Meaning in Life and its Vitality in the Praxis

This paper examines the different aspects of meaning in life from a theoretical perspective of philosophy and psychology. It deals mainly with the dynamism ofmeaning in life on the basis of contextual perspectives and its emergence from different sources. In this regard, religion plays an important role in the formation of meaning in life, especially in relation to its competence. Moreover, the praxis of meaning in life is processoriented and is different from the purpose of life. It also remains as a connector between the existential vacuum and the reality of life, promoting stability in life. The expression of meaning in life can be based on both low and high levels. Above all, meaning in life can be seen from two different aspects of presence of meaning and search for meaning, specifically from the empirical and Indian contexts

Personality and Self-Compassion: Exploring Their Relationship in an Indian Context

The present study examines the relationship between personality and self-compassion among Indian emerging adults. Two samples of emerging adult males (N1 = 494 Catholic seminarians, N2 = 504 Catholic non-seminarians) completed the Big Five Inventory, the Honesty-Humility Subscale of HEXACO and the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form. Primarily, we examined the mean-level differences for Big Five factors, honesty-humility and self-compassion between the samples and found that mean-levels were higher for seminarians except for neuroticism. Therefore, we treated the samples separately for further analyses. Secondly, we examined the associations between personality factors of the Big Five, honesty-humility and self-compassion. Consciousness, agreeableness and extraversion were positively associated with self-compassion. Neuroticism had a large negative correlation with self-compassion. Openness to experience had a medium positive relationship with self-compassion among seminarians and a small positive relationship among emerging adult non-seminarians. A medium positive association was found between honesty-humility and self-compassion. Thirdly, we examined the impact of personality factors on self-compassion. Self-compassion was significantly and positively predicted by agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and honesty-humility for seminarians and by extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness for non-seminarians. Neuroticism was a significant negative predictor of self-compassion for both samples. | Diese Forschung untersucht die Zusammenhänge der Persönlichkeit und des Mitgefühls mit uns selbst am Beispiel von indischen jungen Erwachsenen. Zwei Gruppen von jungen erwachsenen Männern (N1 = 494 katholische Seminaristen, N2 = 504 katholische Nicht-Seminaristen) haben den Fragebogen mit dem Fünf-Faktoren-Modell (Big Five), die Unterskala Ehrlichkeit-Demut des Modells Hexaco und die Skala Mitgefühl mit uns selbst ausgefüllt. Beim ersten Schritt wurden die Unterschiede zwischen den Musterdurchschnitten in Bezug auf die fünf Faktoren des Big Five Modells, nach den Punkten von Ehrlichkeit-Demut und Mitgefühl mit uns selbst untersucht und beobachtet, dass in der Gruppe der Seminaristen alle typischen Durchschnittswerte – bis auf den Neurotizismus – höher waren. Die Gewissenhaftigkeit, Freundlichkeit und Extraversion sind positiv mit dem Mitgefühl mit uns selbst korreliert. Der Neurotizismus zeigte eine hohe negative Korrelation mit dem Mitgefühl mit uns selbst. Die Offenheit zeigte eine positive Korrelation vom mittleren Wert mit dem Mitgefühl mit uns selbst in der Gruppe der Seminaristen und eine geringe positive Korrelation in der anderen Gruppe der jungen Erwachsenen. Drittens untersuchten wir die Wirkung der Persönlichkeitsmerkmale in Bezug auf das Mitgefühl mit uns selbst. Bei den Seminaristen ließ sich aufgrund von Freundlichkeit, Gewissenhaftigkeit, Offenheit und Ehrlichkeit-Demut das Mitgefühl mit uns selbst deutlich positiv voraussagen, bei den Nicht-Seminaristen eben Extraversion, Freundlichkeit und Gewissenhaftigkeit. Der Neurotizismus erwies sich in beiden Gruppen als eine signifikante negative Vorhersagevariable

Exploring the Role of Personality in Psychological Maturity and Spiritual Development among Indian Emerging Adults

The role of personality factors in the psychological maturity and spiritual development of the Catholic seminarians have not received due attention during their priestly formation. Consequently, the root causes of personality problems of the priests were not fully addressed. In this context, some Indian psychologists claim that “many religiously oriented persons and organizations until very recently gave little systematic attention to mental and emotional health” and as a result of this “many religious and priests remained emotionally immature, with great cost to their spiritual development and inter-personal functioning” (Parappully & Mannath, 2009, p. 34). Hence, a detailed study can contribute substantially to examine the psychological change during the priestly formation and to rectify the psychological inadequacies. Based on McAdams (1995) model of three distinct levels of personality description, we explore personality factors, psychological maturity, spiritual development and meaning in life in the emerging male adults of Catholic seminarians and nonseminarians in India, using variable-oriented and person-oriented approaches in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical background of the research project, roughly based on the model of three levels of personality description: (1) dispositional traits, (2) characteristic adaptations – psychological maturity, and (3) integrative life stories – spiritual development and meaning in life (McAdams, 1995). Chapter 2 describes how personality is related to self-compassion among the emerging male adults of Catholic seminarians and nonseminarians in India. The results showed that personality was a predictor of self-compassion and more precisely, Neuroticism was a strong negative predictor of self-compassion in both samples. In Chapter 3, we examine the relationship between spiritual development and gratitude among Indian emerging male adults. Awareness of God was a significant predictor of gratitude for both samples of Catholic seminarians and nonseminarians, whereas, Realistic Acceptance of God became a predictor of gratitude for seminarians only. Chapter 4 focuses on the relationship between personality and spiritual development among Indian emerging adults of Catholic seminarians and nonseminarians. The results showed that personality and spiritual development were closely related among seminarians and nonseminarians but the degree of relationships was different in the samples. Chapter 5 focuses on a longitudinal study of stability or change of personality, psychological maturity, and spiritual development of emerging adults of Catholic seminarians of philosophy and theology. Results showed that personality factors of the Big Five remained stable, whereas the Honesty-Humility factor showed an increase in seminarians, particularly among theology students. No change was found in the spiritual development factors. Levels of Self-compassion increased in theology students. Avoidance, a negative factor of forgiveness, increased in philosophy students, whereas gratitude, hope, and forgiveness remained stable among both philosophy and theology students. In chapter 6, we explore meaning in life among Catholic seminarians. Based on a person-oriented approach, four types of meaning-in-life profiles present in secularized Western were replicated in a sample of Indian seminarians and a significant positive association between Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning was found.status: publishe