Human Flourishing

A few thoughts on the idea of 'Human Flourishing' and what it entails.

The image is "The Fruit Pickers Under the Mango Tree" from Fernando Amorsolo.

HUMAN FLOURISHING
An idea that I find interesting is that of human ‘flourishing’. It’s centred around the idea that all things are doing their best when they are doing what they can possibly do - or, what is unique to them - to a high degree. For example a fruit tree can grow tall, bear fruit and have stunning colour, and if you saw a tall, colorful apple tree with an abundance of fruit you would say it is flourishing.

You could also make the example of a large goldfish with skin that reflects colours vividly and as diversely as an opal which swims at a lightning speed, or spiders that weave expansive, intricate webs, sheep with thick wool coats surrounded by energetic little lambs, chickens that lay mountains of eggs and so on.

This idea of flourishing is not only meant to be a description of the state of something, but also that the state of flourishing is necessarily what things should be striving for, or to put it another way the state of flourishing is what living things are morally bound to seek out.

So what is it that humans can be or do which might lead us to say that they are flourishing? One idea, coming in its original form from Aristotle and later backed or built upon by the stoics amongst many other philosophers, is that reasoning is uniquely human and therefore to pursue excellence in reasoning is how humans are to flourish - that ‘reasoning’ is in itself a sort of moral code, and to act without measured reasoning is immoral.

More infamous characters have assigned bodily perfection and aesthetics as the gauge of humanity’s greatness. Then you have those that believe it to be proximity to God - in either direction depending on the person - which shows how advanced or fulfilling of our purpose we are, or those who place all importance in finance, or even those who believe it is only living free from technology and labouring with your own hands in which you can truly be a thriving human. We even have a great many people today who believe that to flourish is to do nothing else but break social or moral codes that they find arbitrary.

The problem with all of the examples above is that they are terribly limited in scope compared to the complexity of being human. I would agree that reasoning is what helps us get to this conclusion, but the strict adherence to reasoned action as is often implied by stoics is to ignore the importance of healthy frivolity such as large celebrations, singing in the shower or just wasting time by staring at a stream, things which are delightful nonsense that ripple into the health of a society.

I see the truth of human flourishing to be extremely complex - it is to move our bodies, be knowledgeable in maths, curate nature, create artworks and joke carelessly with those we care about. The metrics used to assess a flourishing human are too large in number to list, and that is because we have the ability to do and understand so much, and I think that by becoming skilled in being a well-rounded human undoubtedly brings more joy and benefits of all kinds than focusing on mastering one or a narrow few things.

Many people fall into the trap of fulfilling a single role in life, or sometimes they embody a genre of roles, such as someone who can sing and dance thinking of themselves as an entertainer at the exclusion of anything academic. But I have spoken to a lot of middle-aged entertainers in crisis as they understand better than anyone that they can no longer be who they always had been as their looks faded and their bodies grew tired, or became overwhelmed by the shallowness of their career, or lamenting the fact that they missed the chance to have children. I’ve also met a lot of professors who wished profoundly that they’d put their body to more use or learnt how to sing.

No matter the profession or level of success, no human is ever truly happy living their life in a single groove. That’s not to say that everyone should do everything, that’s an utter impossibility, but there is definitely a requirement for people to pursue a number of different endeavours seriously in life for them to feel satisfied. Also, as we experience more and try more things that we are unfamiliar with, we can draw on diverse knowledge and combine it in a way that perhaps nobody else has tried or is at least underutilised, which can increase a person’s or society’s productivity or quality of life in incredible ways. Then there’s also that little bit built into our brains that lets us draw satisfaction simply from knowing a lot, even if the knowledge has no other use than to be known. Everyone knows of someone who is insufferably smug merely because they have a seemingly unhealthy amount of knowledge about something they desperately wished was of importance.

It is that last little point which pulls a thread which cannot be understated. It is that we are, after all is said and done, human. We are creatures with limits, preferences and inclinations which can seem completely illogical or harmful, but which are inherently human. Knowing which parts of our nature can help us, such as the thirst for knowledge, and which can harm us, like furiously lashing out at others when we ourselves fail, and feeding those parts of us accordingly is what leads a person and a people towards flourishing.

You have to realise when you’re being stubborn for stubbornness’ sake and relent. You need to understand that the most effective treatment for easing your mind is to lie on the sun-baked grass with your feet dangling in a warm pond. You have to participate in society as there is nothing more well-documented about humanity than the fact that we thrive when surrounded by friends and loved ones, it’s wired into our very selves whether or not you want it to be true.

So after all this, if I were to summarise what it is to flourish, I would say it is to be significantly skilled in several disciplines - of which the use of body, mind and imagination must be included - and to enjoy that which is the most human of desires: to be valued by others who you enjoy the company of, all while acknowledging and limiting your own faults. If you can manage these things consistently, well you’re going to do well in life, or at the very least enjoy it and other people are also going to enjoy your company.