Meaning in Life

An Evidence-Based Handbook for Practitioners

Joel Vos

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781137576682
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350305731
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychologie clinique

This inspiring, insightful new text provides a practical guide to helping clients live a meaningful and satisfying life despite the challenges they may be facing.

Divided into three parts, it starts by drawing on empirical research to demonstrate the effectiveness of meaning-oriented practice and reviews a large body of literature on meaning in a wide-range of psychological and philosophical approaches, translating this into specific recommendations for practitioners. It continues by exploring the basic skill set required for working effectively in this area – from how to assess clients' needs and address issues of meaning, to specific existential, phenomenological and mindfulness skills. Finally, it provides a step guide to applying the skills to clinical practice with the support of examples and case studies from a range of professions.

In what is still an emerging area of practice, this text stands alone as a comprehensive source of reference for both students and practitioners across the full range of people professions.

PART 1

Scientific Foundations: Meaning in Life for Sceptics

1

Traditional Approaches to Meaning

1.1The four historical-cultural stages of meaning

How can you speak about meaning in life? There is no meaning in life! There is only neurology and biology. Meaning is armchair philosophy, not reality.

I am often asked this question at public lectures. To me, this is an important question that needs to be discussed before we can continue our conversations. Some colleagues interpret this psychologically: ‘What has happened to you to make you so sceptical?’ Although the individual dimension should never be overlooked, I find it more helpful to address the historical-cultural context in which this question is asked. How we think and speak about meaning reflects not only our own experiences, but also our time and culture. We often assume that people in all times and cultures have asked questions about meaning in life in the same way we do, but – as I will argue in this chapter – this seems very unlikely. The ways in which we experience and speak about meaning – or are sceptical about meaning – are a product of our unique cultural history. Therefore meaning-centred practices are inherently reflexive practices: putting ourselves, our clients and our practices in the wider context. We can only be good meaning-centred practitioners if we can position ourselves, and understand where we and our clients come from, and how our individual and collective pasts influence the questions we have in the here and now. This chapter describes three historical-social perspectives: teleological, sceptical and functional meanings. Additionally, the next chapter will elaborate on the topic of phenomenological meanings.

1.2Teleology: the ladder from ancient Greece to the Middle Ages

The individual quest for meaning is a modern western invention

Imagine the medieval peasant Godwin Rolfe. He was born in a wood-and-mud house in the manor of Lord Montagu. His parents cultivated a small

piece of their own land for which they paid rent and worked on the land of the lord and the church. From early childhood, like all their family and friends, Godwin ploughed the fields, sowing and harvesting, day in and day out, season after season.

The only days that differed from this monotonous cycle were Sundays and saints’ days, when Godwin went to church. Like other contemporar-ies, Godwin possibly did not follow the religion very intensely, but he did go to church because everyone he knew went and he had been going since early childhood. The church was also his only source of information and teaching, as he lacked access to education, television, newspapers, the internet or travelling. Often the Gospel was first dramatised in a play in the churchyard, and he depended on the subsequent sermon from the priest to understand this story from the Bible, as he was unable to read. Service after service he was told how he was expected to fulfil his role in society: receiving the holy sacraments, paying taxes to the church and not contesting the societal order, otherwise hell was waiting. As expected in his time, his eld-est brother had become a priest; his second brother had inherited the farm, and Godwin was working on his brother’s farm. His sisters had wedded local farmers and one married a shop owner; love was not involved – love for the sake of love did not exist, the partnership meant nothing other than a practical arrangement and if they were lucky they may have experienced some occasional moments of love. There was not one second when Godwin doubted this societal system, as he knew that any doubt implied excommunication and hell, and he also had no reason to doubt as this system was all he knew.

Imagine anachronistically, that Godwin met a meaning-centred practitioner who asked him the question: ‘What is the meaning in your life?’ Godwin would not know how to reply. Perhaps he would have answered: ‘I simply live my life, do my duty, pay my rent and taxes, marry a wife to have children with, and that is it.’ The medieval mystic Meister Eckhart wrote that individuals in his time usually understood the meaning of their life as being in service to the community, doing their duty and simply knowing their place (Eckhart, 1979, Sermon 9). It seems anachronistic to call this ‘meaningful’, as this was simply the way in which they lived their lives, and most people did not seem to have a sense of individuality or freedom of choice. The explicit quest for meaning is an invention of modern western society.

