If we could free dive beneath that surface layer, the so-called “problems” we are obsessed with would vanish, revealing a deeper understanding of the real issues worth addressing. We are confined by our obsession with superficial changes, like tinkering with shades of green at the surface. But beneath that, there is an entire ocean, an interconnected reality we have barely begun to explore. From that awakening, the problems we thought were significant would lose their importance, and a new set of meaningful questions would emerge. We would realize that it is not about changing the colour of hue of the algae, but about clearing it up altogether to reveal our shared inner light of joy. 

Lately, I have been engaging with sacred texts from around the world that are being newly translated into English. Through this exploration, I have discovered a realm of psychiatry so profound that it makes mainstream Western approaches seem shallow by comparison. Here in the West, we often fail to realize just how deep our ignorance goes. When schools of thought like transpersonal psychology emerge, they are often dismissed without consideration. Implementing sacred wisdom into therapeutic policies remains an uphill battle, fraught with political resistance.

Perhaps the solution is to connect with others who genuinely understand the value of this kind of inquiry. Engaging in this research has been, and will continue to be a lifelong pursuit for me, as it ties together my interests in transpersonal psychology with practical clinical applications. However, considering the limitations of mainstream research, I may choose to leave psychology and continue personal explorations. More to come…

This leads me to wonder about the future of psychology. Psychiatrists are sometimes described as shooting darts in the dark, hinting at the uncertainty in our understanding of the human mind. Is it even possible for psychology to develop into a field capable of producing a megatheory that unifies our understanding of the self, consciousness, or even the soul? Unlike physics, where grand theories like relativity give us a unified understanding of the universe, psychology seems to be struggling to even define its basic building blocks.

I wonder if we can’t fully define the self, can psychology ever claim to understand the human experience as deeply as it hopes to?

Nature: A State Beyond Relaxation

We’ve seen that nature exposure leads to increased empathy and creativity by helping us find patterns that we’d otherwise miss (Piff et al., 2015, Stanovic, 2022, p. 36). Perhaps this is due to the mixture of elements in nature that provide just the right amount of stimulation and novelty in a healthy way, allowing us to enter a meditative flow state: the breeze, colours, sound of birds, and the smell of the great outdoors (Xie et al., 2022). 

This meditative flow state slows down our brainwaves and allows our body to enter parasympathetic mode, promoting neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in the brain while the body relaxes enough to repair itself (Aust et al., 2022).

Nature: The Gift of Vitality

When we experience stress, trauma, burnout or depression, we lack the energy to express emotions or accomplish necessary tasks because our energy is being diverted elsewhere. As a result, we may feel lethargic and have difficulty focusing. This is where the power of outdoor activities can help us shake off the stored tension and restore our vitality. 

The Great Release & Reset 

After animals escape from a predator, they often shake their entire bodies to release the pent-up stress. For example, after gazelles escape an attack, they shake to reset their nervous system and restore a state of calm. 

What does this say about us? Well, as humans we accumulate stress every single day whether we realize it or not. Now presenting: unrecognized daily stressors such as waiting in a boring line, anticipating an email, or directly fearing the consequences after being pulled over by a police officer. These are moments of stress that we all experience varying in duration, intensity, and specificity. 

Running From Stress

If we do not have a consistent tool in place to release this stress, it may begin to suck us of our vitality. This happens in various ways such as tension in muscles, emotional apathy, fatigue, and a lack of concentration. 

Outdoor Running For Vitality and Freedom

There is one simple tool that can dramatically improve the amount of energy we have for the day: a 10 minute outdoor run in the morning (Oswald et al., p.10). There are lots of studies that provide evidence for outdoor running positively increasing mood, as seen in a scoping review of 116 papers (Oswald et al., 2020). Here are two of the many fascinating effects explained at a deeper level:

• Emotional Vitality: As we discussed earlier, emotional dullness can result from energy being tied up in stress. Running outdoors has been shown to increase emotional expression (Giles et al., 2018). It is sort of like a great big ‘wake up’ and ‘shake up’ in the morning that might get us feeling fully alive in our bodies. 
• Emotional Freedom: Nature calms us down while the running part shakes out any tension we might be unknowingly holding in. This purges our emotional system which allows us to feel free. Think of it as a release from negative baggage. 

