...1) In everyday life, work is still at the center of things; along with love, it is the most important element of a satisfying and happy life. In ordinary life, the ideal of “meaningful work,” or work that has sufficient scope for self-direction, complexity, and consequential effects to support pride and a sense of purpose, is more relevant than ever. Few still believe that a different economic and political order can bring a fundamental improvement to the human condition. Good purposes and fulfilling activities are hard to specify impersonally in any case and any attempt to do so would insult individuals’ freedom to define such things for themselves. In this view, no single ideal of meaningful work could cover the variety of individual tastes and inclinations, nor accommodate the remarkable ability of people to invest their work with meaning even when the work has little to offer in the way of variety, authority, complexity, or social standing. 2) 1) In everyday life, work is still at the center of things; along with love, it is the most important element of a satisfying and happy life. In ordinary life, the ideal of “meaningful work,” or work that has sufficient scope for self-direction, complexity, and consequential effects to support pride and a sense of purpose, is more relevant than ever. Few still believe that a different economic and political order can bring a fundamental improvement to the human condition. Good purposes and fulfilling activities...
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...to God. Do you believe that's possible, or does one need religion to live a good and meaningful life? Defend your view. I do not believe one needs religion to live a good and meaningful life, nor do they need to appeal to God to seek meaning, value or a sense of right and wrong. I do believe that appealing to religion can make for a guiding path towards a meaningful life, but is not the only way. Whether one follows a path guided by a particular religion or follows a path set by themselves toward a righteous and moral life, these two paths are very similar. Living a good and meaningful life requires one to be virtuous and ethical. Many religions are based around their members living by these standards and attempts to show them how to live by such standards. There are certainly many who live virtuous, ethical lives while not appealing to religion as well. Moreover, just having religion in one’s life does not guarantee one will live a good and meaningful life. It comes down to the individual. It is the individual’s choice to follow the guide of their religion toward a good life. Therefore, I believe anyone who is attempting to live a meaningful life by way of religion is still following their own personal set of morals. Thus, it is not necessary to follow religion, as long as one’s own morals lead them towards a righteous life. Furthermore, there are many religious beings who do not live meaningful lives, not because their religion leads them astray, but because they chose to...
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...(Instructor’s Name) (Unit’s Name) (Date) Meaningful life and its meaning Various number of definitions that have to do with the pursuit of satisfaction in life applies to a meaningful life. According to oxford dictionary meaning is the connection that links two independent entities. Major aspects that arise about this topic are belief that life itself is meaningful and a global way to understand one's life. Some scientists argue that people who possess a sense of meaning are likely to have minimum levels of negative emotions and their risk of contracting mental illness is reduced as well. Life bearers are realizing dominant life goals, valuable goals in that case, and enjoying life by the bearers are argued to be the true meaning of meaningful life by some other world renowned philosophers. This paper aims to discuss meaningful life and its meaning. Meaningful lives are lives that are full of active engagement. It still is an open question if an activity provides robust meaning to our lives if that activity is chosen and satisfying. The writer argues that freely watching episodes of murder and matlock might prove satisfying (Belliotti). Viewing television programs continuously can become one’s life interest, but such a life characterize sufferers, people that cannot leave home without assistance. Muted meaning in life, that does not bring great worth in life are brought about by such activities. The best candidates of meaningful life are Intellectual and moral achievements,...
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...Introductory Article A Good Living Versus A Good Life: Meaning, Purpose, and HRD Neal Chalofsky1 and Liz Cavallaro1 Advances in Developing Human Resources 15(4) 331–340 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1523422313498560 adhr.sagepub.com Abstract The Problem. The expectation for meaningful work and work–life integration is firmly entrenched in the minds of the GenerationY/Millennial generations in the workplace. Yet, in updating the literature and rethinking the impact on Chalofsky’s (2003) construct for meaningful work, the question arose as to whether meaningful work can and should exist in a vacuum or should it be viewed as part of a meaningful life. If so, what are the implications for the construct and for human resource development (HRD). How far can and should HRD go to help ensure a meaningful and purposeful life for present and future generations in the workplace? The Solution. This article provides a sketch of the current research and thinking about meaningful work and a basis for the rest of the articles in this issue. The tightness of the “fit” between self and work can determine how meaningful one’s work is perceived. How work fits within a meaningful life, and how one’s life fits within the context of the organization, the community, the society, and the planet can shape a meaningful existence. The Stakeholders. The intended audience for this article includes HRD scholars, scholar-practitioners...
