Overview
What is the motivation behind creating Wellism?
It is a deep longing for a philosophy of life that makes sense and can guide us in our daily lives as well as in larger scale challenges in society and the world.
A Lack
Although traditions and ideologies that have been devised in the past are insightful in parts, they are either outdated, incomplete, or internally inconsistent. They often fail to provide satisfying guidance in our current reality — especially in moments of inner conflict, relational tension, or social breakdown.
The Insufficiency of Religious Approaches
If we look at religions that rely on a metaphysical belief in a god as the source for guiding our lives, especially how we should treat one another (ethics), crucial questions arise: Can we be sure that what is written in the religion’s holy books is truly what got intended, and not simply the beliefs or misinterpretations of the people who wrote those texts? Especially when these texts were written thousands of years ago, in times when people lacked our modern scientific understanding of the world (physics, biology, technology, etc.) and had a much simpler lifestyle compared to contemporary hectic society? Moreover, when religions contradict each other, or even different denominations within the same religion, can we even know which one is correct, if any at all?
Perhaps most importantly – many people have done, and some are still doing, horrible atrocities in the name of their religion. It is not because they misinterpret their holy texts – they choose to adhere to the fundamentalist, destructive, violent, and oppressive parts of these teachings rather than the parts that support compassion, peace, and flourishing. But if a religion is a mixed bag of good and bad ideas, according to what criteria should we choose which parts to follow? This criteria necessarily exists outside of the religion itself.
So no existing religion is sufficient as a good enough life philosophy, especially in the realm of ethics.
The Insufficiency of Philosophical Approaches and Ideologies
While philosophical approaches and other ideologies contain many useful ideas, none is comprehensive enough and sufficiently up to date to serve as a guide for contemporary life. A detailed discussion explaining the gaps in major philosophies and ideologies can be found here. The useful parts have been incorporated into Wellism.
A Unifying Value
The first issue with existing sources is that although they advocate specific values and principles, some of which may sound good, perhaps they do not provide a clear or sufficient rationale for them. They might have an implicit underlying value that motivates the specifics, but it may not be spelled out explicitly or clearly enough.
In light of this, Wellism was created with the aim of integrating the “good” parts of existing sources but with a clear explicit unifying value from which all the other values and principles follow. This unifying value is Wellbeing, in all its aspects (as explained here).
Filling the Void of Meaning in Modern Secular Life
We live in a time when many people have moved beyond traditional religions because of their shortcomings, and also got disillusioned with political ideologies (whether left or right, socialism, progressivism, or capitalism). Yet they haven’t found anything coherent to replace it. There is a crisis of meaning, and a vacuum where once there were guiding narratives, even if they were problematic. Without proper guidance, this vaccum tends to get filled with harmful behaviors, such as consumerism, shallow entertainment, addictions (to substances, shopping, social media, etc.), unhealthy competition, violence, and more.
Wellism aims to fill the void — with a realistic, flexible, and inspiring life philosophy. It asks one guiding question:
- What would enhance wellbeing now — for me, for others, and for society as a whole?
A Call to Collaboration
Wellism is not a finished product. It is a living framework, an open-source philosophy that welcomes input, experimentation, and refinement. Wellism hopes to become a shared language for people who care — people who want to improve their lives, uplift their communities, and help create more wellbeing in the world.