Social Connections

Another benefit of morning outdoor runs at the same time daily is that we might get to know our neighborhood a little bit better. Ever since I started going for runs at 6am, I’ve become familiarized with a few faces that are also out at that time. From there, the familiarity eventually led to some great friendships. 

Wider Perspective

Our mind makes a decision 7 seconds before we know about it (Haynes, 2008; Libet, 1983). This typically had psychologists questioning free will, but the important question is: What is priming that decision making process? Well, perhaps it is our social, spatial, and intellectual environment. In this case, by being in the wide-open outdoors, it might symbolically widen our perspective. I mean, what is more open than the great outdoors? 

References 

Oswald, F., Campbell, J., Williamson, C., Richards, J., & Kelly, P. (2020). A scoping review of the relationship between running and mental health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 8059. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218059

Giles, G. E., Eddy, M. D., Brunyé, T. T., Urry, H. L., Graber, H. L., Barbour, R. L., Mahoney, C. R., Taylor, H. A., & Kanarek, R. B. (2018). Endurance Exercise Enhances Emotional Valence and Emotion Regulation. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 12, 398. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00398

Stanovic, M. (2022). Internet and the environment: A catalyst to consumerism and environmental degradation. Fordham Research Commons. 

Piff, P. K., Dietze, P., Feinberg, M., Stancato, D. M., & Keltner, D. (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(6), 883-899. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000018

Xie, M., Mao, Y., & Yang, R. (2022). Flow experience and city identity in the restorative environment: A conceptual model and nature-based intervention. Frontiers in public health, 10, 1011890. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1011890

Aust, F., Beneke, T., Peifer, C., & Wekenborg, M. (2022). The Relationship between Flow Experience and Burnout Symptoms: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(7), 3865. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073865

Schlanger, Z. (2024). The light eaters: How the unseen world of plant intelligence offers a new understanding of life on earth. HarperCollins.

Libet, B., Gleason, C. A., Wright, E. W., & Pearl, D. K. (1983). Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential): The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain, 106(3), 623-642. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/106.3.623

Haynes, J.-D., Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H.-J., & Haynes, J.-D. (2008). Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience, 11(5), 543-545. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2112

Happiness is loving others, quite literally (Crockett et al., 2010). Have you ever gone to a drive through and bumped into the rare happy-go-lucky underpaid staff who stands out from the rest of the (rightfully) zombied workers? Meet Spongebob: a man who works minimum wage and lives alone with his pet. Spongebob does not have the money of Mr. Crabs, the intelligence of Sandy, or the talent of Squidward yet seems to radiate a cheerful attitude, spreading positivity in most of his simple encounters. 

Our True self: Having an Open Heart 

Spongebob’s joy seems to be the richness of his heart, which captures the essence within us all: a state of being loving. This notion aligns with the findings of Nina Strohminger and colleagues. In their 2014 paper, The Essential Moral Self, they discovered that people define their “true self” based on morality, which encompasses positive virtues such as kindness and gratitude. Strohminger says, “Moral traits are considered more important to personal identity than any other part.” (Strohminger et al., 2014). 

Positive Psychology on Morality, Virtue, and Character strengths 

Being loving is a state of deeply embodied morality. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist renowned for his work on the psychology of morality and moral emotions, defines morality as “those emotions that are linked to the interests or welfare of society as a whole.” (Davidson et al., 2003). Morality has a myriad of traits which are known as virtues. Positive psychology recognizes six main virtues, further broken down into character strengths. Tying it together, morality is synonymous with goodness while virtue and character strengths represent the specific traits of goodness. Most importantly, selfless love is the underlying presence in all aspects of morality and virtue. 

Clarifying Self-Transcendence: Selfless Love

The term “self-transcendence” is inconsistently used in psychological literature, with many psychologists introducing their own terminology for this state. Positive psychology employs terms like ‘flourishing’ and ‘eudaimonia’. In hopes of moving towards a unified definition, I will use the term popularized by pioneering researchers David Yaden and Andrew Newberg: “self-transcendence” (Yaden et al., 2017, Yaden & Newberg, 2022). Essentially, what we are all suggesting is that our happiest and perhaps truest ‘self’ is our self-transcended state: a state of being loving. 

