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Sunday, June 21, 2015 - 10:26amSanction this postReply
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I'm not so sure of that.  Survival is objectively definable in biological terms.  But even then it has levels (a person in a coma is biologically surviving.  And then moving up to the next level, a fellow in prison is surviving, and then there are free, healthy people surviving in socioeconomic situations that I wouldn't accept.)

 

"Wellbeing" is a concept that begs for a context - "well" being quite relative... E.g., "How are you doing today?" he asked the patient with terminal cancer.  "Quite well, considering," answered the patient.  

 

One man's survival is another's luxury.

 

I like the concept of "flourishing" better than "luxury" - both imply going beyond survival, but flourishing has a sense of growth and pursuit of human essentials like spiritual values (e.g., art, romance), like higher levels of productivity, like more intense levels of intellectual pursuits, and higher levels of self-esteem.   Flourishing seems like one has reached a level of activity and state of being where each unit of effort brings yet higher levels of personal satisfaction - a person is now working to feed the soul, having already ensured that the body is fed.  Luxury too often means possessions that provide less value per dollar spent (something like having the kitchen water faucets gold-plated.)  

 

(And, I see flourishing as a part of the purpose of life, and not a luxury - rather man's natural state.)



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