Meaning and Purpose: Relevance to Daily Life
After you’ve taken the MPQ, read onward!
Imagine the following scenario: you have been raised in a deeply evangelical household. From an early age, your parents taught you to pray daily and told you that the purpose and meaning of life were found in God. Attending Sunday school reinforced this message. So did the television shows that your family watched, the books that they gave you to read, and the music to which they encouraged you to listen. You grew up in this environment throughout your early teenage years, attending religious elementary and junior high schools. Then, you went off to a public high school, because your parents could not afford a religious high school.
There, you met an environment that challenged your beliefs that the purpose and meaning in life were to be found only in God. You started to question and doubt, maybe even attended meetings of the local Secular Student Alliance affiliate to find out what it was all about. You wanted to explore more broadly, but were afraid of losing your sense of purpose and meaning in life.
Courtesy of Cerina Gillilan
This is the story of many young people I have come to know. They were deeply confused about meaning and purpose in life, questioning what it was all about. This questioning correlates with the growing number of “nones,” people without any religious affiliation in American society, especially among younger adults. Many nones, and especially college aged youth, are seeking for answers that don’t necessarily include a God as part of the equation (Astin, Astin, Lindholm).
This workbook makes a further contribution to this public conversation. It is based on my experience with many people that I have engaged with in my role as a professor and also as President and Chief Insights Officer of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit I co-founded.
So why do people come to my classes and workshops? Why do they trust me to have any more expertise in finding meaning and purpose in life than the next guy? Perhaps my own story can help answer this question.
I struggled with the question of life’s meaning and purpose throughout my youth. My parents tried to sell me on their view of the meaning and purpose of life. They pushed me to become a doctor or lawyer, make a lot of money, go to synagogue, and not worry about reflecting on life’s big questions.
But I was a bit of a rebel. I didn’t really listen to them. Instead of going to synagogue, I spent long and lazy afternoons and evenings with my friends – hanging out, walking, playing cards, drinking, and arguing, often about the meaning and purpose of life. I particularly remember one conversation when I was 18. My two closest friends and I stayed up until 5 a.m., playing cards, drinking, and trying to convince each other that our individual vision of the meaning and purpose of life was the best one. At the same time as I argued with my buddies and expressed a false bravado, I always felt a certain emptiness in the depth of my stomach, a feeling that I lacked meaning and purpose in life.
Going to college prompted further thought. Listening to professors and reading great books caused me to rethink the meaning and purpose of life many times. I really gained a richer perspective, but never a clear answer to my question – “What is the meaning and purpose of life for me?”
So far, my story resembles that of many students, unsatisfied with the traditional answers given by parents and religious venues, who came to my classes and workshops wanting to find meaning and purpose in life. However, my life took a different route in my last year of college.
I broke with my parents’ wishes for me to go to medical school, prompting a pretty serious family conflict, and instead went into history. I decided to study how people in the Soviet Union, where my family came from, found purpose, happiness, and fun in life.
Since that time, I have conducted extensive research on how individuals in modern societies found meaning and purpose in life (Tsipursky, “Conformism;” “Living ‘America’”). I also applied these techniques to myself, and filled that deep pit in my stomach, developing a rich and strong sense of personal life meaning and purpose. Later in this book, I will share these strategies, and my own answers to the question of “what is the meaning of life for you?”
This background gave me an evidence-based perspective on diverse techniques and strategies for finding life’s meaning and purpose in the contemporary world, as well as in my own life. After becoming a professor at The Ohio State University, I have taught many college students, and I have oriented my classes to helping them figure out their personal answer to this big life question.
Seeing how much my students benefited, I decided to use my knowledge and background to help the broader community in Central Ohio. I began to give workshops to community groups on finding life’s meaning and purpose. Finding that people gained a lot from these workshops, I collaborated with a group of other enthusiasts to create a meet-up group, Columbus Rationality, which gave regular presentations on reason-based, rational approaches to life. This meet-up thrived. Other people around the country who heard about this group wanted similar benefits.
We then decided to found Intentional Insights, and this workbook is one of the products we offer. Our nonprofit also offers plenty of other products and services to help individuals evaluate reality clearly, make effective decisions, and refine and reach their goals. Those who gained the benefit of our offerings had great feedback. Here are some quotes from participants in videotaped workshops on making decisions and evaluating reality rationally:
"I really enjoyed the workshop. It helped me to see some of the problems I may be employing in my thinking about life and other people... Something I gained from this workshop are tools to help me be a less stressed-out person."
• "I have gained a new perspective after attending the workshop. In order to be more analytical, I have to take into account that attention bias is everywhere. I can now further analyze and make conclusions based on evidence. With relation to the fundamental attribution error, it can give me a chance to keep a more open mind.
Which will help me to relate to others more, and have a different view of the ‘map’ in my head.”
• “From this workshop, I have gained the knowledge of how to better assess the conflicts in a situation and how to resolve the issues… The benefits of this workshop for those who participate can include: greater self-awareness, greater strategic planning, and greater satisfaction with life.”
Set aside 5 to 10 minutes to complete the following
Take a few minutes to think about what is the relevance of a personal sense of meaning and purpose in life for you on an everyday level, and what you can gain from having a clear answer to the question of “What is the meaning and purpose of life for me?”
Write down your thoughts and then proceed onward.