William James On The True Self as Being Loving

A sage is one who is wise, but a saint [self-transcendent person] is one who embodies and lives the timeless, universal virtues mentioned in almost every religion and children’s novels. William James, often dubbed the father of psychology, in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, described saints as people who have “a spirit of piety and charity, an inner state which before all things is one of love and humility, … accompanied with tenderness for others” (James, 1902, p. 255). He says that these people experience “strength of soul, blissful equanimity, and are the clearers of the darkness” (James, 1902, pp. 268, 271).

Self-Transcendent Experiences Increase Virtue 

In their groundbreaking 2022 book, the pinnacle of compiled self-transcendence research in neuroscience and psychology, The Varieties of Spiritual Experience, David Yaden and Andrew Newberg comment on Nina Strohminger’s 2014 research, saying, “These findings make intuitive sense. People who become less moral are seen as straying farther from their true self, whereas those who become more moral are seen as becoming their true selves. This maps with how people often say that they feel more ‘themselves’ after self-transcendent experiences” (Newberg & Yaden, 2022).

Moral Exemplars Trigger Self-Transcendent Experiences in Others

People who embody high levels of morality profoundly impact others, enabling them to experience self-transcendent emotions like awe (Keltner & Haidt, 2003).

Haidt explains that witnessing moral exemplars creates “a warm or glowing feeling in the chest” and motivates people to become morally better. It increases their desire to “be with, love, and help other people” (Haidt, 2000).

Gerald Jampolsky, MD, describes his experience with Mother Teresa in Love is Letting Go of Fear, saying he felt “an inner stillness” and sensed the “power of love, gentility, and peace” emanating from her (Jampolsky, 1979).

Yaden and Newberg, in The Varieties of Spiritual Experience, note that witnessing moral courage or excellence elicits self-transcendent emotions like awe (Yaden & Newberg, 2022, p. 11).

Self-transcendent Experiences Peel Away The Walls (Trauma) Around The Heart 

Self-transcendent experiences increase virtue by lifting the fear that blocks love, allowing us to embody our true, loving selves. There is an old Sufi saying that captures the essence of trauma: “The one who is burned by the soup, blows on the yogurt” (Fadiman & Frager, 1997, p. 113).

In studies, mice treated with low doses of psilocybin, a psychedelic compound that can trigger self-transcendent experiences, unlearned their conditioned fear responses more quickly than those given higher doses or none at all (Catlow et al., 2013; Kelly et al., 2024). 

Rumi beautifully captures this idea: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” By removing these barriers, we can return to our authentic state of being loving (Rumi, as cited in Barks, 1995). 

Self-Transcendent Experiences Cause an Effortless Shift

An interesting comment on the natural effect of self-transcendent experiences comes from James Fadiman, who says, “These changes in habits are not by willpower, they happen as an effect” (Fadiman, 2019). He speaks of a man who, after his experience, genuinely felt like eating healthier. Perhaps the man felt like eating healthier because he truly felt a sense of love for his body and that love became the motivating force, instead of a dread of disease. It is true when they say that love is stronger than fear. 

Yaden and Newberg argue that perhaps it is the profound sense of connectedness felt during self-transcendent experiences can lead to greater compassion towards others. Feeling deeply connected to all of humanity might inspire one to act with increased kindness towards everyone within that perceived larger whole. Their data indicates that most participants reported a change in their sense of identity following their self-transcendent experiences (Yaden & Newberg, 2022, p. 339). 

From ‘Personality Type’ to ‘Character Strength’ Type

Perhaps we should shift our focus from ‘personality’ types to ‘character strength’ types. The concept of ‘eudaimonia’ in positive psychology is another word for self-transcendence and was introduced by Aristotle, in which he asserts that lasting joy is derived from embodying basic virtues (Huta et al., 2014). As Aristotle said, “Happiness is the quality of the soul, not a function of material circumstances.” The stronger our embodiment of these virtues, the happier we will be. 

How To Be More Loving: What Naturally Tickles Your Empathy Receptors?

Aristotle emphasized balance in the process of embodying virtue. It is important to be sincere in our loving and not force ourselves to do more than we feel called to, as this can lead to bitterness. A key to unlocking more capacity for love is to start giving love in areas that naturally tickle our empathy receptors. Over time, this love will flow into other areas. 

Towards a Serotonin Satori With Love 

Satori is a japanese word for self-transcendence. Research has shown that when peoples serotonin was selectively increased, they became more loving (Crockett et al., 2010). This means that the closer we get to true happiness, the more loving we become and vise versa. Happiness is experienced in the act of the ultimate umbrella of morality and virtue: love. From appreciation to zest, take a look at the 24 character strengths in positive psychology, and you will see how every single one of them requires us to have a loving orientation in order to truly embrace each one.

