Health is the level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, often implicitly human. At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1948, health was defined as being "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".
Only a handful of publications have focused specifically on the definition of health and its evolution in the first 6 decades. Some of them highlight its lack of operational value and the problem created by use of the word "complete." Others declare the definition, which has not been modified since 1948, "simply a bad one."
In 1986, the WHO, in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, said that health is "a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities." Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), which is composed of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) also define health.
Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle.
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and political science. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of living, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standard indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging.
Quality of life is an important concept in the field of international development, since it allows development to be analyzed on a measure broader than standard of living. Within development theory, however, there are varying ideas concerning what constitutes desirable change for a particular society, and the different ways that quality of life is defined by institutions therefore shapes how these organizations work for its improvement.
Spirituality is relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. Synonyms include immaterialism, dualism, incorporeality and eternity. Spirituality is associated with religion, deities, the supernatural, and an afterlife, although the decline of organized religion in the West and the growth of secularism has brought about a wider understanding of its nature.
While the terms spirituality and religion are sometimes used interchangeably, an important distinction exists between them. Traditionally, religions have regarded spirituality as an integral aspect of their religious experience and have long arrogated spirituality for themselves; claiming true spirituality cannot be experienced by the secular (non-religious). Declining membership of organised religions in the western world, however, has given rise to a broader view of spirituality. Those who speak of spirituality, outside of religion, often define themselves as "spiritual but not religious" and generally believe in the existence of many different "spiritual paths" - the emphasis being on the importance of finding one's own individual path to spirituality.
Spiritual evolution is the philosophical, theological, esoteric or spiritual idea that nature and human beings and/or human culture evolve along a predetermined cosmological pattern or ascent, or in accordance with certain pre-determined potentials.
This predeterminism of evolution concept is also complemented by the idea of a creative impulse in human beings, known as epigenesis.
Within this broad definition, theories of spiritual evolution are very diverse. They may be cosmological (describing existence at large), personal (describing the development of the individual), or both. They can be holistic (holding that higher realities emerge from and are not reducible to the lower), idealist (holding that reality is primarily mental or spiritual) or nondual (holding that there is no ultimate distinction between mental and physical reality). All of them can be considered to be teleological to a greater or lesser degree.
Philosophers, scientists, and educators that have proposed theories of spiritual evolution include Schelling, Hegel, Max Théon, Henri Bergson, Rudolf Steiner, Sri Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur M. Young, Edward Haskell, E. F. Schumacher, Erich Jantsch, Clare W. Graves, Alfred North Whitehead, Terence McKenna, P.R. Sarkar, and Ken Wilber. These theorists tend to be non-materialistic or non-reductionistic.
The word 'enlightenment' can be used to refer to many different ideas. The phrase 'The Enlightenment' refers to a philosophical revolution of the 18th century based on rationalism. In a secular or a non-Buddhist context the word is often used meaning full comprehension of a situation, or having gained spiritual insight. Enlightenment is also used as a translation of the word Bodhi and thus is construed as being the opposite of Saṃsāra and thus means a state of freedom from suffering, desire and ignorance. Many scientists believe that at the moment of the subjective experience of enlightenment there is an actual physical change in the brain, as detailed in Eugene D'Aquili's The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. |
