Aspects - expressing meaning generally

Texts

-          Texts respond to the search for meaning by providing answers to existential questions.

-          Texts express meaning by informing, guiding, promoting, evaluating, inspiring adherents to understand the teachings, beliefs and practices of religions.

- Texts maintain records of fundamental beliefs which can be passed onto future generations to share the identity and teachings of a religion

Ethics

-          Ethics guide adherents to make good behaviour choices, which could provide meaning and value for individual life and life in general by supporting community, both religious and wider.

-          When religious beliefs about an afterlife are dependent on right behaviour, ethics provide adherents with a framework on how to live, guiding them towards providing meaning and value for individual life and the purpose of existence generally.

-          Ethics can nurture personal identity and an understanding of how to fulfil useful roles in religious communities and within the wider society, thereby providing meaning and value for individual life and the purpose of existence generally.

Social structure

-          Social structures can include leaders of religious traditions who use their authority and knowledge to educate and guide adherents towards a meaningful life.

-          Social structures can include schools, universities and other educational facilities, which can assist in educating adherents about their beliefs and ethical principles to guide them in their search for meaning.

-          Social structures nurture personal identity, developing an understanding of how to fulfil useful roles in religious communities and within the wider society to provide them with a sense of purpose and belonging.

Sacred stories

-          Sacred stories provide responses to existential questions

-          Sacred stories provide role models, individuals whose life offers guidance on how an adherent should live and worship their Ultimate reality

-          Sacred stories teach ethical principles and moral values to guide human behaviour in searching for a life that has meaning and purpose.

Symbols

-          By evoking the past, symbols stimulate and foster powerful recollections of the events and people of that past.

-          Symbols proclaim and promote the relationship between humans and the divine.

-          They provide insights and reminders for the individual and the community for establishing and developing the why and the how of human existence, thereby giving meaning for their lives.

-          Symbols provide a breadth of extra meaning to a belief, as they can be understood in many ways according to the level of knowledge and life experience of adherents.

Spaces

-          Sacred spaces are able to be created wherever adherents join in prayer or meditation, gathering together a community who can support each other emotionally and provide individuals with a sense of belonging assists in their search for meaning.
- These intimate environments heighten the sense of connection to the divine and facilitate reflection, helping individuals internalise religious beliefs and experience meaning on a personal level.

Places

-          Places assist adherents in the search for meaning by enabling them to practice their beliefs in sacred conditions, giving adherents opportunity to transcend the ordinary and enter into deeper connection with the Ultimate Reality.  

- places ground belief in physical reality, enabling adherents to encounter sacred narratives and ultimate meaning through pilgrimage or communal presence.

Times

-          Times are communicated and explained through the texts, sacred stories and theological and ethical instruction by leaders and organisations within the overall social structures of religions.

-          These explanations and understandings offer nurturing support and engender answers in the search for personal and communal meaning.

-          Specific times set aside in the religious tradition can also assist by bringing a rhythmic component to the search for meaning, drawing adherents closer to their Ultimate Reality at predictable times of the year.

Artifacts

- Artifacts, such as sacred objects passed down over generations, can support the search for meaning by connecting one's journey for meaning with the journey of past adherents in the tradition. 

- Through physical engagement—seeing, touching, using—adherents gain a sensory bridge to abstract theological concepts, strengthening internal belief and offering reassurance in the face of life’s mysteries.

Spiritual experience

-          spiritual experience often prompt a renewed vigour and a deeper engagement in the search for meaning as their beliefs in the existence of an UR can be strengthened. 

-         Spiritual experiences can affect an adherent’s personal understanding of their beliefs, ultimately bringing them closer to a religious tradition.

-      Spiritual experiences can promote the emotional well-being of an adherent as they can affirm the existence of the UR which can therefore result in a more positive outlook towards life and possibly, the afterlife

Rituals

-          Rituals can assist adherents to find communal identity in the search for meaning as they enable a communal acting out of the religious idea in symbolic action, reinforced by the solidarity of being within a community of believers.

-          Rituals provide opportunities for adherents to experience acceptance and support within a like-minded group, sharing their search for meaning, nurturing identity, purpose in life and guidance on how to live a good life.

-          Rituals can enable very personal and intense experiences of a spiritual nature that enhance understanding of the answers found to existential questions in the search for meaning.