References

Barks, C. (1995). The Essential Rumi. HarperOne.

Catlow, B. J., Song, S., Paredes, D. A., Kirstein, C. L., & Sanchez-Ramos, J. (2013). Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning. Experimental Brain Research, 228(4), 481-491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3579-0

Crockett, M. J., Clark, L., Hauser, M. D., & Robbins, T. W. (2010). Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior through effects on harm aversion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(40), 17433-17438.

Davidson, R. J., Scherer, K. R., & Goldsmith, H. H. (Eds.). (2003). The moral emotions. In Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 852-870). Oxford University Press.

Fadiman, J. (2019, April 18). The remarkable results of microdosing: James Fadiman [Video]. YouTube. Science and Nonduality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AFFM8pfy4s

Fadiman, J., & Frager, R. (1997). Essential Sufism. HarperOne.

Huta, V., & Waterman, A. S. (2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1425-1456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9485-0

Jampolsky, G. G. (1979). Love is letting go of fear. Celestial Arts.

Kelly, T. J., Bonniwell, E. M., Mu, L., Liu, X., Hu, Y., Friedman, V., Yu, H., Su, W., McCorvy, J. D., & Liu, Q. (2024). Psilocybin analog 4-OH-DiPT enhances fear extinction and GABAergic inhibition of principal neurons in the basolateral amygdala. Neuropsychopharmacology, 49, 854–863. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01567-2

Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion: The return of pleasure. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297-314.

Psychedelic Frontier. (2023). Low dose psychedelics increase neurogenesis, help mice unlearn fear. Retrieved from https://www.psychedelicfrontier.com

Strohminger, N., & Nichols, S. (2014). The essential moral self. Cognition, 131(1), 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.005

Strohminger, N., Knobe, J., & Newman, G. (2017). The True Self: A Psychological Concept Distinct From the Self. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(4), 551–560. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616689495

Yaden, D. B., Haidt, J., Hood, R. W., Vago, D. R., & Newberg, A. B. (2017). The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience. Review of General Psychology, 21(2), 143–160. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000102

Yaden, D. B., & Newberg, A. B. (2022). The Varieties of Spiritual Experience: 21st Century Research and Perspectives. Oxford University Press.

“I carry it with me,” she said.

“How do you carry it with you?” I asked.

“By seeing people,” she replied.

“How do you see people?” I asked.

“By traveling and seeing the whole person” she said.

“Okay, so it’s about learning and being open?” I suggested.

“It’s about being.” She corrected.

Imagine you sat down with a board of directors that consisted of the world’s billionaires. These billionaires are here to advise you on how to best leverage your current resources and skills in order to become a billionaire. 

You’re a billionaire, now what?

With their counsel, you become a billionaire, experience great pleasure in life, and have loving relationships around you. But… what if there was something even better than that? There is. You see, everyone on earth has their own treasure that needs to be discovered. The treasure is your calling, passion, or mission in life. Once found, this treasure leads to the most fulfilling life imaginable, because you will have stepped into the role that only you were born to step into. 

Only you have the answer

It is quite a journey to find out what this treasure is and you will need to listen to your heart’s voice because nobody on earth can guide you towards your treasure but you. Listening to your heart’s voice involves liberating yourself from trends, popularity, and instant gratification. It entails authenticity, eudaimonia, and inner fulfillment. 

Your compass: intrinsic inclinations 

Your guiding compass towards this treasure are your natural proclivities. What do you naturally gravitate towards? It doesn’t matter how crazy it seems, if it is truly your calling, the universe will find a way to let you do it. People have made livings from the most unimaginable activities, and that is because it was their true calling. 

The only instruction you need

It gets better though. There is only one instruction you can receive to finding your treasure: live. Immerse yourself in diverse experiences, read, meet new people, make mistakes, fall, and keep getting back up. The more you live, the more data you will have to assess and look for patterns. These patterns pave the pathway to your treasure. So tell me, what topics tickle your brain? What do you truly enjoy doing when you are all alone with nothing to prove?

