Find Your Purpose Using Science: Group Discussion Guide
This discussion packet is adapted from the Intentional Insights workbook and online class on “Find Your Purpose Using Science” by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky. Intentional Insights is a nonprofit that empowers reason-oriented people to refine and reach their goals by providing research-based content to help patterns of improve thinking, feeling, and behavior.
Introduction
Meaning and Purpose (shortened to M&P) are big life questions that many people struggle with. This is especially the case for secular folks who move away from the traditional sense of life purpose given by religious dogma, namely that God is the source of meaning in life. There are few resources available to us as nonbelievers to avoid the sense that we are just going through the motions of daily life without meaning.
Well, did you know that you can use science to help you find a sense of life purpose? Using science to address life’s meaning may seem surprising to many. After all, the traditional mainstream approach believes that science can’t answer big life questions – that’s the job of religion. A wave of recent research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and other disciplines has explored how we find M&P in life, regardless of religious belief.
Now, many people look for a simple, clear, and straightforward answer to what life is all about. However, what the research shows is that there is no absolute right answer to the big question of “what is the meaning of life?” The most important thing, according to science, is gaining clear and practical research-based strategies for figuring out a personal sense of life’s M&P. In other words, it is most vital to answer the question “what is the meaning of life for you?”
What is the Meaning of Life for you?
Before proceeding, let’s clarify some terms. Scholars on M&P define these words differently than they are used in common language. Researchers use purpose to refer to a broad aspiration in life that motivates one’s daily activities. They use meaning as a more overarching term to refer both to one’s life purpose, but also one’s broad comprehension of life, self, and the world. However, since the words “meaning” and “purpose” are used interchangeably in everyday speech, it is generally best in group discussion meetings to use them interchangeably.
Why is it important to find a sense of M&P? Studies show that people who have a clear answer have better lives. They can deal much better with both daily life and the most challenging situations. The classic research on M&P comes from Victor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who lived through the concentration camps of the Holocaust. He described how those who had a sense of M&P in their lives were most likely to survive and thrive in the camps. He conducted research demonstrating this both during and after his concentration camp experience.
Recent studies illustrate that people who feel that their life has M&P experience a substantially higher degree of mental well-being. For example, Michael F. Steger, a psychologist and Director of the Laboratory for the Study of Meaning and Quality of Life at Colorado State University, found that many people gain a great deal of psychological benefit from understanding what their lives are about and how they fit within the world around them. They are more satisfied on a day-to-day basis, as well as at work.
A deeper sense of life M&P also predicts better physical health. Greater M&P has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, heart attacks, and stroke. With such benefits for mental and physical well-being, it is no wonder that a strong sense of life M&P predicts longevity, as shown by Patricia Boyle and other scholars.
In fact, research shows that the important thing is simply to have a sense of M&P in life, regardless of the source of the purpose. Going back to Frankl, his research suggests the crucial thing for individuals surviving and thriving is to develop a personal sense of individual purpose and confidence in a collective purpose for society itself, what he terms the “will-to-M&P.” Frankl himself worked to help people find M&P in their lives. He did so by helping prisoners in concentration camps, and later patients in his private practice as a psychiatrist, to remember their joys, sorrows, sacrifices, and blessings. According to Frankl, M&P can be found in any situation within which people find themselves. He emphasizes the existential meaning of suffering and tragedy in life as testimonies to human courage and dignity, as exemplified both in the concentration camps and beyond. Frankl argues that not only is life charged with M&P, but that it implies responsibility, namely the responsibility upon oneself to discover this M&P, both as an individual and as a member of a larger social collective.
Research by Steger, Daniel Goleman, Gleb Tsipursky and other scholars shows how people gain a sense of M&P from a research-based perspective.
- Reflect on your personal sense of M&P actively and systematically, by yourself and with others.
- Build strong social and community ties, and cultivate them well.
- Serve others through volunteering, civic engagement, social justice activism, political advocacy, philanthropy, and other means.
Now, you may say that research and strategies are all well and good, and they may work for the majority. However, how do I know these strategies will help me to get a deeper sense of M&P in my life? This is why it’s so important to evaluate and quantify your personal sense of M&P, and to tie the quantification to the different types of meaning-making activities that you may choose to do. To help you accomplish that quantification, Intentional Insights developed the “M&P Questionnaire,” based on research on M&P.
M&P Questionnaire
For 5 minutes: think about your sense of M&P in life. Then rank the following statements on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being "Absolutely Not True" and 10 being "Absolutely True." Below each, write an explanation of why you answered the way you did.
- ___ I have a strong sense of M&P in life.
- ___ I have a clear understanding of what gives my life M&P.
- ___ I actively search for a sense of M&P in life.
- ___ I actively reflect on my sense of M&P in life.
- ___ I engage in activities that help me experience M&P in life.
- ___ I engage in social service that helps others have better lives.
- ___ I have meaningful social and community bonds.
- ___ I have social connections that help me experience M&P in life.
- ___ I help others find M&P in life.
- ___ I am satisfied with my sense of M&P in life.
Discussion Questions
There are a variety of discussion questions you can do to address the three crucial areas of finding M&P in life:
- Reflecting on M&P
- What was your experience with life M&P recently?
- What steps can you take to have more opportunities to reflect on life M&P?
- Social and Community Bonds
- What is your experience reflecting on life M&P in a community setting?
- If you are part of a community, do you find that such social ties help reinforce your sense of life M&P?
- If not, what steps might you take to gain this benefit and thus increase your mental and physical well-being?
- Civic Engagement
- Have you done any volunteering with others in your social circle?
- If so, what benefits do you think you gained?
- If not, what are practical steps you can take to help yourself and others in your social circle engage in social service activities?
Additional Resources
