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Meaning of Life or Meaning in Life?

29 July 2025

A man travelled to a remote village to ask the wise sage “What is the meaning of life?” She replied, “The meaning of life is the quality that distinguishes a functional being from a dead one.” Geof explored the meaning in life by reading The Three Meanings of Meaning in Life: Distinguishing Coherence, Purpose, and Significance by Frank Martela and Michael F. Steger from The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545.

Tags: geof read, happiness, mindfulness

“Ask yourself these two questions. What do I want to exist even if I don't? And how much of a difference do I make to it? If you've got good answers to both of those, you have meaning in life. If you have only the first but not the second. You're seeking. If you have neither, you're in trouble.”

University of Toronto Professor John Vervaeke, as quoted from the Philosophy for Our Times Podcast (Does life have meaning? Part 1: John Vervaeke on Solving the meaning crisis). 

This quote from Vervaeke has sent me down a rabbit hole of research on “meaning” since first hearing it. One of the most insightful articles for me so far is The Three Meanings of Meaning in Life: Distinguishing Coherence, Purpose, and Significance by Frank Martela and Michael F. Steger from The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545. Martela and Steger set out to define “meaning” from a psychological perspective by distinguishing meaning in life from (the more philosophical) meaning of life; as well as to propose specific dimensions of meaning in life. By separating the philosophical from the psychological, I believe they create a model that is more concrete and actionable, helping explore the two questions posed at the top.

Meaning of Life versus Meaning in Life

Consider the nuances of these two questions: “Why does life exist?” and “Does my life feel meaningful today?” While these questions sound similar, they tap into different concerns. The first, “Why does life exist?” is a metaphysical question about the ultimate purpose of our existence. The second, “Does my life feel meaningful today” is a psychological question exploring the felt sense that our individual lives are coherent, directed, and worthwhile. In The Three Meanings of Meaning in Life: Distinguishing Coherence, Purpose, and Significance, Martela and Steger argue that clarifying this distinction is essential if researchers wish to better understand how people experience meaning in their lives.

From Cosmic Contemplation to Personal Meaning

Philosophers have debated the meaning of life for centuries, asking questions like “Why does humanity exist and to what end?” Martela and Steger note that such metaphysical questions are “out of reach of modern objectivist scientific methodology” and thus lie beyond the scope of psychology. Instead, the goal of psychological research is to “look at the subjective experiences of human beings and ask what makes them experience meaningfulness in their lives.”

As part of the shift in focus, from an existential to a more practical exploration, the article compares models (of meaning) that seek to explain the everyday experience of a meaningful life.

Although interest in meaning in life had surged in positive psychology, its popularity also revealed a degree of ambiguity in how researchers were defining “meaning.” By the early 1980s, researchers had proposed multidimensional models covering purpose, attitudes toward death, goal strivings, and more. However, these early models also created confusion in the definitional overlap of sub-dimensions like “purpose,” “meaning,” and “calling.”

Between the over-engineered models and muddled definitions, the research started to coalesce around two consistent dimensions of meaning of life: coherence and purpose. However, these continued to be inconsistently defined. In response, Martela and Steger point to a growing consensus that a third facet, significance, deserves inclusion with coherence and purpose to help delineate the dimensions. They proposed three dimensions that together help answer the question of meaning in life.

The Three Facets of Meaning in Life

Bringing these threads together, Martela and Steger offer a clear theoretical overview distinguishing three core facets of meaning in life:

1. Coherence: A sense that one’s life “hangs together,” making cognitive sense as an integrated whole.

Coherence reflects the degree to which events, roles, and personal history form an intelligible narrative. “Meaning in life is often associated with people making sense of the world, rendering it comprehensible and coherent.” Think of this as the “cognitive understanding” part of meaning in life and reflecting on and “making sense of one’s experiences in life.” Our lives appear more coherent when we can discern patterns that logically fit together into a comprehensible whole.

Coherence addresses our need for intelligibility. When the pieces of our past, present, and anticipated future align into a logical narrative we experience less existential anxiety. As Martela and Steger put it: “Lives may be experienced as meaningful when they have a coherence that transcends chaos.” Without coherence, life can feel arbitrary, we feel as if adrift in a series of unconnected events that leave us disoriented and dissatisfied.

2. Purpose: A sense of core aims, goals, and direction. Purpose refers specifically to having direction and future-oriented goals in life that motivate and manage our behaviors.

If coherence is the cognitive understanding part of meaning in life, purpose is the motivation and drive part of meaning in life. It involves goal‐directed behavior, knowing where one is headed and why these aims matter. When our actions align with self‐chosen aims, we tap into deliberate directionality.

Purpose fuels persistence, endurance, and personal growth despite setbacks and hardships. “Purpose … emerges when meaningful aims and goals structure people’s lives and motivate ongoing engagement.” Whether it’s daily routines or long-term aspirations, purpose gives shape to our behavior and anchors us in a future we care about.

3. Significance: A sense of life’s inherent value, of one’s existence being worthy and mattering in the grand scheme of things.

Significance captures feelings that one’s life makes a difference beyond the trivial or momentary, is the more relatively philosophical dimension of the three, and about reflection and evaluation. Think of Socrates’ proclamation that an “unexamined life is not worth living,” or Camus’ “judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”

Significance speaks to the value dimension of meaning. Martela and Steger describe it as “A sense that one’s life matters, with contributions that extend beyond the self to something of enduring worth.” This facet reassures us that, despite setbacks and trials, our existence has worth, for ourselves and, potentially, for others.

As the authors explain, these three facets are not interchangeable. Rather, they tap into different psychological roots (sense-making, motivation, and evaluations) and fulfill distinct functions.

Invitation to Self‐Reflection

To bring these ideas home, set aside 10–15 minutes and try the following prompts rooted in the three facets of meaning in life:

Coherence Exercise. Sketch a brief timeline of three pivotal life events. Then, write a short paragraph explaining how these events connect with each other. What patterns or themes emerge from the three events?

Purpose Exercise. List three goals, big or small, that currently motivate you. For each, capture the reasons achieving the goals matter. How do the goals shape your daily choices? What are the “non-negotiables?”

Significance Exercise. Recall a specific moment when you felt that your actions truly made a difference. What made that moment feel significant? What values were you honoring?

As Martela and Steger remind us, “Reflecting deliberately on coherence, purpose, and significance can illuminate where we find (or lose) meaning in our lives.”

By distinguishing the meaning of life from meaning in life, and by breaking down the latter into coherence, purpose, and significance, Martela and Steger offer a clearer lens through which to view the human experience. What did you discover in your self‐reflection? Which facet feels strongest for you, and which might benefit from more attention?

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