The signs are all around you

If you’re trying to accomplish something yet you keep being met with closed doors, perhaps it is a sign that you’re on the wrong path. On the right path, synchronicities will occur frequently and it will feel like there is a higher power helping you move into this role. Your true calling should flow, the process should feel almost effortless. The man who’s calling is to make airplanes will make an airplane while enjoying the process and without over exerting himself. He will have a balanced life all around. But the man who is walking someone else’s path might have to work twice as hard, have an unbalanced life, and feel the need for extreme discipline towards the goal.

Everyone is an important piece of the puzzle

I believe that we are all special in our own unique ways, even if it may be as simple as being a mother, farmer, scuba diving instructor, or accountant. Your treasure is not everyone’s treasure, therefore, maybe nobody will ever conceive of the immense joy it brings you — but that does not matter at all, because you have found the key to enjoying the journey. 

You are exactly where you need to be

If you knew what your treasure was, you would not want a single thing about you to change. You would want the exact environment, experiences, and appearance that you currently have. The problem with those wishing they were born with other circumstances is that they do not see what is right in front of them. Your treasure is right in front of you, it’s just a matter of you seeing it. 

The meaning of life as a whole? That is beyond my perspective. What I do see though, is that there are patterns all around us in life which can be used to determine the meaning in our life.

1. Patterns

First of all, existence in itself is a series of fractals. It is organized, repetitive, and ever growing. The start is the end and the end is the start, it goes on forever. Studies show that looking at fractals calms people down, and many studies indicate the calming effect nature has on people. Nature is made up of fractals. This implies the importance of seeking out patterns to imply causation, or in this case, determine the meaning of life. 

2. Adversity and growth

Second of all, no human leaves the earth unscathed – life literally starts out as an adversity, with the big bang. Our Mothers face excruciating pain and we tear through that hole balling our eyes out. We all go through pain, but in saying that, we also grow from the pain we endure. Adversity that precedes growth is a fractal in all of nature:

• Exposure to viruses builds our immune system.
• Many seeds require exposure to cold temperatures to break dormancy and germinate.
• Some tree species, like the sequoia, require fire to release seeds from their cones, leading to new growth.
• Tree roots grow deep so they can reach high, they get stronger with wind.
• Plants in arid regions develop deeper roots to access water, improving their drought tolerance.
• Crustaceans, insects, and arachnids must shed their exoskeletons to grow, a process that leaves them vulnerable but is essential for expansion.

What does this symbolize? Perhaps that one of the meanings of life is to grow from pain. And while the crown of a tree may stop growing, its roots continue to grow. The same is true with us; our physical growth may stop, slow, or recess, but our internal development is a lifelong journey. So here, growth refers to moral development moreso than physical growth. 

3. Being of Service

Finally, Everything creation has something to leave behind. Trees give us oxygen and leave fruits that carry seeds that sprout into more trees. Beavers combat climate change by regulating the river ecosystems. Elephants use their trunks to dig water during dry seasons and provide it to other animals.  We have the ability to contribute to society by leaving behind ideas, solutions, children, technological advancement, art, and much more. Every person that is alive has contributed to evolution in some form.  Contributing to society is a basic human need. This is because we are designed to work, it is a basic human need. Being of service also feels good, with studies indicating increased depression in people who are out of work. These patterns are a recurring reminder from nature to find how we can be of service.

4. Love (connection) 

We all know that nature is deeply interconnected. In ecosystems, each individual part contributes to the proper functioning of other parts. These parts collectively allow the entire system to function. The same way, as humans, we need each other to thrive! Not just in an evolutionary survival way, but in a soul-nourishing way. Our soul grows when we give love to each other. Loving others makes us feel more connected and fulfilled. Love is emotional nourishment.

Tying everything together, objectively speaking, existence is a set of endless patterns. As humans, we are drawn to patterns. Two major patterns across species and nature are adversity leading to growth, and all of nature leaving something behind. This translates to the universal meaning of life for us which is to grow through pain and do something good for the world. Now, integrate this with your own story, skills, proclivities, and resources to discover your unique subjective meaning in the world. You are a valuable piece in the puzzle of life; without you, life would not be complete. So, tell me, what pain have you suffered and how have you grown from it? What tickles your empathy receptors or gets your engine running? What does life want from you?Throughout this process, let nature remind you of our interconnectedness and inspire you to love the people around you. Love is what makes life worth living, and is a reminder of who you really are.

