The meekness behind human 'flourishing'

Societies the world over have long sought to define and measure what constitutes a good life, a life of meaning as well as of means.

Just-published data from an expansive Global Flourishing Study (GFS) is contributing new insights into this topic. The first-round surveys in this five-year project covered more than 200,000 participants. One finding drawing widespread concern is that young people are reporting lower levels of well-being and “not doing as well as they used to,” the report said.

Yet perhaps the biggest finding, across age cohorts in 22 countries, shows that poorer nations outrank far wealthier ones in “flourishing.”

Sweden and the United States hovered near the middle of the index; the United Kingdom and Turkey were at the lower end; Japan was at the very bottom.

Meanwhile, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Egypt, Kenya, Brazil, and Nigeria scored in the top 10. None of these countries boast high per capita incomes or substantive social safety nets. But they do share one characteristic – regular attendance at religious services, and “feeling loved or cared for by God or a spiritual force.”

“With economic development and secularization, have we sometimes been neglecting, or even suppressing, powerful spiritual pathways to flourishing?” the study’s report asked, noting that richer countries demonstrated an inverse or negative relationship between meaningful living and gross domestic product. Although the study did not ascribe a causal link between religious worship and individual well-being, the association between them is consistent with previous research.

Spearheaded by Harvard and Baylor universities, in partnership with Gallup, the GFS delved into six dimensions – happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. Those who attend religious services weekly scored higher in all areas – especially happiness, meaning, and relationships. This finding held true even in very secular countries, study collaborators said. Envisioning flourishing as a “process of growth” rather than as a static condition, GFS researchers said, will require considering “spiritual dynamics” in addition to parameters such as age and economics. 

For Baylor religion professor Paul Marshall, it goes almost without saying that “Money is not making people flourish more.” Instead, purpose, community, relationships, and religion “count more than wealth and success,” he said.

A growing recognition of this may have prompted the GFS authors’ suggestion that “We” – humanity – “may need a reconsideration of spiritual pathways to well-being.”