Articles on the Meaning
of Life |
Addicted
to Meaning
Sean M. Swaby
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
"It seems that we are
all addicts. Shopping, TV, the computer, technology, the internet,
food, coffee and even chocolate have become objects of our
addiction. It is hard to find something that we can enjoy
without the risk of becoming addicted. One might even wonder
if we are all destined to become addicts?..."
(Full
Article)
A Little bit of Kindness Helps
the Medicine go Down
Daryl Busby, Ph.D.
President, Canadian Baptist Seminary
(ACTS Seminaries, TWU)
Langley, B.C., Canada
"Kindness: this is one
of the so-called "Fruits of the Spirit" that constantly eludes
me. I can do "kindness" for a while; but then, impatience,
weariness, exasperation and downright nastiness take over.
Unfortunately, these responses are not included in the list
of approved "Fruits of the Spirit"..."
(Full
Article)
A New Year’s
Reflection:
In the Meantime
05/01/2006
President-Elect's Column
Bill Evans, Ph.D.
Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
"I often remember how
a former professor of mine, the late Dr. Carlyle Marney, once
said in class, “most of life is lived in the meantime,
and unless one learns to live life in the meantime, one is
less than half alive!” What did Marney mean by that?..."
(Full
Article)
Beating the winter blues
Eddy Elmer
Burnaby, B.C.
"As the days get shorter
and we enter the thick of the winter season, there is no shortage
of advice for how to deal with the proverbial winter blues.
Turn on the TV, open any newspaper, or browse through any
magazine, and you'll be sure to find all sorts of 'quick,
useful strategies for lifting your spirits.'..."
(Full
Article)
The Buddha on Compassion: An
Existential Approach
Chen Yu-Hsi,
Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Fo Guang University, Taiwan
"Love and compassion
are the two key components of the Four Noble States of Mind
revealed by the Buddha. In their eagerness to live a moral
life, some Buddhists may regard love and compassion as a moral
or ethical norm to live up to, or as a lofty ideal to 'advocate.'..."
(Full
Article)
Caught between two cultures
Caroline Fei-Yeng Kwok, B.A.,
B.E.D., M.Ed.
"...I feel as if I belong
to North America and, of course, to Canada in particular.
I work here as a teacher of English as a second language and
I have friends here. Really, if you ask me where I'm from,
I would say that I am from Canada. I am proud of the fact
that I am a Canadian. And above all, I'm proud of the fact
that I am a Canadian of Chinese origin..."
(Full
Article)
Contentment as the Way of Nature:
Insights from Taoism
Chen Yu-Hsi,
Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Fo Guang University, Taiwan
"Mainstream psychology
is not concerned with greed, or excessive desires, as a morbidity
that can lead to emotive disorders and mental suffering. Instead,
it hypothesizes that the gratification of desires and wants
is a necessary condition for mental health and happiness..."
(Full
Article)
Discovering the soul and the
symphony within the void
Jane E. Nelson MA
Student at the Edward De Bono
Institute
Malta, Europe
"...At first I listened
carefully but time passed and I began to get used to the quiet.
But it wasn't quiet, the air was full of sound. I began to
turn my attention to what I came to call, the music of the
day or indeed the music of the moment. ..."
(Full
Article)
The drug experience: Satisfying
the yearning for meaning and spirituality
Executive Director's Column
- March 2006
Geoff Thompson, Ma,
CCC
Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
"I work at the Maple
Ridge Treatment Centre, a large residential facility for men
suffering from substance addictions. My clients and their
families come to us looking for answers, and perhaps their
most common question is: Why would anyone use alcohol and
drugs if they lead to severe suffering?..."
(Full
Article)
Finding Meaning
Through Intuition
Cathy Patterson-Sterling
MA, RCC
British Columbia, Canada
"Sometimes
people are able to recognize their higher purpose or potential
for having greater meaning in their lives because they feel
moved by their own intuition. Individuals experience their
intuition when they have a deeper sense of inner wisdom as
to what actions they should be doing..."
(Full
Article)
The First Precept: Reverence
for Life
Thich Nhat Hanh
"The First Precept is
born from the awareness that lives everywhere are being destroyed.
We see the suffering caused by the destruction of life, and
we undertake to cultivate compassion and use it as a source
of energy for the protection of people, animals, plants, and
minerals..."
(Full
Article)
Generosity is a two-way street
Carolyn Cooke
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
"The most interesting
thing about generosity - and one thing I am just now learning
- is that there is a generosity at work in receiving as well
as giving..."
(Full
Article)
The Importance of Empathy
Christine Bruun
Professor, Department of Psychology
at Rockford College
Rockford, IL
"The value of empathy
is widely recognized. Both anecdotal sources and empirical
research provide evidence for its positive effects. The renowned
Viennese psychiatrist, Alfred Adler, noted that to have empathy
is "to see with the eyes of another, to hear with the ears
of another, to feel with the heart of another." This description
is markedly different from "sympathy," in which there is distance
between the observer and the experiencer..."
