So this adventure of science based meaning (or, more accurately, statistic based meaning. Since statistics are based on math, and math is a science, you could say this is science based) fell flat for me.
Essentially, "statistics were shown" that if you go through the motions of having meaning, it will make you feel better. To clarify, it is shown through different examples that people who volunteer have a general feeling that their lives mean something. The theory is then postulated that since these people have a good mood and feeling of meaning, then you should do what they do. Forget if the reason they are volunteering is because they already had meaning, or if they have religion. While the stats can show correlations, it doesn't solve the "what came first, the chicken or the egg", or, "Did having meaning spur you to volunteer, or did volunteering spur you to have meaning." Since most of the lessons ended with this question, I shall sum up my experiment: What was the most important thing you learned in this lesson? That science (or should I say shown statistics) did not help me find meaning in my life. Yesterday I talked to my wife about a new project I had started working on. I was really excited about it. She said, "Maybe that's your meaning or purpose", and I laughed. "That isn't meaning, that's just something I like that I'm excited about." I once had a janitorial job that I was really "good" at, and someone said to me "Maybe that's your purpose in life." What? It's just a means to an end. My project may make me feel good, or even other people, but to what end? My "purpose" (from what I've interpreted) is to do something on purpose, there's no greater meaning to it, and it might make me feel good. This does not have any greater meaning even to myself, though. It's a nice sandwich, full of all the meats and toppings that I like, and it may even, hypothetically, "nourish" me. But nourish me for what reason? So that I can run faster or watch Netflix longer? This course has tried to teach me to rationalize my goals as though they had quality, or that their "meaning to me" was meaningful. I feel as though I have not gained or lost anything in my life, except time and money. I feel like this course is just a way to make time until someone else discovers what its all about. Nothing in the course recommendations are bad in any objective way, and that's kind of the problem. The idea that this is the only life you have so you (and it can go both ways at this point): Should work to make it good for all. Grab what you can before you die. And to gather meaning from either. Seems a little disingenuous.
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