Understanding Meaning

Today,

Understand

Understanding Victor Frankl’s Ultimate Meaning and Religion

Viktor Frankl, while standing in the tradition of humanism and existentialism with Fromm, Allport, and Maslow, contrasts the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud and the individualistic theory of Alfred Adler. Freud suggests that the basic motivational factor for a human being is the “will to pleasure,” Adler suggests it is the “will to power,” and Frankl suggests it is the “will to meaning” and is manifested in the “spiritual” dimensions, which is what is most unique about the self.

In his idea of a meaningful life, or how to become meaningful, Frankl outlines three main chances to achieve such a life: 1) by doing a deed or creating a work, 2) by experiencing something (nature or culture) or someone whom we love, or 3) by changing an attitude to create meaning in the midst of a situation that causes suffering. His theory sees man struggling for the most meaningful life possible or instead being frustrated in his very “will to meaning” by being disappointed and by seeing there is no place for meaning and thus simply floundering in his search.

In going one step beyond simply being as a human being, the religious person strives for an ultimate meaning. There is a new dimension that religious personalities enter by striving for something that may be experienced and perceived in terms of an ultimate meaning. This person is not satisfied with finding a meaningful task to complete, but also includes the awareness of a task giver, which is divinity.

While the “will to meaning” seems to be an extremely common motivational factor for human beings, I do not know if I agree that it is an intrinsic motivational factor of all human beings. I must agree with Freud in his idea of a “will to pleasure.” That is, pleasure is the primary motivating human factor when discussing motivation beyond survivalism, and this is even true in religion. Many religions provide a comfort or a crutch for human beings in a world that is full of half truths, contradictions and is difficult to understand. All of these religions claim to provide meaning, but ultimately they provide a pleasure of sorts – the comfort and satisfaction of an indoctrinated “ultimate meaning” that holds no intrinsic value. So, really, a “will to meaning” is in fact a “will to pleasure.”

- Gina St. Pierre

Websites

Are You Addicted to Oil?

Dr. Warren is a psychologist with 20 years experience helping individuals conquer addiction and deal with its lasting repercussions. The calamitous oil spill in the Gulf brings into sharp relief America’s addiction to dirty fuels. She draws parallels between our collective behavior in regards to oil and addictions that may be more familiar to us, such as smoking, drinking, drug use or gambling.

Take the test!

Articles

Acupuncture Stimulates release of Natural Painkillers

A recent study in Nature Neuroscience from the University of Rochester suggests a physiological explanation of how acupuncture relieves pain. Needles inserted in mice increased levels of the naturally occurring (and pain relieving) chemical adenosine by 24-fold in surrounding tissue.

Events

I would like to invite you all out to visit this product of community at the University of West Florida. We have a host of different veggies and are growing this garden without chemical pesticides or fertilizers.

*We are always at the Garden on Fridays at 10am. Please let me know if you are interested and I will add you to the garden club contact list.

Location: Parking lot SP2, 9 mile rd. is in the far right corner intersecting with campus drive.

- From the Progressive Student Alliance

Free Art Lessons for Foster Kids

Dolce Vita is holding an art party on Saturday, June 26th from 6pm to 3am. There is a $5 cover and a silent auction. There will be beer and wine. The proceeds go to Art Reshaping Tomorrow, a program that gives free art lessons to foster kids. Dolce Vita is located at 309 Rues street in downtown Pensacola behind Ever'man natural food store.

Quotations

"Some recluses and brahmins, so called,

Are deeply attached to their own views;

People who only see one side of things

Engage in quarrels and disputes."

- Unknown (taken from Buddhist texts)

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

-Goethe

"At the end of every attempt to objectify our subjective lives, is elusive anxiety about the fact that reality is completely empty...and Free*"

-J. Reid

Calls to Action

Dear Friend,

The media conglomerate Discovery Communications used to be known for their earth-friendly offerings. But they've just paid millions to Sarah Palin to host a "nature" show, despite her decidedly anti-environmental stance: She vocally advocates for habitat-destroying oil drilling, she denies global warming is a human-caused threat, and she spearheaded a brutal wolf-slaughter program as governor of Alaska.

It's one thing if Fox News gives Sarah Palin a platform. But when Discovery Communications -- home to the Discovery Channel, the "Planet Earth" series, the Science Channel, Animal Planet, and TreeHugger.com -- gives a show to Sarah Palin, it undercuts everything the Discovery brand has come to represent.

Anti-environmentalism has no place in the Discovery Communications lineup. Join me in demanding that the company cancel "Sarah Palin's Alaska" before it airs. Just click on the link to send your message.