(Full
Article)
Integrity
and Honesty
Célia Maria Leal da Costa
São Paulo - Brazil
"Those two words - integrity
and honesty - remind me first of all of my grand-father: A
jurisconsult, father of 14 children, throughout his life he
has always emphasized honesty and character strength..."
(Full
Article)
Life is about
letting go
Paul T. P. Wong
Ph.D., C.Psych.
Toronto, ON, Canada
?/08/2006
"Surrounded
by mountains of boxes piling from floor to ceiling, I feel
like being confined in a prison of my own making. I am now
paying dearly for having accumulated so much earthly goods."
(Full
Article)
Living with Dignity and Palliative
Counseling
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.
President, INPM
and
Catherine Stiller
"Euthanasia and assisted
suicide continue to spark strong emotional reactions and heated
debates. Proponents on both sides of the controversy have
presented compelling arguments based on individual rights,
compassion, medical ethics and societal responsibility..."
(Full
Article)
Meaning of Life and Meaning
of Death in Successful Aging
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.
President, INPM
"I can never forget the
angry reaction from a number of seniors right after the key-
note address on successful aging at a major gerontological
society convention. The speaker was a prominent authority
on the topic, yet his message was met with disapproval and
even anger from a small group of seniors standing close to
me..."
(Full
Article)
Personal growth through Acceptance
and Surrender
Nikhil Gangoli
"One of the most useful
concepts to grow spiritually and becoming happier is the method
of acceptance and surrender..."
(Full
Article)
Pope John Paul II on the Meaning
of Life and the Dignity of Suffering
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.,
C.Psych.
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
"Pope John Paul II died
on April 2, 2005. A sea of pilgrims are descending on Rome
to pay their last respect to their long-serving, long-suffering
spiritual leader. The world is united in celebrating his lifetime
extraordinary achievements. Accolades and tributes continue
to pour in from all over the world, and significantly, from
prominent leaders of other faith traditions..."
(Full
Article)
Responsibility
Karen Schultz,
author, MA IO-psychology, and Lieutenant Colonel
Vordingborg, Denmark
"When I was practically
finished with my BA in psychology and had to take a six-month
internship as part of my masters degree, I realized what responsibility
means from an existential perspective. The memory is still
so crystal clear that I can put a date to that day when I
fully realized what existential thoughts are..."
(Full
Article)
Reverence for Life
Albert Schweitzer
"I am life which wills
to live, in the midst of life which wills to live. As in my
own will-to-live there is a longing for wider life and pleasure,
with dread of annihilation and pain; so is it also in the
will-to-live all around me, whether it can express itself
before me or remains dumb..."
(Full
Article)
Reverence of Nature and a Higher
Power in Indigenous Peoples' Cultures
Rosemary I. Patterson,
Ph.D.
"For thousands of years
Indigenous people around the world have demonstrated in their
cultures and rituals a kinship with nature, gratitude for
the bounty of natures' provisions and reverence to a higher
power credited with setting this in motion..."
(Full
Article)
Spiritual
vision and the Meaning of Life: A Reflection
Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D.,
C.Psych.
Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
"...What
makes Salvation Army such a great and enduring organization?
One of the secrets of their success is their spiritual vision
- They firmly believe it is not enough to "take people out
of the slums," but we must also "take the slums out of people,"
as their founder General William Booth used to say..."
(Full
Article)
The Stages In-and-Out's of Life
Michael Levy
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
"...each stage in everyone's
life there is always a fork in the thoroughfare and the path
they pursue will have a dramatic effect on how they act out
their roles. In early child hood there is little choice for
most children, as they have to follow their parent's beliefs
and traditions..."
(Full
Article)
To Make A Difference
Arlene Taylor,
PhD
Napa Valley, California, USA
"It was my first night
shift on the obstetrical unit, my first hands-on experience
outside of clinical labs. As a nursing student I’d recently
finished the OB/GYN course work, which made me eligible to
work as a nurse’s aide. Such a deal, and I needed the money!.."
(Full
Article)
Taking Ownership of Life
Tara D. Miller
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
"Sometimes it is difficult
to see our own potential. It is strange to wonder how we get
to the place we are at in life, and why it is us, and not
someone else. What is it that drives one individual to become
successful, and limits another individual?..."
(Full
Article)
The true meanings of self-discipline
Steve Wilson
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, USA
"Taken alone the word
discipline is often synonymous with punishment. All too often
self-discipline is the internalization of some authority exercising
raw power. Consequently, we learn to discipline ourselves
by beating ourselves up..."
(Full
Article)
True; yet Blue
Marie Amos
Chilliwack, B.C., Canada
"When I was a child,
my mother said that in order to have a friend one must first
be a friend to others. This adage has proven to be selectively
true over the years. With every rule there are exceptions,
and one can be a friend to others without receiving friendship
in return..."
(Full
Article)
Where has my Contentment Gone?
Tara D. Miller
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
"If life is a question
of contentment, then the answer will be defined by our life's
meaning. Too often our hearts, which were once content to
find passion in our work, our family, our love, somehow begin
to question the meaning of it all..."
(Full
Article)
|