus on. ♥

Health, of those things listed.

Definitely health. You wont be happy or free without your health. All the money in the world can’t buy it. Love is a close second.

Health.

freedom

There are plenty of people in good health are unhappier than those with poor health. People who are loved can lack money or health. People with money can be entrapped with worry about losing it so no happiness for them. Freedom allows choice. Freedom allows one to seek out and find what they do not have find escape from what they don't want.

If you take 'Health' down to the bones, you must at least 'be alive' to be able to experience any of the other things on the list. 'Money' can help buy 'Health' to some extent -- even just food and shelter, let alone medical care.

Health.

It's an interesting question. For me, I think the answer is love. I arrived at that by imagining what my life would look like if I had only one of each of the things on the list, and none of the others. Comparing each scenario, love definitely wins. That can take many forms, of course - love of self, of others, of pets, a higher power, etc. and since I equate love and happiness pretty closely, it's hard to separate them for purposes of this exercise, but still......love, I think.

Happiness.

Because, if you're happy but have poor health or little money, you're still well off, the envy of people who can't find happiness. If you're truly happy, I think you must have love in your life -- maybe not a romantic partner or the close friend/family kind of platonic love, but how can you be happy if you don't care about anything, how can you care about something and not love it, to some degree?

Happiness despite being not "free" -- that's harder to imagine. Were enslaved peoples ever happy? Are people in prisons today happy, at all? Are my dogs happy, even though they are subject to my will rather than their own will? So much depends upon the type and degree of "un-freedom" -- a light yoke isn't much of burden, a heavy one is.

So, that's why I value "happiness".

How about wisdom including critical thinking etc! I know not even on the list.

My argument would be if you're wise but you're ill and have little money you can at least think your way through your problem.

If you have love or happiness you might be blinded to ways of thinking through your problems.

Out of all of those listed though I would use the old maxim of putting the face mask on yourself before helping others in a plane. That would be personal health first or life. I choose life or health first besides wisdom.

To me that means striving towards good physical fitness and having lots of healthy gut biome :-) ...very simplistic I know.

Health.

Health

That's tough question. I want to say freedom because that's very important to me, but I have to say love. If you don't have love in your life then none of the other things on the list matter. For example, how can you have happiness without love of some kind ?

Health. Without it, it is difficult to appreciate the others.

FREEDOM because I need freedom to work on getting the other things on the list. wildchild thinks like I do.

They are all important. In nearly everyone's life they all seem to come and go. I think the complete absence of any one of them for an appreciable amount of time might lead to a very distressing life, but pursuing one above all else and neglecting the others mayhaps would do the same.

People who value freedom above everything else have the freedom to be unfaithful in love, ignore laws and be disrespectful and inconsiderate to others, and to be reckless with health and finances, and so I do not trust them. I prefer rules over anarchy.

Lars (and all), sometimes "freedom" is equated with "irresponsibility". I don't imagine that's the kind of freedom Wildchild (and all) value. In our society, when we all follow the rules of the road, we give up our "freedom" to drive willy-nilly, but we all gain the truly valuable "freedom to drive without fear". Freedom balanced with accepted norms of behavior and responsibility -- that's what's good.

Freedom is a very misused and misunderstood word in the US and among Americans. Most of the world's developed countries that are democracies have the same "freedom" as we do and, in some respects, more.

As for the topic of the thread, i think that life, relationships and one's place in the world, and even existence itself are all complicated, very nuanced, and difficult subjects not easily assessed such that there could be one and only one factor seen as being most important.

Health. Nothing else comes close.

I'm not sure how some of these can be separated. For me, health and happiness walk hand in hand: it's hard to have one without the other. If I'm unhealthy, it's hard to be happy, and if I'm unhappy, my mental health is going to suffer. Same goes for happiness and love: without love, be it from family, friends or a pet, how can one be happy?