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...M. Washington OMM 612: Managing in Social Change Experiencing Work as a Meaningful Activity Dr. L. Flegle December 2, 2012 Experiencing Work as a Meaningful Activity Why do people work? A person may work for various reasons. For some work is fun and full of meaning. For others there may be instances where work is viewed as a burden or an end to a means. When there is a lack of satisfaction, work will not be fun, fulfilling or meaningful. As stated by Harper and Leicht (2011), work is never experienced as a neutral activity. However, according to Budd ((2011), work can be viewed as intrinsically rewarding and not just as a source of income. When individuals have the tools to seek and achieve work as a personal fulfillment, we can better understand how people view and experience work as a rich and meaningful activity. There are no people in my immediate circle of friends and co-workers who view work as a meaningful activity. The most common reason people work is to support a lifestyle. A person works in order to provide for themselves as well as their family with the basic essentials (shelter, clothing, and food). According to Harper and Leicht (2011), a question that often gets asked is whether or not the American economy can make jobs available that allow employees to afford a middle-class lifestyle and the consumer components of the American dream. The recent recession that the American economy has faced adds to the doubt. More people are being laid off...
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...Poetry could help me deal with those meaningful concerns in many ways, whether directly or indirectly, since I believe that the aim of poetry is to expose crucial circumstances in one’s life through writing. Having a good understanding and perception of what the poet is saying in his poem can help me relate the poem to my life or circumstances. Furthermore, finding the poem directly related to my situation at the time was imperative in helping me answer those meaningful concerns bothering me. Additionally, translating the poem the way that I perceive it would help me uncover minor details that could be missing; likewise creating my version of the poem can easily help me relate it to what concerns I may have in my life. Looking at the title...
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...The Meaning of Life There is a certain point in our lives, regardless of the time, when we begin to ask ourselves a set of questions that challenge our existence on this earth. Was the human race created to wonder this world aimlessly? Or do we have a true purpose that we are destined to harness and attain? Why am I here? Like the rest of us, Thomas Nagel, Robert Taylor, and Raymond Martin have each made their own attempts to answer the question of the meaning of life and while doing so, each of the philosophers rendered their own solution to these universal doubts. Thomas Nagel explains that “to convey the absurdity of our lives often has to do with space or time: we are tiny specks in the infinite vastness of the universe; our lives are mere instants even on a geological time scale, let alone a cosmic one; we will all be dead any minute” (Nagel, 768-769). Nagel then defines absurd as “a situation that includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension or aspiration and reality (Nagel, 769). Translated, Nagel says that absurd is a situation in which life seems irrational and meaningless. Throughout his entire argument, Nagel hardly leaves room for a rebuttal to yield the answer to the true meaning of our lives. He suggests that we as humans have a special capacity to take a step backwards and observe the lives that we are “committed” to and call them into question. But, as he pointed out; while taking that backwards step we realize that the life that we are so “committed”...
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...reasons to justify your evaluation. For purposes of evaluation, assume that the speaker is a contemporary Canadian philosopher and the audience is a group of students in Introduction to Philosophy. The Meaning of Life Zoltan Zut What is the meaning of life? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand what it is asking. Words have meanings, but obviously “What is the meaning of life?” is not asking the meaning of the word „life‟. If you want to know the meaning of life, you will not get an answer to your question if you learn that life is, say, a self-organising process in which a system of production modules makes things that perpetuate the modules‟ own existence. How are we to understand the expression “the meaning of life” if not in this over-literal way? One possibility is that the phrase means something equivalent to “the purpose of life.” The words „meaning‟ and „purpose‟ are often substitutable in this way. For instance, if I find your behaviour puzzling, I can equally ask what the meaning of your behaviour is and what the purpose of your behaviour is. For life to have a purpose in this sense would be for some individual(s) to have created all human life, or the universe as a whole, and to have had a purpose in doing so. The meaning of life would then be the purpose this individual (these individuals) had in creating things as they were created. One...
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...WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. ItturnS out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson's 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, "Our first minutes with the models…were not joyous." Later that evening, "a shape began to emerge which brought back our spirits." But when they showed their "breakthrough" to colleagues, they found that their model would not work. Dark days of doubt and ebbing motivation followed. When the duo finally had their bona fide breakthrough, and their colleagues found no fault with it, Watson wrote, "My morale skyrocketed, for I suspected that we now had the answer to the riddle." Watson and Crick were so driven by this success that they practically lived in the lab, trying to complete the work. Throughout these episodes, Watson and...
