What is meant by "Meaning in life? To have meaning in life, or meaning for anything, is to have a rational explanation for it. It is to have an explanation that relates any thought, word, or deed to a greater meaning, that has a greater meaning, up to an ultimate meaning. To understand meaning, simply ask "Why?" "Why"..... up to an ultimate "Why" that cannot be answered by "Why?".
How are meaning and purpose related? A purpose is simply the last goal of a series of sequential goals. Ultimately, a "meaning in life", for human beings, is a rational explanation for the choice of one's purpose in life, or for a goal to a purpose. Or meaning is having a state of being or doing that relates to a goal, or to a purpose in life. Basically, such a meaning in life is an answer to a "Why?" to a goal that is relative to a purpose in life . In essence, an ultimate purpose in life gives meaning to all goals that help in its achievement. It gives meaning to most of what one is, what one does, and what one hopes to become.
How does an ultimate purpose give meaning in life? An ideal is a synonym for perfection. An ultimate purpose is an ideal of perfection for all persons may strive for all thru their lives. An ideal or perfect ultimate purpose has aspects of its perfection in the"5-Ps and G". These are the ultimate Purpose, Principle, Perfection, Premise, and Perspective. All of these are ultimate goods. An ultimate purpose gives eternal and universal direction, hope, and meaning in life. An ultimate principle is an ultimate truth that enables an almost instant general answer and meaning to specific problems relative to the ultimate principle. An ultimate perfection is an ideal standard for judging what is true, moral, just, beautiful, and meaningful. It is something to love, to strive for, to have happiness. An ultimate premise enables a rationality that enables reasoned judgements that enable a self-controlling moderation, harmony, stability, and meaning to a free choice. An ultimate perspective is a flexible view of the whole of things that enables one to see meaning in the parts that relate to the whole. An ultimate good enables almost instant general answers to resolve ethical and morality conflicts, for all that relates to an ultimate good will be good and meaningful. It is an ultimate standard for judging the morality of faith and the ethics of harmony.
How do purpose gives meaning to goals? The "5-Ps and G"" enable goals toward their achievement. Goals to a purpose give a reason for using one's potential, while giving direction, reason for being, meaning in life, and hope in life. But ultimate purposes are life-long efforts, while goals are only momentary. It's like the difference between long-enduring love and momentary sex .Goals enable an achievement that results in the happiness of elation, in an ego uplift, in greater will power, in higher self-esteem, and in more self-confidence. Hope toward a goal, that leads to a purpose in life, inspires a spiritual faith to self-sacrifice for it, and a will to live in order to achieve the purpose in life. That purpose in life may enable self-sacrifice in the eternal hope for an eternal life beyond earth.
How do common purposes give meaning to society? The 5-Ps and G apply to all of the progressive ranges of society that extend from the individual, to society, to humanity. Where there is a common purpose in society; as with religion, patriotism, and mutual survival; there will be common goals and meanings that makes for a moderate, harmonious, stabilized social unity with its individual diversity. War, like a natural disaster, is a common purpose with common goals that give meaning and hope in society. They give a common cause for which to love, work, fight, and if need, to die for. Spiritual purposes unify most, rational purposes unify less, and sensual purposes unify least.
How is a purpose a guide to a meaningful life? A purpose in life is a guide that gives direction in life that inspires the individual to think and to act, to do and to be whatever enables him to achieve his purpose of ideal perfection. It gives a focusing unity to all one chooses to do, be, and become, while avoiding blocking conflicts with what is irrelevant to the purpose. It gives an almost instant general answer as to where to go, what to do, how to do it, and why to do it. Answers deny blocking mental conflicts. A purpose is a reason for using self-sacrificing self-discipline to deny present goals and values for a greater purpose and values in one's future life. A purpose enables one to rationally plan his goals and to use free will to self-determine the direction of his life. As an ultimate ideal of perfection, an ultimate purpose enables answers as to what is true, moral, just, beautiful, and meaningful. As an ultimate rational premise, it enables the self-controllable reason that enables a happy moderation, harmony, and stability in one's life.
How decide a meaningful purpose in life? An individual's purpose in life is relative to his being a self-balancing trinity of spiritual-rational-sensual beings and values. He is born to be dominant in one of these beings, as are other individuals, but is free to choose to be otherwise. His ultimate meaningful purpose in life is to fulfill his spiritual-rational-sensual potential to the maximum, but moderating these to have a rhythmic harmonious unity between the potentials of his spirit-mind-body. He is born to do this, but relative to the determinations of his birth and dominant being, the determinations of nature and society, and his own free-willed self-determination. This infers that this ultimate purpose in life of each individual will differ relative to his dominant being., and that the individual purpose must moderate to enable harmony with the diverse individual purposes in society. What applies, in principle, to the individual also applies to society.
