Modern culture is deeply unhealthy, as are both the individuals in it and the ecosystems they inhabit. From within this context, it can be difficult for us to imagine what true health looks like.

What follows below is not some unimaginable ideal, but rather a common-sense explanation of what genuinely healthy individuals, culture, and environment will look like when they are healed.

Healthy Individuals

What is a healthy individual? The simplest definition is an individual who has all of their fundamental human needs met (using the definition devised by Manfred Max-Neef).

A healthy individual experiences:

• Physical and emotional wellbeing.
  • They are present in their body, which is fit, limber, and able to respond in coordinated three-dimensional movement.
    • Rolfing and/or osteopathic manipulation may be needed to help resolve imbalances in physical structures in the body.
    • Acupuncture may be needed to resolve other imbalances, particularly in the nervous system.
  • Their food, air, and water is clean and free of toxins, manufactured chemicals, and other impurities.
  • Their body is not stressed by unresolved trauma and other “emotional baggage,” freeing them from stress-induced illness.
  • They feel good and enjoy their daily life.
• Security for themselves and loved ones. They are not overly concerned about securing basic material needs and safety needs now or in the future.
• Interpersonal wellbeing. They have numerous strong personal connections, giving them a sense of love and belonging.
• Meaning. They have a sense that their life is useful and serves some higher good within their society.
• Responsibility. They take responsibility for the material and social consequences of their actions.
• Material balance. Their material inputs and outputs flow with the ecosystem they live in.

Healthy Society

A healthy society supports all of its members in meeting all of their fundamental needs and maintaining their individual health.

When it imposes norms on its members, it does that thoughtfully and responsibly. In other words, the norms themselves reflect and amplify health in individuals, society, and nature.

And a healthy society responsibly manages its material inputs and outputs, stewarding a healthy balance between its overall functioning and that of its surrounding biome.

Healthy Environment

An environment at any scale is healthy when all forms of life there are thriving, balanced, and appropriate to the geography and climate. Individual organisms and even individual species may not be thriving at any particular moment, but over the course of time, species balance against each other to produce a thriving holistic system.

When a healthy environment includes humans, they design their systems and behaviors to flow with that of the local biome, and they live off of the surpluses that they nurture it to produce.

Further Reading: Why Integration Centers Heal Individuals, Society, and Nature.