-Kirk

The second Hands Across the Sand event is happening Saturday, June 26th, only this time it is a nationwide event. Last time the focus was to help stop the petro-chemical companies from drilling in our State waters, as close as 3 miles off shore. This time the event goes further in helping to bring awareness to the root issue: our deadly addiction to fossil fuels. Thank you to Margaret Biggs who is helping to organize, and Mary Gutierrez who is trying very hard to work out some public transportation options for us. So far the best that can be done in Escambia County is for us to all meet at the Park and Ride (near the civic center) and car pool. We will meet at 10:15 a.m. No seat should go unfilled. We will then meet at Pensacola Pier at 11am, hold hands from 12 to 12:15 to show solidarity on our support for renewable energy and public transportation. Perhaps someone wants to organize a meeting place in Santa Rosa County for car pooling also? Okaloosa? Walton?

-PSA

Art

By Aaron Ridgeway

A Personal Note

The Post Script Society publication is maintained and compiled by Eric St. Pierre unless otherwise notated. This issue of the Post Script Society was edited by Gina St. Pierre , many thanks are due to her. If you would like to contribute to our publication please respond to this email.

Evolution

Today,
Evolve


[The purpose of this blog] is NOT to attempt to stratify "people of faith" with "people of fact," but to highlight the harm in rejecting new information that conflicts with belief.

There is A TON of proof that would suggest that evolution is correct. It is not just another "belief," it is supported on all sides by many fields of science outside of biology. While some people claim there are errors in Charles Darwin's theory, let us also remember that 150 years ago people were oblivious to genetics and archaeology and geology were nowhere near what they are today. As something primarily based on observation after 150 years it has stood up to all kinds of testing as discovery after discovery has done nothing but strengthen this theory.

Let me also clarify [what constitutes as a theory]. The term "theory," in the realm of science, does not mean what it does in colloquial language.


When we say "the theory of evolution," we mean "theory" as in: A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.

Let's also remember what Einstein said about testing within the realm of the scientific method: "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."

This means that all it would take to prove Darwin wrong once and for all is the discovery of a fossilized rabbit from the Devonian era. Assuming that the Earth was created in 6 days along with all it's inhabitants simultaneously this should happen, right? But it doesn't. We only find fossils of aquatic animals in a time that predates land animals from 416 to 359.2 million years ago.


So while we should be humble as to what really is universally correct, we can surely appreciate the merit of something that has withstood a century and a half of scientific breakthroughs only to come out stronger than ever. To say that it is "just another theory, what makes it different to the creationism theory?" is a naive statement to make and suggests ignorance on behalf of a person who has chosen to reject the evidence from many years of testing based on feedback from the real world.

Now about that infamous "missing link," It's not missing. There are many discovered fossils of the intermediates between what we call "apes" and the modern man. Remember that contradictory to the creationist argument, evolution doesn't assert that we evolved from monkeys or apes as we know them today, instead it states that we and modern apes share a common ancestor albeit more like an ape than us but different rates of change occur under different circumstances. The problem with these fossils is that as soon as we find something to plug the hole that the deniers of evolution are so quick to point out, we are now faced with 2 holes, one on either side of the intermediate to which need their own intermediates and so on.

Of the plethora of distinguishable ape-man fossils in existence there are two genera worth mentioning. Australopithecus and Homo. The latter is the genus to which we as a species belong (homo sapiens). The homo genus is believed to be descended from the Australopithecus so once again we would expect to find intermediates between them. Sure enough, we do. The two genera are littered with species that are classifications of characteristics attributed to the fossils found from different time periods. Listed in chronological order, here are some examples of these species:

Australopithecus afarensis, which lived 4 to 2.7 million years ago and walked upright.
Australopithecus africanus, 3 to 2 million years ago and similar to A. afarensis. (both are likely candidates for the ancestors of the homo genus).
Australopithecus robustus, 2.3 to 1 million years ago. Similar to A. afarensis but had a thicker skull.
Homo habilis, 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago. Remains have been found near stone tools hence the name (handy man).
Homo erectus, 2 ma. to around 500'000 years ago. Believed to have been the first Homo species to migrate and the first to use fire.
Homo heidelburgensis, 500 to 200'000 years ago. (this group is thought to be ancestral to the now extinct Neanderthal and modern Homo sapiens)
Homo neanderthalensis, 200'000 to 30'000 years ago. From Europe and Western Asia and are believed to have lived side by side with modern Homo Sapiens.
Homo sapiens, 130'000 to the present day. The first were known as Cro-Magnons and were more muscular than us but with smaller brains. They used elaborate tools and left many cave paintings.