Why have purpose in life based on one's dominant being? A purpose in life focuses most of one's life on that purpose by means of the individual's unique dominant being with its unique spiritual-rational-sensual potentials. One's personal potentials are best for achieving one's dominant purpose in life. This focusing of one's dominant a purpose denies two/thirds of the blocking mental conflicts in life that result when one cannot answer, "Who am I?", "Why am I here" What is my purpose and reason for being? "How do I achieve my goals with the least conflict and frustration? " With no self-identity, in terms of a dominant being, one has difficulty finding a purpose and goals in life to give him direction, meaning, and happiness in life. A purposeless person meanders in aimless circles trying to find his way in life.
How does purpose in life relate to self-identity? The Primary Questions of Living begin with, "Who am I?" Until this question is answered, one cannot know what his dominant being is. He cannot know what his purpose in life is. The next question is, "Why am I here?". He has no answer without a purpose. The next order of question is: "What is my purpose and reason for being?" No meaningful understanding or change in the self can be had until these three basic questions are answered.
What if one lacks a purpose in life? Without a purpose in life, one has no ultimate principles, premises, perfections, perspectives, or good in life. One has no consistent, goals, which means he has no meaningful reason to use his spirit-mind-body. Without a purpose he has no direction, meaning, reason-for being, or hope in life. Without an ultimate purpose one has no ultimate principle in life as a firm basis for having a cause for which to happily work, fight, and die for. With no ultimate purposeful premise to unify his knowledge, one has an incoherent mess of unrelated facts without any coherent truth to give coherent meaning to life. Without an ultimate premise one lacks the means by which to rationalize meaning in life, so life has no happy meaning. Without rationality, there is room for insanity as self-controlled limits of moderation, harmony, and stability are lost. With no ultimate perfection as a guiding standard, one has no ideal of beauty to imitate, no standard of values, and no reason for self-improvement that makes for enduring happiness. With no broad perspective one has no reason for viewing the future. So one stagnates in non-achievement, non-fulfillment of perfection as he moves toward unhappy self-degradation and ego-disintegration. With no ultimate perspective, one lives in the here-now moment, that turns to unhappy disillusionment and the boredom of having nothing else to achieve. Without an ultimate good as an ultimate standard of morality and ethics, there is the chaos of relative values, of having no truth and values of what is good-fair-bad..
What if one's life has no purposeful meaning? If one has no purpose in life, then his life has no consistent goals, no enduring happy elation of achievement, no reason for using his spirit-mind-body, no meaning to anything, and no direction, hope, and reason for being. With no reason for being, one destroys his being. He may do this quickly by suicide, slowly by sensual dissipation and degradation, recklessly by a living that challenges death, by escaping into an enslaving cult that denies the world, or by entering the world of insane fantasy. Or one may commit to spiritual faith, to turn to his last ultimate hope, to God, did many purposeless, meaningless, hopeless sensual dissipates who became ascetic monks and saints.
What is a universal ultimate purpose in life? A universal ultimate purpose in life is one that gives all individuals rational direction, meaning, happiness, and hope in life. One such universal purpose is to fulfill one's trinity of spiritual-rational-sensual potentials to the maximum, relative to one's dominant being, whether this be dominantly spiritual, rational, or sensual. The ideal is to have a balancing trinity of spirit-mind-body that is in rational, rhythmic, harmonious moderation and stability. But this self-fulfillment toward the ideal happiness of self-perfection, is self-controlled by the Primary Duty to moderate this effort. It is to achieve the self and social perfection, that is in a balancing harmonious unity, consistent with the ultimate Purposes of God-Man-Nature. In seeking for this universal Ultimate Purpose in Life, one strives to achieve his Primary Purposes in Life. One may never achieve this ideal of self and social perfection, but happiness is in the chase, not in the catch.
What are the Primary Purposes in Life? These are sub-purposes, in sequential order of their achievement of one's ultimate purpose in life. The primary purposes, in keyword-form, are: Survival, Non-hardship (Non-pain), Security, Free will, Self-realization, Self-fulfillment, Self-perfection, and Happiness. This striving for ultimate self-perfection and happiness is relative to the Primary Duty of Moderation enables the social perfection of a rational, rhythmic, harmonious unity between the primary purposes of God-Man-Nature. The Primary Purposes and ideal perfections of God-Man-Nature are the same, in principle, as those for the individual. This is justified by the balancing Ultimate Trinity being the ultimate standard for determining ultimate principles, purposes, perfections, premises, perspectives, and good..
