A River Runs Through It free essay sample

People come from different parts of the world and possess different beliefs based on the way they were raised. It doesn’t matter where you are if you pay close attention you will notice there are many worldviews around you. The film â€Å"A River Runs Through It† is conveyed from a biblical worldview, however the film itself portrays another worldview as well. This story is about two brothers named Paul and Norman growing up in Montana during the 1920s. Their father John is a Presbyterian minister and raises them based on his strong religious beliefs. The film also revolves around the brother’s and father’s love for fly-fishing. In the opening dialogue Norman says, â€Å"In our family there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing. † He goes on to say that his father told them about Christ’s disciples being fishermen and how he and his brother Paul believed that John was a dry fly-fisherman. We will write a custom essay sample on A River Runs Through It or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page (Redford, 1992) Aside from a biblical worldview depicted in the beginning a postmodern worldview is shown while the boys are running around and stop to look at some women who are standing outside what appears to be a brothel. The boys are also involved in a scuffle with some other young boys. While Paul and Norman are raised in a religious home with very strict rules it’s clear that they are surrounded by people with different upbringings from theirs. Their day-to-day activities show how they interact with these people. It’s evident early in the film that the younger brother is somewhat of a rebel. In a scene the two young boys are discussing what they would like to be when they grow up. Norman the older brother says he’s going to be a minister or maybe a boxer. The younger brother Paul says he’s going to be a professional fly-fisherman. Norman inquisitively asks â€Å"not a minister? † Paul demonstrates early on that he has a mind of his own. Once the boys reach their teens we see Paul getting a little more irresponsible. Paul has an idea to take a rowboat down the Big Blackfoot River rapids. He suggests to his friends and brother that they could make history if they survive it because it’s a dangerous thing to do. His brother is the only one that decides to join him. The next morning they are reprimanded by their father and told to go to church and ask God for forgiveness. Norman is accepted to college and leaves for school 3,000 miles away. While he’s away Paul becomes a reporter for a newspaper in a town named Helena and also moves to that town. Six years pass by before Norman returns home in the spring. Upon his return his father hints to rumors about Paul. One evening Norman receives a call to pick Paul up from jail. The desk sergeant tells him his brother’s been arrested quite often and is in debt due to gambling. Paul is no longer portraying the worldview he was depicted in early in the movie. Paul is starting to stray away from the morals and values he was taught by his father and the church. Norman tries to offer his brother some help for his current situation however Paul declines. The careless choices Paul has made as a result of his new lifestyle eventually result in his demise, he is beaten to death. This movie depicts a very realistic picture of how we can stray away from our original worldview. In this instance it shows a young boy who was raised by His Word that becomes a man who decides to no longer follow His teachings. However the opposite can also be a reality for many people who don’t believe initially and then are called to serve the Lord.

Meaning in Life

Meaning in Life Introduction People are expecting a lot from young people in the current world. Young people are often challenged to take up responsibilities and be critical influencers of political, social, and economic causes in the contemporary society.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Meaning in Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is apparent that young people are faced with a lot of challenges because the contemporary society poses innumerable challenges to an extent that they cannot take up responsibilities and shape the society as expected of them. Young people are increasingly worried about the contemporary society and the projected future society they will inherit and become critical decision makers in the society. This reignites the memories of the early years of the 20th century, especially the 1920s when critical developments in the world, like the post World War I, brought a lot of challenges. At that tim e, most countries were confronted with the task of meeting economic needs, as well as ensuring the safety of their citizens who remained vulnerable due to the effects of the war and immense competition among states. This paper presents critical views about creation of meaning in life. Critical questions to ponder As a lot of young people strive to make meaning in their lives today, it is important to explore a number of questions to gain the true sense of the term ‘meaning’. Is ‘meaning’ a subjective or an objective term? What constitutes ‘meaning’ in the lives of people in the contemporary society? The other question that needs to be answered concerns the state of the society today. This entails social, political, economic, and environmental orders and how they shape people’s mental orientations. What leakages exist in the current political, economic, environmental, and social realms? How do they affect people’s orientation and p reparedness to take up responsibility now and in the near future? Are there certain needs and expectations that must be met for people to make meaning out of their lives? What is ‘meaning in life’? In simple terms, meaning implies