Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
How Do We Flourish?
“The only true ultimate good is human flourishing.”
—Aristotle
I read this quote a few days ago, and it hit home, because who doesn’t want to flourish?
I’ll bet you can guess where I’m going with this.
It’s not stuff. Stuff doesn’t make you flourish—in fact, I would argue, stuff gets in the way. In our consumer-based, hyper-visual society, it can be easy to think that getting the right skin cream and the perfect outfit, and purging your living space until it’s “Instagrammable” will help you to flourish.
Don’t confuse achievement and acquisition with flourishing. There’s nothing wrong with achievement—especially if you are passionate about what you are doing. And some acquisition is an unavoidable part of modern life. But you shouldn’t confuse these things with flourishing.
If you really want to flourish in the Aristotelian sense, it’s going to be an inside job. Yes, there are external things that can help you reach your highest self, such as running shoes for someone committed to improving their fitness or workbooks for a child who aspires to an elite college. But mostly, trying to be your best self means taking action: running in those sneakers, studying for those tests, volunteering, meditating, going to coffee with friends or helping your neighbors.
We should all try to be our best selves, in the deepest sense, and see how much better we feel when we extend ourselves to others or challenge ourselves than we do from buying even the cutest new shoes.