It’s difficult, but I can exist without hope… for a short while. And I can exist without promise. But it is completely impossible to live without meaning. How could I go on if there was no purpose to life, if I had no reason for living? Probably I could exist…. for a while but there would be no life. I couldn’t handle that for long.
And… not just any old purpose will do. My purpose has to have meaning… has to have purpose. I would suspect this is true for everyone. The issue is that ‘meaning’ is individually defined. What may be meaningful to me may be a yawn for someone else. And vice versa. However – that isn’t the issue. The important consideration is that each person knows what provides meaning for them.
‘Meaning’ is the motivation, the purpose, the reason, the excitement, the challenge, the goal for each person. Without meaning why would you do what you do? Where’s the pleasure? So… how do you determine meaning for yourself? What comprises your definition?
Let me give you a partial answer by sharing what provides meaning for me. I always like to hope that my actions, behavior, activities have a spiritual implication. If there are no spiritual impacts then I’m not as engaged. I may still be involved with the activity but there is a secondary reason for my participation. It is when this particular aspect of ‘meaning’ for me is included that I am totally involved. Therefore, when there is a spiritual aspect I find I have meaning.
Meaning is the foundation for what we do and it is part of the definition of who we are.
