A foundation of virtue (DW#959)
Sep 16, 2021
The positive psychology movement is often reduced in social media and popular culture into the idea of "positive thinking and positive feeling at all costs".
The beginnings of the movement could not be further than this.
The foundational theory of positive psychology has spiritual underpinnings: that true happiness and wellbeing comes from living a life of virtue.
The positive psychology movement started by analyzing all the old wisdom and faith traditions and concluding that there was an astonishing convergence and agreement on six primary virtues (which of course differed in context and culture).
In other words, the major faith traditions all came back to the same six virtues, again and again.
What are these virtues?
Wisdom (Knowledge), Courage, Humanity (Love), Justice, Temperance, (or self-control), Transcendence (Spirituality).
[For those who are curious about how this translates into Islamic Spirituality, consider the concept of living with Ahsan – whole lectures series on this subject on the LivingandlovingtheQuran podcast]
When human beings practice these virtues in their lives, they are able to live with wellbeing and flourish.
Slightly more profound that "good vibes only" wouldn’t you say :)
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