research: making the case

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning...”
― Viktor E. Frankl

In the modern age, our understanding of the action-health connection begins with Viktor Frankl and his legendary book Man’s Search for Meaning. As you might remember, Frankl was a prisoner in a Nazi WWII camp. As he observed the suffering of men around him, he realized that those most likely to survive had some sense of meaning and purpose that sustained them through incredible hardship. He quoted the philosopher Frederick Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live can endure almost any how.” Likewise, those who have a powerful sense of purpose will be stronger, more resilient, and more effective in their activism.

ikigai

生き甲斐

We see a similar focus in the Japanese concept of ikigai, “a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.” Multiple studies have shown that ikigai has measurable health benefits. A review in Psychology Today reports that “individuals who believe their lives are worth living live longer” and a BBC report tells a similar story. See also an audio podcast by Professor Akihiro Hasegawa.

integration

The connection between meaning, purpose and health may well seem obvious, but there’s more to the story than simple intuition. To understand how it might work, let’s step back and look at the big history of the human animal.

By superficial appearance and personal, felt experience, it seems that the body is a single unified thing. But the deep history of evolution tells a different story: our bodies are actually composites of multiple systems patched together over vast expanses of time. Far from being created or designed from scratch, the body is actually a kludge, a haphazard collection of component parts that happen to work together, pretty well, most of the time.

For the human animal, the primary challenge is to keep the various systems synchronized in a state of integration: a condition we call health. The good news is that we already know the integrative practices that keep the systems working together: natural light and circadian rhythm, vigorous movement (aka exercise), deep sleep, and unifying narratives are powerful synchronizers. Activism can fulfill a similar role, bringing the various systems of the mind-body together into a single, coherent experience. If we do our activism the right way, it can have a powerful integrating effect on the entire organism.