Meaning in Life: The Harmony of Nature and Spirit
Irving Singer
Abstract
This final book in the Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality. It examines the ways in which we overcome suffering in life by resolving our sense of being divided between them, and suggests that the accord between nature and spirit arises from an art of life which affords meaning, happiness, and love by employing the same principles as those that exist in all artistic achievements. The book argues that it is through the meaningfulness created by imagination and idealization that we make life worth living. This human art form ... More
This final book in the Meaning in Life trilogy studies the interaction between nature and the values that define human spirituality. It examines the ways in which we overcome suffering in life by resolving our sense of being divided between them, and suggests that the accord between nature and spirit arises from an art of life which affords meaning, happiness, and love by employing the same principles as those that exist in all artistic achievements. The book argues that it is through the meaningfulness created by imagination and idealization that we make life worth living. This human art form, it claims, enables us to unite our selfish interests with our compassionate and loving inclinations. We thereby effect a vital harmonization within which the naturalistic values of ethics, aesthetics, and religion can find their legitimate place. The good life, as envisioned by the book, includes the love of persons, things, and ideals so intricately intermeshed that the meaning in one contributes to the meaningfulness of the other two. The result is a kind of happiness that we all desire.
Keywords:
spirituality,
suffering,
nature,
spirit,
art of life,
meaning,
happiness,
love,
imagination,
idealization
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780262513586 |
| Published to MIT Press Scholarship Online: August 2013 |
DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262513586.001.0001 |
