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5 Flourishing as humans
Brendan McCormack1, Tanya McCance2, and Jan Dewing1
1 Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2 Ulster University, Northern Ireland, UK
Contents
Conditions for human flourishing
Learning outcomes
Understand the meaning of human flourishing.
Articulate the key attributes of human flourishing and their relationship with person‐centredness.
Consider the conditions necessary for persons to flourish.
Critically reflect on the attributes of human flourishing and how they connect with persons as spiritual beings.
Introduction
Wakening and entering the day ahead of us is a fundamental part of being alive. How we engage in such a process is dependent on a range of factors that make it either an exciting and joyful start or one that can feel sluggish and listless. Connecting with our immediate environment through observing what is happening or actively connecting with it through physical activity opens up a space for us to consider our being in the world and our day ahead – what some people might see as our spiritual being. This moment of awakening that we each experience every day of our lives can be seen as a micro‐context of what we can come to know as ‘human flourishing’ and the conditions necessary for each of us to flourish in our lives. We would argue that the ultimate manifestation of person‐centredness is ‘flourishing persons’. In this chapter will encourage you to participate in a reflexive engagement with the idea of human flourishing and what it means for all of us in our lives. We will connect ideas of human flourishing with the ‘spiritual self’ and our existence as spiritual beings.
Awakening
Water gently lapping over stones
Sunshine rising from the blue horizon
Seabirds swooping in search of morsels of goodness
Morning joggers tracing the outline of the beach
Restaurants waking up from their night‐time slumber
The day begins as the world connects
To get us into this reflexive space, we invite you to engage with the following activity.
Activity
Identify a time in your life when you felt you were ‘at your best’. What did it feel like? Why was it such a good experience, i.e. what were the key qualities of the experience? What did you do to make it such a good experience (if anything)? Using a creative medium of your choice (drawing, sketching, painting, poetry, prose, photography, etc.), create an image that captures the essence of the experience.
Figure 5.1 ‘Flourishing in transition’.
Source: Brendan McCormack
This image created by one of us (Brendan) expresses his experience of flourishing at a particular stage in his life – a time of significant transition (Figure 5.1). The painting has a central source of energy and four quadrants, each expressing different conditions that enhanced or hindered his flourishing at that point in time. The picture as a whole, however, shows the balance of different energies and all of them working together to create a holistic picture of his experience at that time. Each element has particular meaning for Brendan and came to life as he connected with the flow of creating the image and the intuitive connections arising. The image gives some insight into the dynamic nature of flourishing and its many shapes and energies.
What is human flourishing?
You may not have thought about