Introduction
There are many ways to define “meaning” because it can have different definitions for everyone. Aside from the description in the dictionary, “meaning” is something people derive, share, and can create. Today, people often say, sometimes aggressively or in a sad way, that “life has no meaning.” Two reasons are often associated with the claim that life is worthless. One is religion, where life once had a clear meaning given to humans by God. It was about worshiping Him, but as religious beliefs declined, the significance attached to God faded alongside the purpose He once guaranteed.
Modern science contends that life started from a chance interaction of chemicals and gasses, the second factor contributing to the crisis of meaning (McGrath, 2011). The purpose of life is survival and the transmission of genetic information, both for people and other living organisms like amoebas. Therefore, to wonder about the importance of life and making sense of things is an essential activity. There are numerous actions people can take to lead lives that are as meaningful as possible.
Please assume that the only meaning in the world is the one humans can discover for themselves as a species. For instance, the DNA sequences, holy texts, or star constellations do not contain any form of objective significance. Therefore, what seems to prompt people that life lacks substance are varieties of unhappiness (VanderWeele, 2019).
For instance, the pair appears to no longer discuss anything significant and share vulnerable emotions or thoughts in a relationship where the intensity or the experience at the beginning has since passed. The relationship may start to look meaningless and make one disconnected from the marriage. From this example, it is possible to begin extrapolating the theory of meaning. Therefore, sense is uncovered through conversation, understanding, and supporting others.
Multitudes of Meanings
First, since people are naturally social creatures, it makes sense that some of their most memorable experiences include connecting with others. For instance, when people develop friendships where vital truths about their life can be communicated or intimate, physical, and psychological selves are revealed, they either show personal, physical, and psychological selves.
Secondly, meaning emerges via understanding; the pleasure felt whenever people correct confusion and puzzlement about themselves or the world (VanderWeele, 2019). A person could be a scientific researcher, economist, or patient in psychotherapy. In this instance, happiness results from a shared ability to discern what was previously strange or unknown.
Thirdly, service is the worthwhile action one undertakes to help others improve their lives by removing obstacles to happiness or creating new sources of pleasure. For example, medical professionals and people who write songs or dance for a living offer some form of reprieve to the people they serve. Humans frequently believe that they are naturally selfish. However, there are times when they may overcome their ego and put others before themselves.
For services to feel significant, they must be in sync with personal, sincere interests (Shukla, 2020). It is a case of knowing enough of oneself to find a path to service. The pursuit of human flourishing via interaction, comprehension, and service is, thus, the purpose of life. It is important to note that this concept exists and is made up of things that can be clearly identified and continuously fought for, even though some people may not yet have meaningful lives.
People can judge how long a thousand years are, but after that, the timescale of things becomes too much for the brain to handle. For instance, as much as humans imagine they understand the 13-billion lifespan of the universe, they cannot put that into an imaginable scale. The cosmos is ancient compared to human existence, but not much has transpired regarding the universe’s lifespan. There is a chance humans may never figure out why everything in the universe acts as it does, if there is life anywhere else, or if they are the only exception (Trisel, 2019). People will, therefore, continue to look for justifications, meaning, clarity, and purpose to make sense of the world for every life experience.
Aside from religion and science, there is a universal concession that sense-making ability is in the brain. The brain can simplify the incredible complexities of everything one experiences. It can be from abstract concepts that describe specific things in common and help individuals generalize in a new situation while retaining details (Shukla, 2020).
As people experience new things, the brain maintains a mental construct of the self in physical time, recollecting past and present memories to make sense of things (Shukla, 2020). Therefore, the brain is the key to understanding and making sense of the occurrences in the world. For instance, when people tell others what they did in the past and explain it retroactively, it makes sense since the brain can relate the events for one to derive meaning.
Making Sense of Things
Making sense of illogical, unpleasant, and perplexing occurrences occurs daily. People use religion, spirituality, karma, or cosmic energy to explain mysteries. According to Shukla (2020), sense-making is a continuous mental activity that attempts to construct everything individuals experience in ways they can believe or accept. Therefore, it is a process to justify past actions or behaviors so that people can embrace the most probable validation, even if they may be inaccurate. By condensing the chaos to pertinent, understandable information, sense-making creates meaning and structure.
An example of sense-making is the decision one makes when buying a new car, like a Mercedes. The buyer can derive sense from the action by justifying the reasons for the decision. The individual may claim the vehicle is robust and reliable besides looking great. However, that could be a retrospective reason for purchasing the car. The real motivation can be to pick a famous brand rather than doing any research on ideal capability requirements. In their quest to make sense of the world, researchers have thought deeply about human fundamental motivations when making decisions (Shukla, 2020). It includes explaining an individual’s and others’ actions and circumstances.
