Divine Involvement And Sense Of Meaning In Life

Improved Essays
One’s meaning in life is essential because it declares that they have a purpose on Earth. People must have the feeling that their lives are as important to others as they are to themselves. “The pursuit of meaning, which some scholars believe is the primary motivational force in life” (Frankl 1963). Individuals who search for their true meaning in life have a greater determination for success and ambition to reach their goals. In addition, religion is another factor that helps people find meaning in life. “A sense of divine involvement can influence sense of meaning in life in a positive way for a number of reasons”. In Jong Jung’s article “Sense of Divine Involvement and Sense of Meaning in Life: Religious Tradition as a Contingency”, he states that people seek for God’s comfort to find meaning in life.
Jung says that people seek “an ongoing, intimate relationship with divine figures through a variety of means such as prayer and rituals.” (Jung 2) This means that people seek motivation through God by reading passages or attending meetings to find their purpose in life. This becomes a result of God being extremely significant to them. God’s involvement suggests that his role is to help their well-being and “with the support and consent of a divine other one
…show more content…
He says “some people could seek consolation in religious faith, and some would find. (Scheffler 2)”. Those who find it are the ones that seek positivity in that scenario. Even if the world was about to end, people should live their life with meaning so that they know they died for a purpose. Religious people seek in God as a “safe haven”, who becomes an attachment figure to them. Jung says “a sense of divine involvement can bolster a sense of meaning in life. (2)” This creates a sense of comfortability and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Recent research of religious meaning has shown that older adults who gain a sense of meaning in life from religion tend to have higher levels of optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction (Krause, 2003). From Krause's theory, religious meaning is defined as the process of turning to religion in an effort to find a sense of direction in life, purpose in life, and a sense of a reason for one’s existence. Since religion is universal, it fulfills numerous basic functions within human societies. Therefore, religious meaning, as one of its many functions, offers meaning and purpose to answer any existential question about human life. However, it is not clear how the sense of the religious meaning, as the primary motivational force, drives aging…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The question the “the meaning of life” is a vague question. Many interpret this question in different ways because the meaning of life for everyone is not the same. For some it may be to do as much good as they can, or it may be to live life like there is no tomorrow and have has much fun as they can or to gain as much knowledge as possible to make themselves happier. Many people interpret this question differently so there is no one answer for this question. No person can answer this question for someone else it is left up to the person himself to answer…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In her essay “Meaning in Life and Why It Matters,” Susan Wolf discusses the reasons that contribute to meaning in our lives and argues that we should “understand meaningfulness as an attribute lives can have that is not reducible to or subsumable under either happiness, as it is ordinarily understood, or morality” (3). In laying out her beliefs of how we can find meaning, she discusses different viewpoints and offers suggestions of how they should be altered and combined to make a more accurate theory she calls the ‘Fitting Fulfillment View.’ In this paper I will explain the details of the Fitting Fulfillment View as described by Wolf as well as why it is important to talk about meaning and how we can judge whether something is meaningful or not. Through looking at the example of education, I will prove that Wolf’s account is reasonable, versatile, and…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For thousands of years, care of the inner self was primarily the domain of religion. The advent of modern psychology in the late 1800s put this care in new hands; today, approaches to integrating the worlds of Christianity and psychology span a broad range (Entwhistle, 2010). Some individuals or factions in each field of expertise view the other with contempt, viewing spiritual doctrine and psychological research/practice as incompatible. Others pick and choose aspects to sprinkle into their own field, such as psychologists who see therapeutic merit in prayer & meditation apart from the beliefs that ground them, or Christian counselors who develop or borrow therapeutic methods based on similarity to Christian disciplines without attention to empirical methodology…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    God has always been a part of my life, but my relationship with Him was always extremely me-focused. Every week we went to church, that’s just what my family did. There never was a moment when I ever questioned God’s existence; He was just an everyday part of life. Even though I had wonderful parents and was incredibly blessed to be in a Christian home, I struggled from a young age with anxiety and panic attacks. As I grew older I became increasingly unhappy.…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many different outlooks on life. Some believe that the world we exist in is meaningless and that nothing we do will be of importance. Others, however, have a much more lighthearted approach, focusing on enjoying their lives as much as possible and looking for enjoyable activities to partake in. This search for a purpose in life, or existentialism, shapes our realities and our ambitions.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Book Club #5 Man’s Search for a Meaning Every book we read in class had its purpose. Tuesday’s with Morrie, taught us valuable lessons on the things that really matter in life, and dealing with death at an old age. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, showed us death at a young age, trials, and hope someone can have. Man’s Search for a Meaning, give us a different perspective of life.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Psychology allows people to analyze different parts of cognitive thinking and human behavior. While these process are important to understand humans, they also aid in helping Christians understand how God created us. There are many psychological processes that help deepen understanding of God, but a specific aspect of psychology that can be analyzed is emotional regulation. Scientifically, emotions are positive or negative experiences that are associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity (316). One can look back on their own life and think of times where they were very happy and times where they were very sad.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Why do we as humans do what we do? Is there an explanation for our actions? What exactly are our actions and what goes into those actions? All of these questions can be answered and it all comes down to the point of happiness. Through text such as “Human Fulfillment” by David Cloutier, Moral Theology True Happiness and the Virtues by William C. Mattison, and “On Free Choice of the Will” by Augustine we will find answers and examples to these questions.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Susan Wolfs “The Meaning in Life and Why It Matters” is a short book of Essays containing commentaries by Robert Adams and John Kothe, and Wolfs responses to their commentary. Throughout the book Wolf focuses on 3 views to talk about when thinking about life, and objectively why it matters for it to be important. Those 3 views are the Fulfillment view, the Larger-than-oneself view, and the Bipartite view. After explaining these views Wolf then gives her interpretation on her own crafted view called the Fitting Fulfillment view. After Wolf explains these views, Adams and Kothe set up counter arguments to her view and the other views.…

    • 1516 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Christianity And Buddhism

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In this essay, I will argue that to some extent the Buddha can be seen as functionally equivalent to a god, due to the similarities of leadership roles in Buddhism and Christianity, but in actuality cannot function as one because that would go against a core principle of Buddhism. The term ‘god’, for the purpose of this essay, is considered solely in the context of the uppercase, God. To American Christians, the belief associated with this spelling represents their deity as a ‘singular’ being, a Divine Leader. The Christian God functions as a source of hope and provides a sense of community amongst followers regardless to their denomination of Christianity.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why am I here? What is my purpose? Religion easily provided answers to these uncertainties. Religion played an important role in everyone’s daily lives. It provides understanding of what is not understandable in our lives.…

    • 1417 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These beliefs in the supernatural, spirits, gods, etc. help promote longevity in the group cooperation. This level of cooperation and costly behavior can be observed in militaries and fraternities as well. (Richard 2004) 166.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is a worldview? 1. A worldview is the social system from which we discover reality in order to grasp its significance. This includes any religious opinions, principles, values, or philosophical system which provides a methodology to understanding the world and human beings.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We are constantly striving to search for the purpose and meaning of the things we do in our everyday lives. I believe we need reason and purpose in order to do anything, just how some need a reason or reasons to keep living, or their lives may become “meaningless”. I believe the meaning of life is to find what is true to you by using your own personal experiences and dreams. Everything you do brings meaning, even if it brings you happiness or sadness or even tragic. Either the experience is good or bad, it still has…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays