As a practitioner, I often have a general understanding of theory and spend most of the time learning through experience. So it was refreshing to listen to an academic presentation on human flourishing sharing outcomes gained from rigorous research. Exploring the concept of flourishing is particularly interesting to me as at scaling4good we have set our mission to contribute to human flourishing within the planetary boundaries and we have in-house expertise on the topic with our member Diego Hangartner, who’s former CEO of the Mind and Life Europe.
Here I like to share a summary and a few reflections from a webinar organized by the Global Wellbeing Initiative and Gallup with Tyler VanderWeele, Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard University and Director of the Human Flourishing Program.
What is human flourishing?
Prof. Tyler VanderWeele tentatively defines human flourishing as “a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good” and points out that flourishing is a broader concept than well-being. Five domains are included in his understanding of human flourishing:
- Physical health & mental health
- Happiness & life satisfaction
- Meaning & purpose
- Character & virtue
- Close social relationships
A set of questions related to these domains, and widely used in different research areas, have been used to develop a “human flourishing index”, which should help in order to measure levels of human flourishing in different groups and learn about how to increase it.
In contrast to the GDP, still the predominant globally used to measure a country’s progress and success, all of these domains are an end in itself and universally desired. We all want to have close social relationships or a meaningful life, while the increase of a country’s GDP doesn’t tell much about the well-being of the people of a country (for instance GDP also increases with more weapons sold or higher medical expenses).
How can we promote human flourishing?
Easy to use, do-it-yourself positive psychology interventions have been developed and tested in randomized control trials and found to improve various aspects of happiness and health. Such interventions include:
- practicing gratitude
- doing acts of kindness
- and using one’s own character strengths.
VanderWeele also shared that these fours pathways have a causal relationship with human flourishing:
- Family
- Work
- Education
- Spiritual communities
This means that when we are satisfied and thriving e.g. in our family or at work, we tend to flourish. Being satisfied at work and in our family is about how we relate to people when interacting within these contexts. VanderWeel emphasized the importance of being part of a community – especially a spiritual community with a shared sense of purpose and values, and a history going beyond the life of the individual, as essential for human flourishing. It was also discussed how nowadays we often find a sense of community at work. Recognizing how work is a place contributing to human flourishing, and not just a burden, is part of the redefinition of our understanding of work in the future.
The opportunity and paradox of measuring a holistic concept
Several thoughts came up while reflecting on VanderWeeles webinar:
- I find it encouraging that the scientific approach and rigor which has been used for many years to study causal relationships of physical health problems is increasingly being applied to find out what causes a life in which all aspects of a person’s life are perceived as being good. By developing a human flourishing index we set a first step towards developing an indicator, including multiple aspects of our well-being. If globally we would measure success in terms of human flourishing, there would be very different policies and possibilities for transforming society!
- However, by attempting to develop a human flourishing index we apply a reductionistic method in order to describe a holistic concept, which per se is a paradox and will lead to an index that is not telling the full story about what contributes to a good life and what it is. I find it important to relate such an index to the context it comes from and complement it with information present in the concrete situation it is used in.
- Scientific researchers have an increasing number of touchpoints with wisdom from eastern and western spiritual traditions and acknowledge that there are very few studies about how factors like harmony, joy, peace, and especially LOVE are influencing human flourishing.
- Which brings up the question: how do we know what is true? For instance, we all know that love is about caring for and being in relationships with other people, animals, and nature. Experiencing love improves our lives and we don’t need scientific confirmation about the importance of love and our wish to experience loving relationships. The individual and collective experience of something is real and valuable, even if we cannot measure it or have a common agreement based on a scientific theory and results.
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You find more information about the webinar authors below: