Creating the Flourishing Soul

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

College graduation season has just finished, and our enthusiastic, young graduates are out looking for work to jump start the careers for which they trained.  I noticed all the TV ads that wished our grads success.  There were clips of the classes marching into Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance their faces absolutely radiant with joy.  There were clips of those who got across the stage on prostheses because they lost limbs when they served in active combat.  There were some with other physical challenges and in one moving clip a service dog accompanied the graduate who was in a wheelchair.  The dog earned a special diploma because he had attended every class with his owner for four years.  Yes, he also got a rousing applause.  

Higher education had been my main ministry in a long academic career, so I get emotional about college education.  As a faculty member I would observe each graduate as he or she accepted the diploma so earnestly coveted.  Yes, there were some who barely made it and some who excelled immeasurably but I believe every faculty member worked hard to assure success for the students and that success is never so brilliant as on graduation day.

For many years one of the courses I taught was media ethics which was a blend of philosophical theories peppered with practical examples of ethical decisions that media professionals make daily.  The question we considered was always how a particular theory might resolve a particular sticky, moral problem in today’s media.  Choosing a theorist in ethics from 300, B.C. serves to demonstrate that morality and ethics have always been around and had always challenged professional people.  One of the philosophers I relied on was Aristotle and his Nicomachean Ethics.  According to Aristotle, the greatest achievement in human life is happiness.  (You might recall last week’s blog on the subject.)  But he added that happiness comes only through a channel called ‘flourishing.’

He posited that we are supposed to cultivate good character in order for our souls ‘to flourish.’  And we then share that flourishing with others and help them to flourish.  This became the foundation of our American ‘forefathers’ thinking and writing thus serving as the philosophical glue holding together our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, and our body of laws.  We are proud to say that Americans are guaranteed “the pursuit of happiness.” 

Aristotle pointed out that in a democracy “citizens have to feel and act as one which we do by habit if we are flourishing.”  He held that “the end and purpose of human life is flourishing.”  Think about that.  Every person has a right to flourish, to have what is necessary to live.  It is a God-given right.  And it is wrong to deny anyone that right or to make it hard for them to enjoy.  Out of flourishing, great artists, scientists, teachers, writers, chefs, tradespersons, are happy and contribute to the good of all.  The existence of liberal arts in college education is built on that premise.  When we require accountancy and business majors to take liberal arts courses, we are helping students to flourish.  We are reaching beyond the practical and giving leverage to the spirituality of the mind and soul. 

I think God is all about flourishing.  God made us to find our core being and enjoy that as a gift.  God tells us to never stop finding out beautiful things about ourselves as our lives unfold everyday.  We will come to God more complete and open if we explore the vast horizons within ourselves and share them with others.  This is why I oppose the book censorship spreading by people who are not educators.  It is why political leaders who tamper with college curricula are out of their league and dangerous.  They are pandering to voters rather than listening to persons who are qualified to offer a comprehensive palette of disciplines that enlarge the mind rather than restrict it.  How can God flourish in souls subjected to such restraints?  God wants us to be free, and in that freedom to find the many exciting ways we can get to know God’s diversity, God’s creativity, God’s love. 

Reflection

Education is broader than preparation for a career.  True education offers courses and ways to prepare the soul, the heart, the curious mind.  The pursuit of a true education is really a prayer because it lifts the mind and heart to wonderment and the awesomeness of life where God waits for the student.

Do you know any graduates this year?  Pray for them.  Offer them encouragement.  Let them know you are happy for their achievement.  Wish them God’s continued blessings.  

Prayer for a Graduate:

Loving God, help our graduate to treasure all of Your creation before any profit.  Help them to see You in all they will meet and serve in their career.  Help them to be thrilled with every challenge knowing that You are with them as they seek answers.  Help them to appreciate a deep and growing love for Your life within them.  Help them to flourish.Congratulations to all graduates and to you my readers and anonymous angels who are celebrating with these wonderful young people.