Question 1

How does a meaningful life differ from a good life?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

This is really a philosophical question that rests on definitions of the good life (eudaimonia vs. hedonia, for example). Personally, I can't live a good life unless it is meaningful, but I acknowledge that there are others who would have other qualities take priority, such as fun, stimulation, pleasure, or power.

Despite my quick answer, I think the topic is super interesting, and I've written a couple of papers on why I think the meaningful life does a good job at bridging the gap between eudaimonic and hedonic definitions of the good life. Boiled down, the meaningful life can give us a framework for using virtue to create a good and enjoyable life.

Question 2

What is the difference between purpose and meaning?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

The distinction is a matter of some debate. Right now, the definition of meaning that I developed through my research seems to be the most influential and widely-used definition. This makes sense because my goal was to synthesize the many approaches people had taken to provide a consensus view. Meaning in life is defined as the broader umbrella term that include purpose. So, meaning in life is based on feelings of significance and mattering about one's live, being able to make sense of and comprehend one's life, and having purpose.

Purpose is defined as the identification and pursuit of one or more highly important, overarching aims or very long-term goals that help organize life choices and actions. Purpose sits firmly in the future-directed, motivational realm, and is seen as the most observable and active element of meaning. One of the key elements of purpose is that a good purpose might not even be attainable - it is the noble pursuit of an aim worthy of our lives that makes it valuable.

Question 3

What is the difference between meaning ‘in’ life and meaning ‘of’ life?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

When we look at the stars and wonder where it all came from, we are asking about the meaning OF life. When a tragedy strikes us, someone we love, or a good person and we wonder why such a thing could happen, we are asking about the meaning OF life. Meaning OF life is about huge questions, the answers to which we must take on faith or inference.

Meaning IN life is about what makes our own, personal lives worth living.  It is answerable, it is livable, it can help us find solutions to problems we face now, and it expresses what we imagine we can do in our own lifetimes.  Whether or not there is any meaning OF life, we can always strive to create meaning IN our lives.

Question 4

Is meaning and a sense of purpose in life influenced by personality traits and/or genetics?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

The short answer appears to be yes, but the long answer is that it is complex. I have published research on twins showing that meaning and purpose in life is broadly genetically heritable, and that some of that heritability is linked to personality traits.

The complexity comes in interpretation. Almost all measurable psychological traits, like meaning, are genetically heritable, but not fully. We appear to each be dynamic blends of nature and nurture whether we're talking about meaning, personality, or most other psychological characteristics. Because we tend not to describe people's personality in terms of their meaning in life, conventionally we say that personality influences meaning as personality feels more fundamental for us.

Question 5

Hi Michael, can you speak about the clinical and therapeutic applications of your work on meaning? I am a psychotherapist. Thank you

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

There are many applications. I have built trainings and workshops around using meaning in clinical and coaching work, and am beginning to develop a course that covers how clinicians can use techniques and perspectives derived from my work and the work of many others to both help address specific client presenting concerns about meaning, and also deepen the potential impact of the approaches they already use. So, you can probably imagine that there is too much to cover here!

That being said, it is important to note that the foundation of a psychological (rather than philosophical) treatment of meaning comes from Viktor Frankl's work in Logotherapy. The roots of this field are grounded in the effort to help people cope with suffering and hardship by helping them discern and connect with their sense of meaning and purpose. Most traditional approaches go very deep, and support clients as they confront, come to peace with, and find joy despite the challenging, distressing, and sometimes unresolvable external truths about their life circumstances. The driving idea is that no matter the circumstances, we still always have freedom to choose how we will interpret them, respond to them, and serve as an inspiration to others as we find our meaning and purpose.

In my own work, I invest effort in supplementing the deep work with lighter, easier to implement, a bit more structured, and more present-centered interventions that help people get moving on directly encountering meaning in life rather than getting too bogged down in any kind of pressure to get the answers right before tackling our lives. I find it easier to integrate some of these lighter-touch interventions into other modalities, and Frankl himself encouraged people to live actively and for others rather than spending too much time trying to force ourselves to solve life's mysteries!

Question 6

Why is it painful to experience a lack of meaning and purpose in life?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

Meaning and purpose in life have deep ties to our sense of identity, belonging, agency, worth, hope, and many other ways that we feel OK in the world. On top of this, meaning helps us integrate all of these individual domains into one coherent experience of life. When this integrated sense of meaning is lost, we feel alienated from ourselves and the world around us, and struggle to find reasons why anything is worth investing in and striving for.

Many hundreds of research studies demonstrate these strong links, both prospectively and concurrently across many types of studies, from global epidemiological analyses to intimate analyses of everyday life at the individual level. There is still much to learn about the mechanisms that appear to cement meaning and purpose in this central role, though.

Question 7

Does meaning and purpose matter to mental health?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

YES! I estimate that there are nearly 1,000 empirical studies that show some link to mental health, broadly defined. The best of these studies are longitudinal or show how engagement in meaning-centered or meaning-informed applications of therapy account for increases in wellbeing and decreases in a range of psychological disorder severities. The earliest research comes from the 1960s and we've been adding many, many studies every year since!

When it comes to psychotherapy and psychological treatments, meaning-centered approaches have large effect sizes on increasing wellbeing and reducing stress and distress, and research suggests that around 13% of the positive impact of other approaches that use meaning-informed or meaning-rooted interventions  is due to those specific interventions.

Question 8

To quote Charles Bukowski - Why do we tend to get eaten up by trivialities?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

I need to do more reading! I love that quote. The only Bukowski quote I know is from the movie Barfly: "To all my friends!" My brother knows another one, but I can't remember it. I should ask him... And on it goes. We get eaten up by trivialities because we can do something about them right now, often with very little insight, training, effort, or preparation. Each of us has some need to feel in control, to feel we can master the world around us, and to feel effective. Trivialities give us "sugar high" versions of those.

Going deeper is harder work. Learning how to dedicate effort, rally motivation, commit to the right goals for the right reasons...these are more difficult tasks. When we are tired or feeling down, we often opt for the easier tasks, then not only might we get eaten up by trivialities, but our lives might be consumed that way, too.

Question 9

How would you advise I work with someone who believes that life has no inherent purpose or meaning?

Michael Steger · Accepted Answer

Finding meaning and purpose in a meaningless universe is a grave challenge... to philosophy. But not to the rest of us! Meaning IN life is a psychological experience, and it does not require any particular belief in life's inherent purpose or meaning. Humans have believed thousands of different explanations for the inherent meaningfulness (or lack thereof) of life. Rationally, only one of those could be right, which makes the odds pretty steep against any one of us choosing correctly.

Yet most people across most of the world view their lives as meaningful! For my life to be meaningful, I just need to feel that my own life is inherently worth something, not the whole universe. I just need to understand enough of the world around me to have a little predictability and consistency and to find some personal niche - I don't have to understand the universe. I just have to find some goal or dream to commit myself to, not define to what end the universe is working.

Meaning and Purpose in Life

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