Making Meaning
Humans’ desire to give things meaning enables them to understand the inner world in the context of the outer world. As noted by Shukla (2020) and Viktor Frankl, the author of “Man’s Search for Meaning,” even when all they can see around them is death, humans are compelled to look for meaning and purpose in life. In contrast to sense-making, meaning-making goes beyond providing reasonable explanations for past events. The latter involves trying to understand the present and the future to give the person a purpose and a desirable existential perspective. It fosters optimism and a life trajectory that one admires amid adversity, where finding meaning in life is influenced by having a purpose.
The Process of Sense-Making
People are not usually ready to make sense because it happens typically in ambiguous or confusing circumstances. It frequently occurs in communication and feedback when one must make sense of anything. As a result, people conceive the entire experience by giving it meaning, spotting patterns, and emphasizing crucial details. Labeling and recognizing ideas, behaviors, thoughts, and concepts are all part of the process (Shukla, 2020).
As a result, having words to identify and comprehend is the first step in making sense of things. Second, individuals create a narrative about their experiences, and words aid in forming meaning and memories. For example, when a person claims to like another because the individual is kind and respectful, they may derive it from previous encounters. Based on experiences from memory, the person labels the friend’s virtues and actions using words that describe the character.
The third phase involves retrospectively defending or explaining an action. So, there is a propensity to consider if the act or story is possible or credible. Verifying the narrative or action could be immediate or take time. Shukla (2020) asserts that sense-making is a continuous process incorporating environmental cues and extra information. The final step entails choosing and emphasizing pertinent information to evaluate the events.
For example, someone claiming to have boarded an aircraft before the Wright brothers created the first powered airplane did not make sense, but it does today. Naturally, people examine thoughts, claims, and behaviors and seek input from the outside world to transform them into meaning. There is always a feedback circle between justifications and accompanying evidence, and they complement each other until everything makes sense.
Intersection of Science, Faith, and Other Disciplines on How to Make Sense of Things
It is a common misconception that religion and science have always sharply contrasted. However, the perceived war between the two is relatively recent. Some argue that science and religion are distinct spheres of knowledge. Conflict is unnecessary if they do not stray into each other’s territory. Science can deal with how the world works, while faith answers why or the human current or alternate purpose in life. Christians have traditionally believed that their faith explains and solves the mysteries of human experience (McGrath, 2011).
However, the two spheres are interdependent in explaining things people experience. For instance, people who strongly believe in faith seek scientific solutions whenever sick, but the healing is mainly attributed to a supernatural force. According to McGrath (2011), the gospel’s message illuminates reality, allowing beings to perceive things as they are in the believer’s view. Science starts by compiling a list of observations and then determining which interpretation framework best fits the data.
Science and religion may coexist based on different materials, but some questions stray into each other’s domain. For instance, the Virgin Mary’s religious teaching and Christ’s resurrection contravene scientific principles. Science will argue that such incidents are impossible, yet religious people may claim the events happened. Specific ways of interpreting some scriptures have been made obsolete by science, but that does not make belief in God ancient (McGrath, 2011).
Faith, in its proper perspective, asks a different set of more philosophical questions. For instance, it answers why there is something instead of nothing. Science is a reliable way to learn about nature. Still, there is a place for faith, religion, theology, and philosophy to explain the possibility of a superior power beyond the existence of all things in the universe.
When people fail to comprehend the natural causes underpinning unusual happenings, they frequently claim supernatural explanations. Therefore, making sense of things depends on individual belief in these supernatural forces, often reinforced by theological texts, tradition, or culture passed from generation to generation. For instance, theologians assert that suffering is an alien goal of God to humanity, but He uses it as part of the development of people (Mijatović, 2021).
For suffering to make sense, one must believe and accept that the supreme being always knows what is best for humans and never makes mistakes. Therefore, believers must remain strong and rely on God through hardship. Science determines that some characteristics of a person’s current life experience are unfavorable rather than attributing pain to an outside cause (VanderWeele, 2019). Its causes could be physical, primarily mental, or from dire circumstances (VanderWeele, 2019). One can make sense of suffering when one is subject to losing something perceived as good, which gives misery its harmful and undesirable characteristics.