There is a spiritual element to this quote that has pragmatic implications. Essentially, the quote suggests that truly wealthy individuals are wise people who have achieved mental freedom. Conversely, those who are not wise, though they may believe themselves to be wealthy, are merely deluding themselves. How is this possible? Well, wisdom involves understanding the ego and its socially conditioned tendency to pursue desire endlessly. Wise people recognize that chasing these desires, such as money, social status, and physical beauty, is like pouring water into a cup with a small hole at the bottom.

Thanks to their wisdom, truly wealthy people are liberated from socially conditioned desires and, therefore, are truly free. They understand that at the base of every human pursuit is a need for virtue.

In simple terms, a wise person embodies the virtue of love to connect with others and experience a genuine sense of belonging, while an unwise person, who is ‘enslaved,’ may attempt to attain wealth and elevate their status to achieve the same inner state. However, the unwise person may never reach this state because it is reached through virtue, not possession. Virtue is the highest form of wealth and the truest form of beauty, as the Stoics would say: ‘True beauty is the beauty of the soul.’

Pragmatically speaking, wise people are capable of achieving whatever they desire materialistically too, for the most part. To know what you want, you must be wise. The wise understand that the underlying goal is to be virtuous. Interestingly, when you embody virtue, you often become successful. For example, businesses and jobs revolve around solving problems. A virtuous person’s honesty enables them to clearly identify where their skills can be most useful, leading to inevitable, exponential, and unexpected success. Of course, you are likely to succeed if you do what you are good at and this truth is revealed through living virtuously. 

A life of meaning or pleasure? 

Many of us leave our hometown and thus our family, to pursue higher education and expand our horizons with the aim of living a better life. Often this process involves a few tears from loved ones, but we weigh out the pros and cons and decide that choosing our happiness over our family by leaving for a few years is worth it. Well, Aaron Smuts’ might disagree. Smuts’ is a philosopher who believes that a good life is about self-sacrifice and doing good, irrespective of whether it feels good or not. I believe that is a very limited approach to a good life. I’ll use the example of George Bailey, from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” to critique this idea. 

Bailey is a man who sacrifices his personal dreams of leaving town and becoming an architect in order to take care of his family and community. Eventually, his uncle misplaces some money which earns him jail time, but Bailey the hero steps in and does his jail time for him. This lands him in a great depression, and he decides to kill himself. But then, an angel shows up and shows him how much worse off the town would have been without him. With this realization, he positively reframes his assessment of his life thus far and lives happily ever after… in jail for a few years. Smuts’ takes an objectivist approach and argues that Bailey did live a good life because it promoted “good” even if he did not feel good. I believe George is quite extreme and did not need to go to jail because what good is he to others in jail? Even if the purpose of life was to live in self denial and do good, being irrationally selfless impairs the extent to which you can contribute to others. 

This is where Existentialism comes in. Existentialists would take a completely subjectivist approach whereby just by feeling that your life has meaning, then it does. Again, we’re treading in the realm of extremes here. If a serial killer feels it is personally meaningful and pleasurable to kill women because he was hurt by women growing up, does that make for a good life? From a neurobiological perspective, it absolutely does not. Anxiety from guilt is an inevitable and automatic response to immoral actions. Our subconscious knows when what we are doing is wrong. The universe has some objective truth and then there are varied unique personal truths we uncover through self discovery. 

In this case, objective truth would be Victor Frankl and Smuts’ ideas that a good life entails deriving meaning through virtuous and selfless pursuits. Then, subjective truth can be derived from what is joyous to us that is not joyous to all. Discovering this subjective truth is imperative towards living the most meaningful and humanitarian life because the more we enjoy what we do, the more we can pour into it without running out of water. Smut says that fulfillment (joy) is one thing and meaning is another. I concur with this but take a holistic stance, highlighting the importance of both in order to maximize one another. Meaning, the more joy you feel in giving, the more you will give, so find a way to give that you enjoy! 

Finally, to drive this point down in different wording, Smut says, “We do not merely want to live happy lives, but meaningful lives as well.” The key word here is “as well”. We need meaning to feed our soul (happiness). However, we also need to satisfy our ego (pleasure) to fuel our body with more energy towards our soul purpose. If it was just meaning that we needed then we wouldn’t be born with animalistic needs, and pleasure wouldn’t feel good. It’s here for a reason and it feels good for a reason, so we should use it as our compass by mastering the dance between the soul and the ego.