making sense or significance. Martos, Thege and Steger (2010) observed that meaning can be derived from two critical aspects of believe; whether people actually believe and how people believe. Also, the pattern of relations between an individual and other people in the society is critical when carrying out an implicit measurement of meaning.Advertising Looking for critical writing on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This brings in the religiosity aspect of life. George and Park (2013) noted that meaning goes hand in hand with purpose. Significance in life is attributed to the ability of a person to meet his goals and aims in life. Social support is critical in the de velopment and fulfillment of goals in life. Schnell (2009) and Steger, Frazier, Oishi and Kaler (2006) observed that one critical aspect of the well-being of people in the society, which comes out in the humanistic theories that are utilized in counselling psychology, is people’s perception of meaning in life. The perceived meaning in life is a complex issue that can only be comprehended through assessment of different factors that contribute to distress in people. Kinnier, Kernes and Tribbensee (2003) observed that people must aim at making critical contributions in the society. The three authors observed that making a contribution in the society is one of the most important ingredients of making meaning in life. On the other hand, Kray et al. (2010) observed that creation of meaning by an individual is a process. Meaning is created from important life events that a person engages in. Events emanate from a counterfactual reflection of past happenings where the constructs of reality are developed. This motivates a person to take part in an event. The meaning of life results from synthesis of past successful events and projection of the probability of succeeding in future. This is referred to as nostalgia (Routledge et al., 2012). Needs and meaning in life As noted earlier, the most critical question in the contemporary society concerns how meaning can be reinvigorated and reconstituted in the lives of people. According to Stillman and Baumeister (2009), meaning in life can only be attained through fulfillment of four main needs. These are: Sense of purpose in life, feelings of efficacy, value, and a sense of positive self worth. A look at these needs implies that meaning in life is a psychologically oriented process. A sense of purpose in life comes from synthesis of past events and the subsequent projection of future happenings. The modern world is confronted with a lot of challenges that range from degradation of the environment to vices like corrupti on, mismanagement, and the quest for personal gain. These vices have been inherited from former generations by the contemporary generation.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Meaning in Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This depicts a scenario where there is a blurred vision about the future due to the threats that are likened to the prevalence of a lot of vices in the contemporary society. Most of these vices keep evolving throughout generations. This justifies the high levels of frustration among the youth and adults. This group of people has a diminished level of optimism about the future due to the unethical happenings in the society (Stillman Baumeister, 2009). Whether people can control their destinies is also an issue of concern in the modern world. The feeling of efficacy is attained when people feel that they can impose controls on what takes place in their lives. However, the conditions that p revail in the world have made people wander as they seek to confront one challenge after the other. The challenges range from relation factors to physical threats like environmental degradation and climate change, the fear of terrorism and war, and the increasing inflation rates that makes it hard for people to fulfill their needs. Therefore, people only focus on securing their needs. People increasingly seek for psychological support because of increase in distress over the inability to meet their needs, or respond to different forces in the society (Maddux, 2000). According to Stillman et al. (2009), there is an increase in social exclusion in the contemporary world. This makes it hard for people to realize the need for positive self worth. Stillman and Baumeister (2009) noted that people often search for ways of ensuring that they are admirable, good, and worthy. However, these virtues cannot be justified by individuals themselves. On the contrary, the virtues have to be justifie d by other people. Unfortunately, most people are swayed by life events to an extent that they lack time to assess fellow individuals. According to Twenge (2003), the increase in levels of distress and pressure to meet needs and control events results in a state of meaninglessness in the society.Advertising Looking for critical writing on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This, in turn, makes it hard for people to focus on certain worthy courses. People still remain lonely in their minds and souls, irrespective of the perceived higher level of interaction that has been facilitated by technology and globalization (Baumeister et al., 2005). This implies that social exclusion cannot be merely looked at from the physical sense, but it should also be viewed from mental and emotional perspectives (Stillman et al., 2009). Enhancing the experience of meaning in life It is quite difficult to enhance the level at which people experience meaning in their lives due to the amount of iterative forces that play out in the minds of people. The future is quite uncertain as people keep struggling to make ends meet. However, creation of meaning can still be attained amidst the countless challenges that