The societal-cosmic-divine order

The individual and societal order were apparently closely connected. The meaning for the individual was about fulfilling their place in the societal order, thus individual and social meaning were the same. As the societal order was decreed by God, this order was also a cosmic and divine one: ‘human agents were embedded in society, society in the cosmos, and the cosmos incorporates the divine’ (Taylor, 2007, p. 152). This societal-cosmic-divine order was communicated through a person’s life and work.

This is also shown in the etymological origin of the word ‘meaning’, which is derived from the medieval German word ‘Meinung’ or ‘meniti’, which described something being communicated through oneself, such as being communicated to, being given an opinion, being signified, being given directions (Library of Babel; Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology). Meister Eckhart wrote that, in his time, the purpose of individuals was typically ‘communicated’ (‘ge-meint’) through their work, by being in service to the community. Thus Godwin’s meaning was about the way in which his societal position and the divinity of God were communicated through his life and work, or in other words: his meaning was about successfully fulfilling the societal position he was born into.

Although the church reformer Martin Luther did not use this medieval word, ‘Meinung’, he kept with the metaphor of communication when he used the word ‘vocation’, which literally means being called (derived from ‘vocare’, to call). Luther used a visual metaphor to explain how individual meaning was about being called by God: God is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid. We may initially see the individual milkmaid or peasant, but when we look closer we will see that it is God who is present and active in their service to society, and thus their individual face is merely a mask of God (Wingren, 1957; Billing, 1964). Thus living a meaningful life means recognising the place where you are living now, listening to the call that is communicated to you at your position and following this.

Meaning for individuals was about fulfilling their role in the societal-cosmic-divine order, and few would question this as there was no place outside this system. When individuals were unable to fulfil their role in society – for instance, owing to diseases such as leprosy – or when they deliberately decided to leave this order – such as in the case of vagabonds – their lives were literally considered meaningless. They did not fit into the system and the divine was not communicated through them. This narrow sense of meaning as fulfilling a successful position meant that such individuals were socially treated in – what we would call nowadays – an inhumane way; they were cast out from society to colonies, or even burnt at the stake, and this was regarded as normal as their lives, meaningless, relegated them to a position akin to that desig-nated to animals and lower on the societal-cosmic ladder. Some human lives were also regarded as more meaningful than others if they were deemed higher on the societal ladder. Consequently those higher in status expected, for instance, to be served by peasants, women, slaves, and ethnic and religious minorities. These powerholders were in their rights to treat their servants poorly as they were considered less meaningful. (The unquestionable divinity of the social order and the meaningfulness of ‘the Establishment’ seem to partially continue in the present day; see Jones, 2013.)

In this societal-cosmic-divine order, there was no place for an individual quest for meaning. There was no ‘quest’, as meaning was dependent on the social position into which you were born. Individuals did not experience or verbalise the ‘meaningfulness’ of their position, as looking at yourself from a distance or doubting your position was sacrilege and there was no reason to do so: you simply did what you had to do.

The idealistic and conditional ladder of the ancient Greek philosophers

If we can anachronistically describe the meaning of the lives of individuals in the Middle Ages this was about a larger purpose that was lying behind their activities. In the way meaning for a seed is the end goal of becoming a full-grown plant, meaning for those in the Middle Ages was to successfully fulfil their role in society. For instance, love for the sake of love does not appear to have existed: the meaning behind having a partner was to start a family, share resources and have children who could help with the land. For instance, Godwin’s purpose, or the meaning of his life, was to work the land of his brother’s farm to produce food, sell the produce on the market, pay rent, start a family and serve the lord and the church. Thus the meaning of his work was not the work itself, but something higher and more purposeful: being of service in this hierarchical system. Servants worked for a lord, and believers went to church and practised their religious rituals to receive divine blessing and secure their place in heaven. The mystic Eckhart complained that many people went to church and received the holy sacraments only for the higher purpose of saving their soul; these individuals did not love God for the sake of God, but loved Him in an instrumental way for the higher purpose of their salvation (Eckhart, 1979, Sermon 9). People did not engage in activities for the mere sake of the activities themselves, but for a larger purpose. Meaning in life was defined as having an external purpose in life and all activities in life were directed towards this purpose.

