Written in 1922 and given to a hotel courier in Japan because the visiting Einstein had no cash for a tip, the note contains only one equation.

Unlike the theories Einstein is associated with, the note does not boast a mind-blowing mathematical formula. Revealed ahead of the note’s auction in Jerusalem, Einstein jotted down the way to achieve a happy life.

“A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest,” wrote Einstein, having only recently found out he was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for physics.

Einstein’s million-dollar note offers a curious link between a scientist’s mind and the mind of God

Einstein’s equation for happiness is noteworthy, not least because someone has now put a price on his secret to a joyful life and that it represents a part of Einstein’s thinking few of us have considered. You might be further amazed to learn Einstein didn’t claim happiness came from scientific quests or an increase in knowledge, but in understatement and turning the volume down on life.

This “quiet and modest” discovery is nothing new, though. While science and religion continue to be pitted against each other as if they are incompatible, Einstein’s million-dollar note offers a curious link between a scientist’s mind and the mind of God.

Thousands of years before Einstein handed a Japanese courier his equation for happiness, the pure elements of modesty and restraint were integral to God’s wisdom on happiness.

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” (Proverbs 23:4).

Do a quick Google search of “Bible verses about modesty or restraint” and you’ll see a gaggle of interesting equations for success in life. The Old Testament book of Proverbs states: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” (Proverbs 23:4). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul expresses how he has found the opposite of unrest through being empowered by Jesus: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Einstein’s note might be worth more than one million to someone, but you can spend a fraction of that elsewhere, to pursue and test similar equations for a joyful life.