What is the key aspect of flourishing?

Tyler VanderWeele, Director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, sent out a research update last week related to meaning and purpose. In it, he references empirical evidence that a sense of meaning and purpose is a key aspect of flourishing.

VanderWeele offers a nuanced distinction between these complimentary concepts. Meaning tends to concern an understanding of the relation of things to one another. Purpose is more concerned with trying to accomplish a certain goal or life aim.

Why is it important?

The importance of having meaning in life is reflected in a recent survey of over 2,000 American professionals. The average respondent would be willing to forego 23% of their entire future lifetime earnings in order to have a job that was always meaningful.

Research has found significant mental and physical benefits to having a sense of purpose in life. For younger adults, having a sense of purpose improved flourishing in life satisfaction, self-esteem, emotional well-being, and volunteering.

And for older adults, people with the highest sense of purpose had a 43% reduced risk of depression, a 35% reduced risk of loneliness, and a 46% lower risk of dying over the course of a 4-year study.

In his book, A Theology of Health, VanderWeele offers this explanation.

An understanding of the ends we are pursuing and how we may attain them is important in attaining God’s intent for the human person. An understanding of one’s end and the relation of oneself to that end and an understanding of the means to attain that end is sometimes referred to as having a sense of the meaning of life. The experience of the actual pursuit of that end and of the structuring of goals, actions, and identity so as to attain that end is sometimes referred to as having a sense of purpose.

Meaning might itself be understood as those aspects of knowledge that relate to one’s origin and end and the relation of the world and one’s activities to this. Within Christian theology, that origin and end is God.

Where do we go next in the flourishing journey?

As we continue our journey of “Flourishing Together,” it’s important to remember that we only understand our true meaning and purpose through a personal relationship with Jesus. We were created to bring glory to God, and we do that by following The Jesus Way.