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...April 2012 A Life Course A typical college class is to go to class and learn the standards of what the class is teaching. You learn the basic concepts and formulas and forget them in the next semester. But the Humanities Honors program is four consecutive classes that enhance your knowledge and brain. It is not a regular average class that the professor does not know your name and does not even care about your learning. This complex program contains three compassionate professors that are kindhearted with their work and students. The knowledgeable professors contribute their time and dedication to teach their students of to care what is most in human of us. It was the beginning of my first semester in the Humanities Honors Program when the lecture on Socrates inspired me. It caught my attention when I read Socrates’ quote when he indicated that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” I examine my life by thinking about where I’ve been, how I got here, and where I’m going. There are so many questions going through my mind, but I don’t have all the answers. I believe that I have some sense of where I belong to the universe and have the context for understanding how all the elements fit together in my life. There are people that avoid leading an examined life. These people are ignorant and cannot look into the issues around us. I believe that we need to open our eyes and take the time to examine the world and our lives. When you set aside time to examine your life, you can explore...
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...his words survived. One of his famous quotes "the unexamined life is not worth living". Socrates said that if he was unable to examine life, he would not be really living. For Socrates, living meant being able to inquire about the things around him. I believe that living an examined life is important to having a successful life. People who are living an examined life are people who have thought about their life, how they will achieve their next goal, and how has the past affected them. People who are living an examined life are people who have thought about their life, how they will...
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...noun. As a noun work can refer to particular accomplishment, like homework or a job or employment. As a verb it can be used as working for government or as a teacher or as a coach and etc. Work can also be referred as an activities performed in exchange for wages. Work can be separated in three main parts which are: job, career, and calling. Job is described as work where self-identity is independent of activity. Career involves development between self and activity. Career is connected to activities which are “morally inseparable”. Work does have value, because working gets people paid, and different types of benefits like insurances, retirement programs and etc. Work has instrumental value, one who works is able to attain many other goods. 2. I think there is a huge different between these three words. I consider job to a temporary work place for income. Great example would be when college students work as waiters or in café as a dishwasher like I did for one semester. Working as a dishwasher like I did cannot have future and a dishwasher will always stay a dishwasher, he or she doesn’t move forward. Now, on another hand jobs which have future for example singer can be considered as having a music career, since no matter future one will stay in music industry and through time develop career. Career is more specific and focused more on one area. The main difference between job and career is that job is working with no future possible developments and career is working while...
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...therapy because people want to re-live their childhood. These people discover late in life that childhood was the time period where the most meaningful parts of life were. Things from our past don't just fade away, they are part of us, and most people greatly miss them weather they know it or not. My most meaningful place is my parents' house because it is a symbol of reliving my childhood, indulging in good times, and just plain feeling at home. Childhood is the time in life where personality traits are formed and memories haven't yet taken a sentimental feeling. Now that those times are gone, I remember running through the neighborhood with my friends and many other happy times where I knew I was having fun. The time my brother and I were playing hockey in my living room was fun. It was a friendly game, and we even had the cushions form the couch set up so nothing would get broken. Little did we know one stray puck would have us replacing drywall at 11:30 PM so our parents wouldn't see it, but, like everything else, we did it because it was enjoyment. My theory on life is, in order for something to be meaningful, you have to want it. I don't always want the irresponsible times of discovery that were my childhood back, but I do strive for the feelings I had toward life when I was there. Having a pleasant attitude all the time may not be possible this day in age, but I know it's a good feeling when you can. I can recall these memories at any time, but they are especially...
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...I think most of people want to relive their childhood that’s the reason why millions of dollars have been spending on therapy houses every year. Childhood is the time that most of meaningful and happiest parts of everyone’s life were. Things from our childhood are part of us and all of us miss it, and my meaningful place when I was still a little is my home because it is a symbol of my childhood enjoying a good times with friends in village, with my siblings and happy feelings when im at home. To me, childhood is the time that formed my personality and now those times are just in the past, I still remember running around a village with my friends, playing with my bother and sister in a living room where me and them had to put some cushions around so nothing could get broken by us while we were pretending as a superhero fighting with a evil to rescue people in our village. I can recall these memories at anytime I want but those especially appear in front of my eyes whenever Im at my actually home. Because I think I could do everything again as playing with every toy in my room and on a playground of the house. Due to my school and work, I have to live far from the house but my siblings and I made a habit to come back here every weekend with all my brothers and sisters that have moved on. When we talk, we usually recall many of fighting and jokes that we made when we were children. WE enjoy every weekend at here a lot. Eating dinner is not a rush to us to swallow the food as fast...
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...SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY Spotlight ARTWORK Artist Name, Artwork Name, year Description of materials, size Name of show if available, location 70 Harvard Business Review May 2011 PHOTOGRAPHY: JORDI PLAT; XAVIER VEILHAN/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY, NEW YORK HBR.ORG ARTWORK Xavier Veilhan, The Big Mobile, 2004 Metallic structure, 25 spheres in PVC with diameters from 29.5" to 137.8" Exhibition View, 3rd Biennial of Contemporary Art of Valencia The Power Of Small Wins Want to truly engage your workers? Help them see their own progress. by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. It turns out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson’s 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, “Our first...
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