What is human flourishing?

September 2, 2024

What is human flourishing?

Human flourishing refers to the realization of a person's potential in life. Flourishing is not only surviving, but thriving in life. Flourishing goes beyond mere happiness and success into meaningful fulfillment of a higher purpose or calling in life. The hallmark of flourishing is mutual benefit to the individual and the collective. 

The concept of flourishing is rooted in Aristotle's idea of eudaimonia, which refers to living a life of virtue and excellence, fulfilling one’s potential, and contributing to the well-being of others. While surviving focuses on meeting basic needs, flourishing is about thriving, living fully, and realizing one’s potential. It’s not just about being free from illness or hardship, but about experiencing a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Human flourishing is a holistic concept that involves living a balanced, fulfilling life, characterized by purposeful productivity and contribution to the self and to society. Flourishing represents the highest state of human potential and wellbeing (individual and collective). 

How to Flourish: Work

Flourishing requires improvement, which always require work.  There's no magic in this universe. Everything is energy (i.e. the capacity to do work). Flourishing requires arduous work on continuous self improvement (sI) that inevitably leads to social improvement (Si). 

Self-improvement requires work. The tasks are practically unlimited and ever expanding. Improvement is a continuum on an infinite line. The improvement segment on your personal life began at conception and will end the day you die. That is, self-improvement is a lifetime duty. 

Work on yourself; serve everyone (WYSE)

1. Work on Yourself
2. Serve Everyone

1. Work on Yourself: 

Hardware and Software. To flourish in life takes a lot of work on continuously improving your "hardware" (physical health) and "software" (cultural programming). 

To optimize your chances of flourishing, identify your "make and model" and all your specifications. Knowing your hardware will help you identify what operations you are better suited for, on which fields you will enjoy easier competitive advantages, and what environmental variables will help you flourish. What is your "operating system" and cultural programming? Updating and debugging based on scientific knowledge, critical thinking, and empirical evidence will optimize your chances of flourishing. 

Flourishing in life is not easy. Flourishing takes a lot of daily arduous work. Everything in this universe is energy (the capacity for doing work). The universe is a creative matrix or a "creatix". A matrix is a place or platform where things are transformed or created. To create is to transform. To flourish you have to transform yourself into the best version of yourself. 

As a side note, see that life is a large cellular network covering Earth. As an individual, you are a cell within the larger network of life. Maybe the ultimate goal is to expand life's coverage throughout the universe. Avoiding a rabbit black hole tangent, and returning to the hardware / software analogy, note that living organisms can be seen as organic computers where each cell operates as an information processor. You are the result of the aggregate processing by the approximately 37 trillion cells. Yes, you are already a trillionaire!

Biological programming. The biological programming running your life follows a binary algorithm of avoiding pain and seeking pain relief. That's it. That's everything all living creatures do 24/7 on Earth. Everything that we do or don't can be easily explained by the pain / pain relief programming. Everything that you do (or don't) in life is predicated on the conscious and unconscious decision to avoid pain or seek pain relief. The pain / pain relief mechanism controls all living creatures on Earth. We are all the heirs and heiresses of pain. Life is pain. Intelligent life is pain management. By understanding and optimizing your pain / pain relief mental associations you may hack the programming of life to optimize your flourishing.

Emotional mastery. Flourishing requires emotional mastery. We are emotional creatures. Emotions come first; thoughts, actions, and rationalizations follow. The master emotion of all, the one from which all other emotions derive, is fear. You live afraid of pain and seek the convenience of avoiding pain and relieving pain. Unless you program yourself to endure a certain level of pain to obtain greater pain relief, you will not be able to flourish in life.  This is because the self improvement required for flourishing entails a lot of hard work. If you can conceptualize that hard work as the source of pain relief in your life, you are golden on your way to e are all the heirs and heiresses of pain. Life is pain. Intelligent life is pain management. By understanding and optimizing your pain / pain relief mental associations you may hack the programming of life to optimize your flourishing.

