Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be,” and Robert Muller agrees emphatically, adding, “Happiness is a decision.”

At 83, Muller is retired from his work as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, but he is still very much in the peace business. So is his wife, Barbara Gaughen Muller. They believe peace is also a personal decision, like happiness.

The two, who married 12 years ago, divide their time between a sunny house in Goleta and a property in the peaceful Central American nation of Costa Rica. They write, lecture and maintain a Website and a network of likeminded colleagues around the world, all in the interests of peace.

Taking a brief hiatus, Muller reflected earlier this week on how he arrived at his life’s goal.

At the end of World War II, he was a member of the French Underground in the vicinity of his native Alsace-Lorraine. “There were some Germans locked up in a farmhouse, some 20 young men, just boys, really. I talked them into coming out. ‘We are not murderers,’ I told them. “You will be repatriated.’”

He left for a short period of time, and when he returned, “The 20 young Germans had been shot” by members of the Resistance. “It was in retaliation for the murder of some young Frenchmen.”

After his initial shock, Muller said, he told himself, ‘I must take a decision now.’ And that’s when I dedicated my life to peacemaking. That’s what I’m still working on today.”

A large factor in his dedication to world peace was his youth in Alsace-Lorraine. The area, today a part of eastern France, was for decades the object of contention between Germany and France.

Muller's forefathers were hat makers, and saw their native land change hands time after time between France and Germany. His mother told him when he was about five years old, “We are French.” He still loves Alsace-Lorraine, as evidenced by his praise for the area’s history and productivity: “Alsatian food is unique. And it’s where the Statue of Liberty came from. The European Union was born there.”

As a young man, he served in the United Nations, ultimately becoming Assistant Secretary-General when U Thant of Burma was the Secretary-General.

To this day, Muller wears two necklaces, a gold cross, given to him by Pope Paul VI, and a silver-and-turquoise eagle he received from the elders of the Hopi Indian Nation. “I wear them all the time,” he said, “except with my pajamas.”

He said the Hopi token came from tribal elders who had initially been turned away from the United Nations when they sought to deliver “a prophecy.” Muller invited them back “when I got to be a bigshot” at the U.N., Muller said with a smile. “I asked for the elders to come and deliver the prophecy. “They announced ‘many major troubles’ in the world.”

Dr. Muller is not completely optimistic about world peace at present. As far as the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, he said flatly, “I’m not looking into it. It’s totally hopeless. Same in Cypress. I said, ‘Forget about Cypress.’ But Cypress and Turkey made peace because they wanted to join the European Union.”

His 1978 book, “Most of All, They Taught Me Happiness,” has just come out in a new edition, and he is giving lectures on the topic. “Happiness is a decision” is the headline on a flyer heralding his next speaking engagement, at the Karpeles Manuscript Library in Santa Barbara, on March 19.

The Mullers teach that happiness is the purpose of life, a tenet also of the Dalai Lama. The couple believes that individuals can make a choice to be happy, “even in the most difficult situations,” and that such a choice “contributes to the health and well-being of ourselves, each other and the entire planet.”

In their Goleta home, the Mullers maintain a “Peace Corner,” a small space for meditation. They urge others to do the same.

“I spoke at the Montessori School in Goleta,” Muller said. “I talked about having a Peace Corner in the home, and the children all wanted to make them. The Girl Scouts now award badges for creating Peace Corners.” Here he grinned broadly. “I’m the Peace Corner boy.”

PHOTO BY MARTHA LANNAN