people face. A study that was conducted by Stillman (2010) denoted that social inclusion is critical in as far as attainment of feelings of efficacy and a sense of meani ng in people’s lives are concerned. Development of effective social interactive platforms was found to be a critical path to the creation of meaning in life. Meaning in life is attained when a person seeks to engage others in matters that are affecting him or her. In this way, it is easy to get diverse views on how to attend to the issue at hand. Social capital can be attained through embracing relationships at personal, family, communal, and national levels. This encourages exploration of socio-economic, cultural, and political factors that cause strains in the society (Lin et al., 2013). Challenges that exist in the environment, like creation of social classes that depict social boundaries, depletion of resources that are critical for pursuing goals and meeting needs, and deterioration of the state of economic and political security, are causes of disintegration and exclusion. These bar people from embracing social inclusion. Consequently, this makes it hard for people to e xperience meaning in life. However, these challenges can also pull people together (Lin et al., 2013). Practical steps to enhancing experience of meaning in life Enhancement of meaning in life is in itself an active process. It requires the active participation of an individual for the individual to enhance his or her meaning in life. Therefore, enhancement of meaning in life begins with comprehension of the environment in which an individual dwells in. Environment here means the social, economic, cultural, and political attributes of the society and the forces that emanate from within the society. Environment also means how the above attributes influence human abilities to meet their needs and shape the society. This is one way of attaining self-inclusion. Self-inclusion is one of the denominators of understanding the society and setting and attaining goals. This, in turn, helps in control destiny. The second critical step in enhancing the experience of meaning in life is the embra ce of social integration. According to Stillman et al. (2010), it is important for people to create meaningful interactions. It is easy to enhance a deeper reflection of the society in such interactions. Reflection is critical in driving away the fear and anxieties that infest the minds of people. Consequently, people result in the development of seemingly practical mechanisms of driving away the anxiety and fear. This means that people are able to control their destinies. The other thing that can enhance meaning in life is deciding to live courageously. Courage in this sense means that an individual should not focus on embracing personal security at the expense of setting goals and developing plans to guide in the achievement of the goals. Courage is the best solution for confronting fear and anxiety since fear limits a person, but courage keeps one going (Hicks Routledge, 2013). References Baumeister, R. F., Dewall, C., Ciarocco, N. J., Twenge, J. M. (2005). Social exclusion imp airs self-regulation. Journal of Personality Social Psychology, 88(4), 589-604. George, L. S., Park, C. L. (2013). Are meaning and purpose distinct? An examination of correlates and predictors. Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(5), 365-375. Hicks, J. A., Routledge, C. (2013). The experience of meaning in life: Classical perspectives, emerging themes, and controversies. Dordrecht: Springer. Kinnier, R. T., Kernes, J. L., Tribbensee, N. E. (2003). What eminent people have said about the meaning of life? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 43(1), 105-118 Kray, L. J., George, L. G., Liljenquist, K. A., Galinsky, A. D., Tetlock, P. E., Roese, N. J. (2010). From what might have been to what must have been: counterfactual thinking creates meaning. Journal of Personality Social Psychology, 98(1), 106-118. Lin, K., Xu, Y., Huang, T., Zhang, J. (2013). Social exclusion and its causes in east Asian societies: Evidences from SQSQ survey data. Social Indicators Research, 112(3), 641-660. Ma ddux, J. E. (2000). â€Å"Self-efficacy: The power of believing you can. (in press).† In, Snyder, C. R., Lopez, S. J. (Eds). Handbook of positive psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Martos, T., Thege, B., Steger, M. F. (2010). It’s not only what you hold, it’s how you hold it: Dimensions of religiosity and meaning in life. Personality Individual Differences, 49(8), 863-868. Routledge, C., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Juhl, J., Arndt, J. (2012). The power of the past: Nostalgia as a meaning-making resource. Memory, 20(5), 452-460. Schnell, T. (2009). The sources of meaning and meaning in life questionnaire (SoMe): Relations to demographics and well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 483-499. Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80-93. Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F. (2009). Uncertainty, belongingness, and four needs for meaning. Psychological Inquiry, 20(4), 249-251. Stillman, T. F., Baumeister, R. F., Lambert, N. M., Crescioni, A. W., Dewall, C. N., Fincham, F. D. (2009). Alone and without purpose: life loses meaning following social exclusion. J Exp Soc Psychol., 45(4), 686-694. Stillman, T. F., Lambert, N. M., Fincham, F. D., Baumeister, R. F. (2010). Meaning as magnetic force: evidence that meaning in life promotes interpersonal appeal. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 000(00), 1-8. doi: 10.1177/1948550610378382 Twenge, J. M. (2003). Social exclusion and the deconstructed state: time perception, meaninglessness, lethargy, lack of emotion, and self-awareness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(5), 409-423.