Science tries to identify patterns in the natural world and seek deeper structures to account for these occurrences. For example, Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from a tree to coin the term “gravity” to explain the reasons behind the motions of bodies on Earth. Newton claimed that gravity, an intangible and hidden reality, seemed the best way to describe his observations. According to McGrath (2011), causal explanation is the most familiar way of making sense. Logically, if action A causes another B, then A explains B. If you drive a vehicle into a wall and it collapses, your action explains why it collapsed. However, the most challenging question for scientists and theology is an explanation of the universe’s origin.
Science can only deal with matters of fact but not with questions of meaning and value. McGrath (2011) notes that the explanation of faith in God is not limited to fine details of reality but extends far beyond what science can explain. According to McGrath (2011), most of the most profound and intriguing inquiries regarding the nature of the cosmos appear to originate in an essentially religious yearning for meaning. For example, the concept of a lawful universe with an understandable and trustworthy order arose primarily from foundational beliefs about the nature of God. As a result, making sense of faith depends on a supreme being entrusted with illuminating human vision, judgments, and acts.
Humans are curious beings who seek explanations for their observations through faith or science. While the quest falls well within the purview of science, it is far from limited to scientists and intellectuals. Anyone can seek reasons for their observations, such as why the weather changed suddenly or how clouds formed in the sky. People prefer explanations that provide a function or purpose in making sense of such a scenario (Shukla, 2020). A basis for the weather change phenomenon could be wind moving the cloud or water molecules condensing at high altitudes to form clouds.
However, someone arguing from a faith perspective can say God made the clouds and put them in the sky. Both explanations can make sense based on the background of the person seeking the information, influencing how they make sense of the description. It is possible to say the knowledge of people, beliefs, and exposure to specific details and experiences affect how they make sense of things.
Sometimes, people prefer explanations that give them a sense of control because they reduce the chaos around them. Yearning for command can be strong as it is often associated with individuals preferring some explanations over others (Shukla, 2020). For example, some religious notions, such as the idea of heaven, offer beliefs of comfort, while others do not, like the existence of hell (Shukla, 2020).
Similarly, altering how people feel in control might affect the scientific theory they like. If they feel powerless, they will favor rationale that promises structure and predictability. The urge to find a reason that provides function or purpose originates from some religious views like creationism. Nonetheless, it can inspire secular conceptions such as fate or the belief that everything happens for a purpose.
Things rarely follow a flawless pattern in the real world, but there are always exceptions. A predilection for simplicity has various cognitive advantages and speeds up getting to the truth. It is sometimes easier to accept that not everything has a purpose and that individuals may form incorrect beliefs if they are over-explained (Shukla, 2020). Some situations are coincidental or attributable to chance, and blaming circumstance is not a satisfactory explanation.
Conspiracy theorists, for example, are likely to appeal to specific points of view to make sense in a unified way. The speculations about COVID-19 are a recent instance where some people tried to make sense of the pandemic by blaming chance. Scientists could quickly investigate the flu and find a solution based on previous experience with flu-related outbakes like influence, H1N1, and H2N2.
Conclusion
People derive, share, and construct meaning, which can have many definitions. Since there is no universally recognized purpose for life, it can be discovered in communication, comprehension, and service. Aside from religion and science, everyone acknowledges that sense-making occurs in the brain. Making sense of occurrences is a mental process that aids people in comprehending and accepting irrational circumstances; it frequently draws on religion, spirituality, or cosmic energy.
Beyond just producing sense, meaning-making encourages optimism, a life path that is appreciated in the face of adversity and influences the search for purpose. Making sense comprises using language to categorize and comprehend, narrating experiences, retrospectively justifying or explaining an action, and selecting and stressing relevant facts to evaluate the occurrences.
Faith and science have always coexisted as separate spheres of knowledge, but the contraction between the two is relatively recent. While faith explains the whys, science deals with how the world functions. For instance, theologians contend that while God may not have pain as one of His goals, He does use it to advance human progress. According to science, unpleasant parts of life, such as miserable physical, mental, or environmental situations, can lead to suffering. The most profound and fascinating questions about the cosmos are typically motivated by a religious search for significance. Because those who lack control are drawn to theories that offer order and predictability, people’s perceptions of power can affect which scientific approach they favor.
References
McGrath, A. (2011). Surprised by meaning (pp. 7–64). Westminster John Knox Press.
Mijatović, F. (2021). (In)active God—Coping with suffering and pain from the perspective of Christianity. Religions, 12(11), 1–13. Web.
Shukla, A. (2020). Sense-making: How we make sense of the world & find meaning. Cognition Today. Web.
Trisel, B. (2019). Why the indifference of the universe is irrelevant to life’s meaning. Human Affairs, 29(4), 453–461. Web.
VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Suffering and response: Directions in empirical research. Social Science & Medicine, 224, 58–66. Web.