Spirituality

The Solution

Solution

Anthropology of The AoIn

Self-Transcendence

In our quest for answers to improve collective mental and social wellbeing, we found the concept of self-transcendence in Maslow’s (1971) posthumous work where the apprehension of such ultimate wellbeing of society is contingent upon a person's altruistic outlook on life and their ability to extend beyond self to secure the wellbeing of others. In other words, humanity at self-transcendence, promote interconnectedness and maintain resilience that fosters collective mental and social wellbeing. They fully embrace altruism, pacifism, activism, and moderate asceticism. They lead life full of self-motivation and self-esteem but reject self-centeredness and self-absorption.

The Exemplar

The attempt to operationalise Maslow’s theory pointed us to the Quakers community where the exemplars pursue self-transcendence as the necessary virtue needed to navigate society as agency of social justice and wellbeing.

Through our ethnography, we observed that in the state of self-transcendence, exemplars perceive life as a holistic experience which unfolds in an altruistic interplay; thus, becoming the agency of interconnectedness (AoIn) who interacts proactively with others to cultivate core civic values that can manifest flourishment of society and secure collective mental and social wellbeing. In this holistic experience, they encounter society with altruism, moral equity and moderate asceticism (modesty).

The AoIn

From our Quaker exemplar ethnography, we can perceive the AoIn, as a person who exudes the spirit of altruism, activism, moderate ascetism (modesty), pacifism, empathy and sanctity. They understand society as an organismic whole within which their ultimate purpose (as the AoIn) is to foster interconnectedness (that promotes collective mental and social wellbeing) and resilience capacity to cop and navigate stressful changes in life's conditions.

Applying the concepts of mental and social wellbeing as proposed by WHO and FPH we can conceptualise the AoIn as the conveyor or conduit of core civic values i.e., equality, diversity, charitability, community, solidarity, serviceability, responsibility, and accountability. Interpreting the charisma and cultural schemas of the AoIn, we discovered virtuousness, thankfulness, oneness, peacefulness, helpfulness, forgiveness, and resourcefulness as the virtues (good habitual dispositions) necessary for cultivating core civic values.

AoIn