Finding Purpose and Meaning in Your Life

September 11, 2001, was a turning point in the lives of many people. Before that date, they were willing to accept their career as something they simply did to bring home a paycheck. They chose from a plethora of leisure activities that took their money, filled their time and promised them they never need be bored. They were as, Michael Novak writes in Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove: An Invitation to Religious Studies, "people whose metaphysics are, in effect, the comfortable feeling they have just after a heavy lunch; they see no need to raise ontological questions. They live and they die; and they think persons who torment themselves about ultimate questions both waste their time and overlook the pleasantness of the present."

The reality of what can happen when one is focused only on the present and on one's own pleasures has jolted many to search their lives for deeper meaning. As they do so, they agree with Socrates' philosophy that the unexamined life is not worth living.

In these and other articles on Learning Place Online (LPO) we hope to bring you ideas you can use as you explore how your life can become richer and more deeply satisfying and how your choices can reflect a more serious goal than accumulating more material possessions.