An Uncommon Guide On How To Be A Flourishing Individual
Matilde Magro, regenerative and sustainability designer, asked her students to describe a flourishing individual in an idyllic society. The answers were surprising, so she decided to explore what a flourishing society would be like and what that entails from individuals.
By Matilde Magro, regenerative and sustainability designer
Photo: Finja Reinartz/Unsplash
There is a latent idea in all of us of absolute love, compassion and joy in community all over the world. This idea does not stem from nothing, it’s innate wisdom on how life should be - and the knowledge that it is up to humanity to face the obstacles to get there. In this light, I asked my students what it would be to be a flourishing individual in an idyllic society, and they brought me good answers. One of them was how disconnection to the Earth happens, in six spheres of influence, from societal pressures, to work imbalances, to the continuous inequality all over the world. Their solutions involved educating both young children and adults on how to overcome this disconnection. Another hypothesis would be to transform the individual into a spiritual being, with a set of intentions based on how high the individual could acheive both self-realization and enlightenment, and they specified how to do it. I liked both of these approaches and want to expand on it further.
An idyllic society would have no crime, no inequalities and absolutely no harm or evil, so a flourishing individual would need to have certain traits of absolute joy, absolute inner peace and absolute freedom to be the highest expressions of themself, in loving presence and awareness. So this individual would be someone who expresses their point of view to others who will respect their opinion and share their own in commradery, without the need for exhaltation - there are no perils to be scared about. An idyllic society would mean that community rises above all to bring us peace, love, tranquility and creativity. So a creative type of society would have at its center a hub of art and cultural intentions, and a heart of gold in terms of how people could satisfy both their need to create and to generate more creation in their societies. This idyllic society would have a creative-based, community-led economy. It would be a stepping stone to acheiving a world wide sense of accomplishment. So the flourishing individual would have a choice in participating in worldwide creation or community creation, or not. The flourishing individual would need to have a basis of emotional handling and pure joyful behaviour. A flourishing society would be ecocentered, not antropocentered, and there would be community gardens, trees and forests everywhere. A flourishing society made of flourishing individuals is possible.
This seems like too far-fetched, but that is the actual goal when we mean peace on Earth, the sustainable development goals and the idea of a flourishing society and flourishing individuals. Can we dream it now? Can we start working on it on an individual level? Can we start working on ourselves and in our communities towards this goal? How could we start? What are the first foundations? Important questions for this new age we are going through.
Photo: wudan3551/Unsplash