The Experience of Meaning in Life by Joshua A. Hicks & Clay Routledge

Author:Joshua A. Hicks & Clay Routledge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

Multiple Paths to Meaning

Our aim in this chapter is to bring to the table of researchers who study meaning in life an emphasis on the normative and frequent activities in which humans engage so that we may see meaning as situated in the proximal settings of daily life. We emphasize that while the search for meaning may derive from disruption and trauma (Heine et al. 2006; Park 2010; Proulx and Heine 2006), the presence of meaning can be found in the quotidian (Hicks and King 2009).

We do not want to argue that identity light is better or worse than identity deep or even that these are mutually exclusive (see McLean 2005). Indeed, the reader might be forming a story in his or her mind of the deeper identity of Peter based on the few snippets of stories we have communicated. Thus, the self can be explained in the context of these light stories (McLean and Thorne 2006). Further, sometimes a traumatic identity deep story can be told with a laugh – indeed, that might be a good way to make an audience feel comfortable when disclosing a story with potentially heavier implications, such as Bruno the Farting Horse. Thus, the two meaning processes – making coherence out of chaos and connecting to others – can happen in the same storytelling context. Connecting to others may also come in the seemingly simple process of realizing one is significant to another person; that is, when someone laughs at your funny line and smiles at you – you exist! You matter to someone else, and that is meaningful. Further, while identity deep may be more explicitly about coherence making, identity light can also create coherence. Indeed, any action in which one displays the self is likely to be coherence-making. That is, one must be the same person in whatever story one is telling or however one is telling it. Yet, we argue that identity deep is more self-laden and identity light is more connection-laden – that is, there are shades to these two manners of narrating the self, but they are not different colors and they both serve to create coherence, to bring meaning to one’s life.

Yet, we argue that the light often gets short shrift in the study of meaning. As researchers, many of us appear drawn to the deep, the eudemonic, and the difficult to understand meaning. And there is a strong basis for this draw – it is important, perhaps critical, to understand chaos and ourselves at deeper levels. But it is also important, and perhaps critical, to understand light moments of laughter around the kitchen table. Thus, we argue that storytelling has a unique place in the study of meaning in life, as stories can provide both a sense of coherence and connection – perhaps the two primary drives for having meaning in life.

Many of those who study meaning in life discuss the importance of having purpose in order to experience meaning (Baumeister and Vohs 2002; Deci and Ryan 2000; deRoon-Cassini et al.

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