When someone asks, “How are you?”, the common response, “OK, not bad,” often implies that health is merely the absence of disease. But if we pause to truly reflect on that question, the concept of health reveals a far greater complexity and richness.  The sources challenge this limited perspective, urging us to understand health as a complex, multidimensional latent construct, much like personality or happiness, encompassing a broad array of observable phenomena.

More Than Just the Absence of Suffering

Traditionally, health is often defined by the absence of suffering, such as physical pain, anxiety, or depression. However, this view is incomplete. The sources remind us that people can experience wellness even with terminal disease or chronic pain. True health can also be conceptualized by the presence of certain positive qualities, including pleasure, happiness, joy, energy, and enthusiasm. This suggests that even when physical ailments are present, other dimensions of well-being can flourish.

What Your Body and Mind Can Do

A second crucial dimension of health is functional ability versus impairment. This isn’t just about whether your body is working; it encompasses a multitude of aspects.

The significance of an impairment can vary greatly depending on the individual, highlighting that health is not a one-size-fits-all concept. For example, cognitive impairment in three-dimensional space would be far more disabling for a brain surgeon or architect than for a writer. This dimension also includes an individual’s flexibility and adaptability to changing conditions as well as their ability to give and receive. It’s entirely possible to imagine highly functioning individuals who are still unhealthy in other ways, just as people with significant functional impairment can be very healthy in other aspects.

Finding Inner Peace and Meaning

The third, and perhaps most profound, domain of health is a subjective sense of inner peace or coherence in life. This involves a global sense of predictability (even when control is low) of one’s internal and external environment, coupled with an optimism that things will work out as best as is reasonable. This domain resonates with concepts such as:
*   Hardiness
*   Resilience
*   Learned optimism
*   A sense of meaning and purpose in life

All these concepts speak to an individual’s broad subjective perspective on life, which is a powerful indicator of overall health and well-being

The Holistic View of Healing

By embracing this multidimensional understanding, the role of a healer expands significantly. It moves beyond merely detecting and eradicating a specific disease state to encompass the entire quality of life. This broader perspective recognizes that health is about the richness of human experience, urging us to consider all facets of a person when asking, “How are you?”. This holistic approach is crucial, especially given that spiritual well-being, an often overlooked dimension, is increasingly linked to positive health outcomes.


Imagine health not as a single, clear road, but as a vast, intricate garden. The traditional view only focuses on the absence of weeds (disease). But a truly healthy garden thrives not just by lacking weeds, but by having vibrant, blossoming flowers (pleasure, joy), strong, deep roots (functional ability), and a harmonious, flourishing ecosystem (coherence, meaning). A skilled gardener, like a holistic healer, doesn’t just pull weeds; they nurture the soil, prune the plants, ensure proper light and water, and understand the interconnectedness of every part to cultivate a truly thriving, beautiful space.