As for freedom, there are always going to be constraints. whether legal, cultural, social or ethical: I'm okay with that. I couldn't be happy if my "freedom" were impinging on another person's health and happiness.

Money.........if ya got enough of it you can buy all of the others.

,,,actually it's the last on my list ;-)

Health for sure.

So if you had no one to love, and were sad, broke, and in prison - you'd say, well at least I have my health?!

Happiness is most important to me.

I don't need health or money, love or freedom, to be happy. But if I have Happiness, then my health will be better, I will love easier, and appreciate the things I do have.

But just in case I'm wrong about that, I bought a lottery ticket for the weekend. :)

Freedom to pursue the rest.

Without freedom, you can't seek happiness

There are many people who have freedom, wealth, health, love and  happiness - including Russian oligarchs, African dictators, Mexican druglords, and a few very dubious politicians and company executives. Freedom only has meaning if every person around you has the same freedom.  In this world, most don't.   So when people talk about the importance of freedom it is mostly about what they want the freedom to say and do, not what other people should have the right to say and do.

Happiness, since it often accompanies many of the rest, and if it doesn't, it doesn't matter. If I have happiness, would I strive for any of those things if I didn't have them already? For instance, if I didn't have "freedom" (whatever that means) but I was happy, would I want freedom? If I was happy without love, would I search for love?

I'd add a level playing field for ALL

Add that, and the others become moot.

That will NEVER happen, not on this planet...

Honesty....plain and simple..

I think Wildchild knows very well what she means by freedom. Those of who believe in freedom in this country are talking about the freedoms we have that are protected by our Constitution. We also believe in following the laws and rules of this country, but we also believe we have the right to object to laws and rules that infringe on our Constitutionally-protected freedoms. I guess you could say we believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, without interfering with the rights of others.

There are different kinds of freedoms.

As a woman, when I say "freedom" I am thinking of being incredibly fortunate enough to live here, vs say Afganistan under the Taliban. As long as I'm free to be the master of my own domain, move around the country freely, have equal opportunities at jobs, freedom of speech, freedom of/from religion, etc , that is what I mean by picking freedom.

For me, having to live as a second class citizen and not even free to leave my own house or earn my own income, no access to education, no chance at living my own life or following my own dreams would be a fate worse than death.

For me, being happy or content is important. My health is not all that great, but I am happy. My income is not much, but it meets my needs. I enjoy my freedoms, but I refuse to abuse them and behave irresponsibly. I have had, and still have, the love of family, friends and pets. The lack of love would probably affect my happiness more than any of the other things listed, so maybe happiness and love deserve equal top billing.

But in actuality, the one thing that is the most important to me, above all else, is not on the list. And that is faith. Faith in God.

Rusty

"Those of who believe in freedom in this country"

Are you suggesting there are people in the US who don't believe in "freedom"? I think that's most unlikely, though it's a nebulous concept. Maybe you're instead saying that that someone who may disagree with YOUR definitions of freedom doesn't believe in freedom, because only your view has validity?

Reading that sentence, Elmer, I took it to mean there are other countries as well as woodrose's country. True, that!

(edited to remove potential insult!)

To me freedom is not being locked up in something like a jail, or NOT being told what I can or cannot do by someone with the power to enforce it like in some countries. I still choose freedom first.

"NOT being told what I can or cannot do by someone with the power to enforce it like in some countries."

We're all subject to thousands of laws for which there are honest people whose jobs it is to enforce them. Do you offer resistance in contact with police, federal law enforcement, state police, building code inspectors, Customs and Immigration officers, and the multitude of others? Are they compromising your freedom? You should see them instead as protecting it.

What nature of enforcement in the dozens of other democracies around the world, many of which have greater freedoms than we have in the US, do you have experience with?

"or NOT being told what I can or cannot do by someone with the power to enforce it"

You mean, like the police and the courts? Freedom for you is The Purge?

Love. It’s the glue of life and without it, nothing else much matters.