Spoiler alert. There's no magic in life. It's all work. Self-improvement takes a lot of daily work. Everything in this universe is energy (i.e. the capacity to do work). Everything that existed, what exists, and what will exist is a product of work. You are the product of nature at work. Learn more about your nature so that you can work with nature to improve yourself. Again, there's no magic to flourish in life; there's only work. 

2. Serve Everyone 

Flourishing is a service. Your individual flourishing will always benefit the collective. Your successes and failures will serve as lessons to others. In flourishing, or failing to flourish, you will serve as a guide for others. 

Below some ideas for your consideration. As always, implement whatever may work for you, and discard the rest. 

Identify a Purposeful Passion. To make the hard work of flourishing enjoyable and not feel as work, identify a purpose or set of purposes that you are passionate about. Working on your passion or on what fancies your dopamine the most (i.e. what motivates you the most) will "magically" turn work into play. The hard work that is required to flourish in life will not feel like work for you; it will feel as pure joy. 

Keep it Simple and Avoid Perfectionism. Realize that perfection is an illusion. Perfection exists only in the human imagination. Remember that human imagination is infinitely larger than reality. No wonder humans invented supernatural deities that were later consolidated by many into a one and only perfect god. In reality, there are no supernatural forces, everything is subject to the laws of physics, and nothing is perfect. Things are what they are. Perfection or lack thereof is a human opinion, a judgement of the human mind. Simplify your flourishing. Choose a path. Take one step after the next. The journey is the destination. Enjoy it. 

Set Standards (Not Goals) and Develop Mini Habits: Instead of goals, which are outcome oriented, establish process-oriented operational standards for your daily life. Your flourishing will be the aggregate result of your daily mini habits. Identify the processes that tend to lead to the kind of flourishing that you seek. Turn those processes into your daily habits and sources of joyful entertainment. Regularly assess your progress and adjust your micro habits as needed.

Learn continuously: Embrace continuous lifelong learning and the pursuit of knowledge. This can involve formal education, learning new skills, or simply staying curious about the world around you. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Cultivate your strengths and work on improving your weaknesses. 

Be Resilient and Grateful: Life’s challenges are inevitable, but developing resilience can help you navigate them. Building mental and emotional strength through practices like mindfulness, cognitive behavioral techniques, or supportive relationships can foster resilience. Embracing challenges with gratitude is the ultimate happiness hack. Once you master the art of being grateful for absolutely everything in your life, both the "good" (convenient or pleasant) and the "bad" (inconvenient or painful), you have access to unlimited happiness and joy. 

Prioritize Safety and Health: Safety first, health second. Physical health is closely linked to flourishing.  The protocols to improve health include nutrition, exercise, and rest (including sleep). Learn to manage stress and to reduce inflammation. Consume a non-inflammatory diet. Optimize your exercise. Optimize your sleep. Pay attention to your mental health, which is 100% physical within your brain. All mental processes are physical processes at the tiny nanoscale of neurons and neurotransmitters.  

Be friendly and give back. Begin with developing the kindest friendship possible with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be your own best friend. Then treat others as well as you treat yourself. Be as kind to others as you are to yourself. Contribute to something larger than yourself, whether through work or volunteering. Engaging in creative activities like writing, art, music, or other forms of expression can help you explore and communicate your inner world to the rest of the world. Being yourself and sharing your productions and creations will be your contribution to the world.

Conclusion:

Flourishing is the realization of your optimal potential. Like everything else in this universe, flourishing requires work. Flourishing requires continuous self-improvement. There is no magic wand to make flourishing happen. You have to create it by continuously improving yourself. Take care of your "hardware" and upgrade / debug your "software". Identify your passion (whatever fancies your dopamine the most) so that working on it feels like playing. Identify the processes that lead to desired results and turn them into your daily habits. Set daily standards (not future goals). Be your best friend and share your friendship with others. Your flourishing successes and failures will benefit others by showing them what works and what doesn't. Be resilient and continue learning. Keep it simple, taking  one step after the next. The journey is the destination. Enjoy it until your glorious eternal rest. 

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