Where did the idea of directing our lives towards a higher purpose come from? This could possibly be traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. He is well known for his metaphor of the cave. He describes how individuals are chained to the wall of a cave, facing a blank wall. During their lifetime, they can see only shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and these shadows are as close as they get to viewing reality. One day, a prisoner unchains himself, a philosopher, and he finds a ladder which leads him out of the cave. This philosopher understands that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he has now seen the real objects near the fire, and even the objects in the sun outside the cave. Thus the Platonic ladder starts with the shadows on the walls, via the real objects near the fire, and ends with the true objects outside in the sun. The highest viewpoint, the sun, is what Plato calls ‘the Good’, which some individuals, such as philosophers, can see, but which most individuals cannot see as they are bound to the darkness of the cave and the shadows of the objects. However, there is an ultimate good beyond everyday life, and this goes beyond the functioning of ordinary people. The ancient Greek myths offer many examples of what these Good virtues and moral heroes look like. Only individuals who have developed their mind – as Aristotelean animal rationale – can see this abstract, eternal Idea. Therefore, the meaning of our life is to practise use our rational mind – in an attempt to become like these philosophers or mythical heroes – and connect with the ‘Ideal Good’ (whatever that may be).

Plato did not use the terms ‘meaning’ or ‘purpose’, but he did set the stage for other philosophers, by making a distinction between the meaning-less dark cave and the lighter meaning-ful Good outside. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle agreed with Plato that there is an idealistic world towards which our individual being develops. All beings are directed and moving towards a specific purpose or goal, ‘telos’. When individuals reach their end goal, they participate in the Ideal Good, such as the telos of a seed to become a fully grown plant. Our human telos is also to flourish like this plant. However, to reach this end goal, individuals must fulfil several conditions. The material (hule) that a being is made of must be good – the seed for instance was not a poor type of grain or rotten. The seed also had the perfect form (eidos), like every being fulfilling their purpose. Everything purposeful is also the result of successful work (energeia), such as the seed growing perfectly in the sun, with the aid of water and air.

What happens when you fulfil your purpose? According to Aristotle you may experience well-being or flourishing (eudaimonia, which literally translates as eu meaning ‘good’ and daimon meaning ‘spirit’). For Aristotle flourishing is the result of successfully actualising our moral virtues (arete) and our practical ethical wisdom (phronesis). For example, it is more likely that we will achieve eudaimonia when we properly develop and use our highest mental capabilities, particularly by leading a political-ethical life, serving the community and living a philosophical-contemplative life. This implied that individuals did not create their own purpose: each person’s place was defined by the social-cosmic-divine order, and the harmony of the whole is the good to be pursued and our highest purpose. Although everyone can serve the community by doing what is expected of them in society, true eudaimonia seemed restricted to a small elite group, as many steps had to be fulfilled before we may experience eudaimonia. Women, slaves and many others would by definition be unable to attain these necessary attributes.

To summarise, for something or someone to fulfil their purpose, they first had to be successful in all the requisites of eudaimonia of having the perfect material, form, work and purpose. Eckhart compared the Aristotelean telos with the roof of a house, which first assumed that it has stable foundations and walls; but not everyone is so fortunate to have a stable ground on which to build their house or to have the materials necessary to build proper walls (Eckhart 1954, Saying 21). This narrow sense of meaning as a conditional purpose had profound societal consequences. Individuals did not seem to fulfil any purpose when their lives had not successfully ticked all of these Aristotelean boxes. This idea of a meaning-ful life as a conditional life was reflected in the inhumane treatment of slaves, women, ill individuals and social minorities in the Greek, Roman and medieval eras. A full meaningful life was conditional, and most conditions could only be fulfilled by a privileged few as this required a certain social standing, education, intellectual capacity and ascetic skills. Meaning was like a ladder, and most people could only reach the lowest rungs.

Self-discipline and self-denial

Thus, during the era of the ancient Greek phi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• List of Questionnaires and Handouts in the Treatment Manual
• Introduction
• PART 1 Scientific Foundations: Meaning in Life for Sceptics
• PART 2 Practical Foundations: Practitioner Skills
• PART 3 A Ten-Session Treatment Manual: Meaning-Centered Groups for Physically Ill Individuals
• Questionnaires
• Reading Suggestions
• Index