Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity
Religious spirituality faces various challenges in the new world. One of these challenges is the question of meaningfulness or emptiness of life. While in the traditional world, few thinkers see life as empty and absurd, today there are many such views toward life that are in contrast to the spiritu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fas |
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Imam Sadiq University
2022-02-01
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| Series: | پژوهشنامه فلسفه دین |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://prrj.isu.ac.ir/article_75968_96a835d22175588765d27759d80a58a4.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827325377656127488 |
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| author | Vahid Sohrabifar Abolghasem Fanaei |
| author_facet | Vahid Sohrabifar Abolghasem Fanaei |
| author_sort | Vahid Sohrabifar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Religious spirituality faces various challenges in the new world. One of these challenges is the question of meaningfulness or emptiness of life. While in the traditional world, few thinkers see life as empty and absurd, today there are many such views toward life that are in contrast to the spiritual view of it. This paper addresses the challenge that this view creates for religious spirituality and a spiritual view of life. We first review different approaches to the meaning of life -naturalism, supernaturalism, non-naturalism, and absurdism. We then consider three different readings of absurdity. These readings are formulated based on lack of purpose, lack of value, and unattainable aspirations. Various solutions have been proposed to deal with absurdity, such as rebellion, abandoning the aspirations, reconstruction of values, and ironic confrontation with existence. The proposal of the article is presented in several points: First, the meaning of life should be considered as "life narrative"; and such an approach to the meaning of life is different from purely argumentative approaches to the meaning of life. Second, it is possible to judge between different narratives based on theoretical and practical rationality. Third, religious spirituality, by adding elements to our belief system, can make our narrative of life meaningful and free us from the challenge of absurdity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:26:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b95572447a44c2fac7990906ead0dfc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2228-6578 2228-6586 |
| language | fas |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:26:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | Imam Sadiq University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | پژوهشنامه فلسفه دین |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b95572447a44c2fac7990906ead0dfc2024-03-06T07:56:24ZfasImam Sadiq Universityپژوهشنامه فلسفه دین2228-65782228-65862022-02-0119212210.30497/prr.2022.240880.167575968Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of AbsurdityVahid Sohrabifar0Abolghasem Fanaei1Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy of Religion, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran.Assistant Professor,, Department of Philosophy, Mofid University, Qom, Iran.Religious spirituality faces various challenges in the new world. One of these challenges is the question of meaningfulness or emptiness of life. While in the traditional world, few thinkers see life as empty and absurd, today there are many such views toward life that are in contrast to the spiritual view of it. This paper addresses the challenge that this view creates for religious spirituality and a spiritual view of life. We first review different approaches to the meaning of life -naturalism, supernaturalism, non-naturalism, and absurdism. We then consider three different readings of absurdity. These readings are formulated based on lack of purpose, lack of value, and unattainable aspirations. Various solutions have been proposed to deal with absurdity, such as rebellion, abandoning the aspirations, reconstruction of values, and ironic confrontation with existence. The proposal of the article is presented in several points: First, the meaning of life should be considered as "life narrative"; and such an approach to the meaning of life is different from purely argumentative approaches to the meaning of life. Second, it is possible to judge between different narratives based on theoretical and practical rationality. Third, religious spirituality, by adding elements to our belief system, can make our narrative of life meaningful and free us from the challenge of absurdity.https://prrj.isu.ac.ir/article_75968_96a835d22175588765d27759d80a58a4.pdfmeaning of lifeabsurdityreligious spiritualitynarrativerationality |
| spellingShingle | Vahid Sohrabifar Abolghasem Fanaei Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity پژوهشنامه فلسفه دین meaning of life absurdity religious spirituality narrative rationality |
| title | Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity |
| title_full | Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity |
| title_fullStr | Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity |
| title_short | Religious Spirituality and the Meaning of Life: the Problem of Absurdity |
| title_sort | religious spirituality and the meaning of life the problem of absurdity |
| topic | meaning of life absurdity religious spirituality narrative rationality |
| url | https://prrj.isu.ac.ir/article_75968_96a835d22175588765d27759d80a58a4.pdf |
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