How purpose enables enduring happiness? Happiness is basically from the achievement of a goal that elates, or from avoiding ta conflict that confuses, and the frustration that deflates. So happiness is basically from achieving a goal, or from the avoiding misery. One achieves sensual happiness by being in the world of the senses. One avoids misery by avoiding conflict and frustration, by avoiding the world of the senses, which means being in the world of mind or spirit. When the happiness of goal-achievement is had, unless a new goal is set up, the unhappy stagnation of boredom sets in. As enduring happiness comes from the chase, not from the achievement, then boredom without new achievement means unhappiness. Enduring rational happiness is a moderating synthesis of achievement and evasion. This means the achievement of happiness by achieving sequential goals to a purpose. Each time a goal is achieved, with its elation of happiness, a new goal is set up to avoid the disillusionment and unhappiness of boredom. In this way enduring rational happiness is a continuous life-long achievement of goals toward one's ultimate purpose in life.
What are non-goal means to happiness? The unhappiness of boredom, from a lack of purpose, goal, and achievement may be avoided by non-goal means. Thus happiness may be had by being one-with something. This non-goal happiness applies to what is spiritual, as differing from the elation of sensual goal achievement, and their spiritual -sensual synthesis in intellectual contentment. The happiness of spiritual love, beauty, and creativity do not require a goal. Enduring spiritual Love differs from less enduring rational romance, and momentary sensual sex. This love may be had for a person, society, humanity, nature or God. The love of beauty may be for anything in the cultural arts or in nature. Creativity may be had with anything one develops, constructs, or grows. Spiritual love, beauty, and creativity enable one to be one-with something. The lover is one-with the loved one; the artist is one-with his art. The creator is one-with what he creates.
How do love, beauty, and creativity bring happiness? When one is one-with the oneness of love, beauty, or creativity; there is no unhappiness from the conflict of difference or choice, and no frustration of desire. Love is synonymous with the non-goal, spiritual happiness of oneness, perfection, beauty, and creativity. To have one of these is to have all of them. Each is a means having the others. As a state of oneness, each of these qualities escapes the unhappy misery of conflict and frustration. Love for the greater or the lesser gives one something for which to be one-with. It gives one a common focusing cause; something for which to work, to fight and, if need, to die for. It gives one purpose, hope, meaning in life, and reason for being.
How is Purpose determined by free-will and freedoms? It is not where one is that counts, but where one is going. Where will I be? What will I be? What will I be doing? What will I become in the next 5, 10, 20 years? A purpose in life answers all of these goal-questions. Will I focus on sequentially achieving my Primary Purposes in Life of Survival, Non-hardship, Security, Free will, Self-realization, Self-fulfillment, Self-perfection, Happiness, and Social perfection? One has free-will, and with freedoms, may choose his purpose in life and goals to it. He is free to seek for what gives meaning to his life, and free to achieve self-fulfillment before security, but he has the consequence of future hardship. Free-will is the ability, if one has the freedom, to say "No-Maybe-Yes" to self-discipline himself, to self-deny present goals for a greater value in a future purpose. One is free to seek for self-perfection with its denials, or self-degradation with its consequences. One has free- will, and with freedoms, may self-determine his ultimate purpose in his life that will give him direction, hope, and meaning to his life.
How do Trinitarian structures apply to a purpose. goals, and meaning? Below is a sample of how Trinitarian structures may be applied to explain, illustrate, relate, develop, and unify the knowledge of purposes, goals, and meaning in life. The structures used are: the Trinity Structure, the Progressive Range Structure, and the Self-discipline Cycle Structure:
______________________________________________________________________ - ± + 0 MEDIEVAL ———> RENAISSANCE ———> MODERN — —> NO-VALUE ______________________________________________________________________ Credulism Skepticism Relativism Existentialism Conscience Reason Senses "Gut feeling" Upgrading Hierarchy Degrading Equality Theism Patriotism Individualism Communism Biblical Classical Statistical Erotical
YEAR SELF-DISCIPLINE PROGRESSIVE RANGES GOVERNMENT AESTHETICS LOVE
CYCLE (S.D.C.) OF SOCIETY (P.R.S.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
1000 Survival (S) Individual (I) Tribalism Norman Celibate
1100 Hardship (H) Family (F) Autocracy Romanesque Theism
1200 Self-Discipline (SD) Group (G) Monarchism Gothic Chivalry
1300 Effort (E) City (C) Oligarchy Classical Humanism
1400 Security (S) Nation (N) Aristocracy Naturalistic Platonic
1500 Leisure (L) Civilization (C) Theocracy Rationalistic Brotherhood
1600 Pleasure (P) Nation (N) Parliament Baroque Patriotism
1700 Dissipation (D) City (C) Republic Neo-classical Provincialism
1800 Degradation (D) Group (G) Democracy Impressionism Fraternalism
1900 Ruin (R) Family (F) Socialism Abstractionism Filial
2000 Survival(S) Individual (I) Nihilism Primitivism Egoism
Anarchy No art Rapine