Hypothetically, we would imagine that if we had a lifelike replica of a mother and a daughter at the same approximate age for every generation standing next to each other, we could walk down a long line of daughter, mother, grandmother, great grandmother... and see the obvious resemblance in characteristics, but how long do we have to walk down this line until we are looking at a completely different species altogether? It would be something like watching a person grow. You wouldn't notice them growing day to day but the same person at 30 years of age is nothing like they were at 3. And in the same way we classify a child, adolescent, and adult, so do we classify species. A person doesn't just morph from an adolescent to an adult at the stroke of midnight on a given date and in the same way neither does an organism give birth to an organism of a totally different species.

This is a common problem among paleoanthropologists today because now that we have a list of species within a list of genera it is becoming harder and harder to classify a fossil as belonging to one species or another and there are examples of fossils that are classified as different species by different paleoanthropologists with different opinions. So where is the missing link now?

My point in all this is that understanding this concept leads to the realization that we are all related. To our cousins the chimpanzees or to a fish or a flower at some point in time we have shared a common ancestor and then branched off to go our separate ways and meet each other again in the present day in the cumulative form of our experiences through natural selection. Every organism is it's own unique "species" that varies only slightly from it's predecessor. The only reason we have to name them different things and separate them into categories is so that our limited minds can keep track of things and pass them on through conversation.

This is truly a powerful realization to come to because only now can we have a relationship with nature and all that is around us. We have evolved alongside others and established crucial relationships that are vital for our survival and well being. We know that without plants and animals we're dead. We recognize that our well being is only as good as the well being of every living thing in our environment and it is in our best interest to protect it from harm in any way shape or form. Only now can we acknowledge our symbiosis with nature and understand the reasoning behind it.

This leads me to my initial point that there is no reason for anyone to deny this reality for the sake of outdated beliefs that contradict the idea that we have evolved. This can only lead to a misconception that we are separate and disconnected from nature. We are able to pursue activities that may benefit us at the the expense of our environment or others around us because we cannot comprehend the detrimental effects that go beyond our own egotistical lifetime. To go on thinking that we are superior to everything with god given rights to exist on the highest terrestrial rung of the ladder of life will ultimately bring about our own destruction.


- Josh "JellyMeat" (edits in brackets by Eric St. Pierre)

Quotations

“Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.”

-William Arthur Ward

"As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings"

- Unknown, taken from Buddhist text

"I think I'm dumb...or maybe just happy. I think I'm just happy."

- Kurt Cobain

Art

"I Dream of Gina" By Eric St. Pierre.

Poetry

None for this issue. If you would like to contribute to the next issue, please reply to this email.

Articles

The CIA Admits Plans to Manipulate Public

This is what has been admitted. Imagine what has not.

Websites

New Earth Warriors

From the man that inspired the book that inspired the movie "Men Who Stare at Goats" is a website dedicated to teaching the world about the valuable benefits of peaceful conflict resolution and spiritual development.

Spirals Over Australia

12 pictures and a video of a spiral "ufo" over Australia yesterday, June 5th, 2010! Just like the Norway Spiral except this time it moved all over the sky and many cities. The video, news article, and pictures are in the link below. (video is the 13th "picture" in the series on the website)

Scores of people from across the country [Australia] have been stunned to see what appears to be an unidentified flying object flying across the sky.

Ninemsn readers from South Australia, NSW, Queenland and Victoria have sent in photos of a mysterious object that spiralled across the night sky at around 5:45am this morning.

It was described as a swirling light that moved from east to west across the sky for several minutes just before sunrise.

-from Burt Antone

Events

None to report.

Action Alerts

Hi,
The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are making us poor. Right now, America spends $159 billion on contingency operations for the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That's enough money to eliminate taxes for everyone who makes under $35,000 a year, while cutting the deficit.
Progressive hero, Congressman Alan Grayson, is once again leading the charge to put an end to this disastrous spending. I signed the petition to support 'The War is Making You Poor' Act, an act that would cut waste, fraud and abuse in the disastrous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Join me and sign the petitin at http://www.thewarismakingyoupoor.com/
Do it now.

-Kirk

Other Links of Interest

BlackFridayFatality
James' Book

A Personal Note

We need another editor. Gina can't do it all by herself! If you would like to volunteer your skills and time, reply.

The Post Script Society publication is maintained and compiled by Eric St. Pierre unless otherwise notated. This issue of the Post Script Society was edited by Gina St. Pierre , many thanks are due to her. If you would like to to contribute to our publication please leave a comment.