Meanings of Life Review

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Meanings of Life ReviewThis book is not an attempt to tell us what the "meanings of life" are, just what we think they are: it's psychology, not philosophy. An interesting aspect of the book is the explorations of ways that we sometimes find our "meanings" inadequate.
Baumeister begins with a definition of meaning which I consider simply confused, but then my background is in philosophy. Fortunately, his definition is irrelevant to the rest of the book.
He suggests that the need for meaning can be (more or less arbitrarily, as he admits) considered under four aspects: purpose, value, efficacy, and self-worth.
Purpose is roughly equal to goals, although especially goals that (appear to) transcend arbitrary individual choice. We usually prefer to be working towards some goals that we imagine will be very fulfilling. As Baumeister explores, we usually find achieving these goals fulfilling for a brief time only, before we conceive some new goal, some new future state that we imagine will be satisfying. Or occasionally we get disappointed with our general life-project, endure a period of depression or uncertainty, and find a new direction.
This analysis is spot-on, and leads me to suggest that we consider more satisfying alternatives to ambition; for instance, gratitude. Czikszentmihalyi's work on "flow" would also be interesting to explore.
Instead, Baumeister gives an interesting analysis of religious ideals of fulfillment in the afterlife, pointing out that since we never get any news from the afterlife, these never prove disappointing, unlike ideals of fulfillment in this life. Therefore, people may find religious goals meaningful to the very end, while secular goals may prove disappointing.
(I'm not sure how a devoutly religious person would react to this book. It doesn't flatter them at all, but if you read carefully, I think you can detect that Baumeister is trying to avoid condescension.)
The second meaning is value, as in moral value: a sense that our lives contribute to the goodness of the world. Baumeister argues that the decline in religious belief (in certain cultures or segments of society) leaves a "value gap." We are not sure how to morally justify our lives. Several chapters of the book analyze ways that we try to fill the value gap, especially with the "self." Baumeister follows a few other cultural critics arguing that past cultures did not value the self or look to it as a source of value, and he convincingly argues that our modern culture has begun to do that in an attempt to fill the value gap. He looks at how this has transformed the way we think of our relationships, our work, suffering, and especially death.
A third need is efficacy, to feel that we really do accomplish something, that we have useful skills. He didn't explore this much, considering it fairly easy for most of us to meet this need in modern society. He does refer to some studies on the elderly, to whom this issue is often more poignant; also to some relevant studies of anorexia.
The fourth need is self-esteem, commonly interpreted as a need to feel better than other people (or groups of people) in some way. In this context, he refers to Raboteau's interesting analysis of how religion helped slaves find self-worth.
Relative to these needs, he looks at various aspects of our lives. One very interesting chapter looks at the way we think of our work: job vs. career vs. calling, the work ethic, and reasons that we often find our work unsatisfying. Another focuses on how we use the family, especially children, as a major value base. Another very interesting chapter on why women once disliked sex argues that it was because they considered being supreme moral examples, especially of chastity, to be one of the central meanings of their lives. The chapters on pain, death, and finding or losing meanings were quite good; especially the analysis of terminal illness, and leaving religious cults. The "self" proves central in most of these considerations, including an interesting analysis of how the "self" rose to prominence in the past few centuries of Western history.
The chapter on religion, for me at least, was underwhelming. The chapter on happiness was short and adequate, though if this is your primary interest I'd strongly recommend considering Martin Seligman's work instead.
It's an academic book, so the writing won't set anything on fire; but as academic books go, it's not that bad. There's a lot of repetition: introducing the topic, introducing it again later, exploring it, summarizing it; reviewing and summarizing it again later. Some of the abstractions are a bit uncomfortable to me, and I suspect for anyone unused to sociological concepts. For instance, Baumeister talks of society using the individual to its own advantage, where I can more easily imagine individuals using other individuals to their own advantages, in ways that cumulatively create cultural patterns.
Finally, I'd alert you that Baumeister has recently written a book entitled "The Cultural Animal," which looks like a broader, better book in many respects. Definitely check it out before you choose to buy this one!Meanings of Life Overview

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