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Robert Barron | – What Makes Life Meaningful?

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Robert Barron
By Bishop Robert Barron
47 Comments

Friends, what makes life meaningful? What is meaning, and where do we find it? Those are the pressing questions Brandon Vogt and I discuss today on “The Word on Fire Show.” We also recap my conversation with Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Vervaeke, and highlight two recent surveys dealing with the question of meaning.

A listener asks whether it’s really true that nobody pursues evil for its own sake.

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About The Author

Bishop Robert Barron These are brief and insightful commentaries on faith and culture by Catholic theologian and author Bishop Robert Barron. The videos complement his weekly sermons posted and podcasted at WordOnFire.org.

Comment (47)

  1. Out of the blue question if Bishop Barron answers. Is Moses a Hebrew or Egyptian name. He is named by pharaohs daughter, so it seems there is no way they would use a Hebrew name for her child and it’s not like Abraham or Paul who changes names upon a new revelation. I just find it interesting that the three major monotheistic religions quote a man with a clear name from a polytheistic culture.

  2. Meaning is found following the lives of the Saints, who lived for the eternal which remains forever, that no one can take away from us, not time, age or the world!!!! fresh beautiful faces fade away in 4 decades, riches come and go, health deteriorates and we die, some friends would abandon us….the human heart longs for eternity!!!!none of this world would fill in that longing for GOD!!! the wealthy heritage of the Mother Church will allow anyone to choose a saint of his liking and imitate him!!!they are our older brothers!!

  10. I like listen to Word on Fire with Brandan and Bishop Barons' informative and topical discussions. But I confide I emotionally turned on when Brandan mentioned suicide. My father Les and my sweet middle son Nick hastened into this good night. I am sure I am like any other family. It hurts.

    Now I am not sure about the situation in the USA, but in Australia and other Western countries the incidence of male suicide is the lowest since figures were recorded. I stress men as for women and children is has also been so low and that trends are not possible to delineate. i so hate it when folk use my families' graves to agenda their political ideology. There is also no indication that mental ill health is more or less that previous generations. We just identify cases more readily and folk have access to treatment – hence suicide has declined. The only factor that show suicide rising is due to aging Western populations. As the incidence of suicide is much higher for older men; as populations age the figures increase. But this is a minor trend and the trend due to better treatment overshows this effect

    I hope Brandon apologizes for inferring subside is increasing other than due to aging population.

  13. I think Bishop Barron's conclusion tying meaning to love is spot on. Ultimately, I think that this why so many people derive meaning from love for their families. This form of "willing the good of the other" for spouse and/or children comes very naturally. Even many animals are capable of this sort of love. Of course, in our society, the most publicly celebrated form of love is "Romantic Love", know in some form of Greek as "Eros." This reminds me of the "Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis, in which the highest form of love is Charity, or Agape, Love. I suppose that Lewis owes a debt to St. Augustine (of Hippo) in his conclusion that all lower/natural loves are properly ordered/perfected in their orientation to Divine Love. Affectionate love for family and romantic love come naturally for man, but are still disordered by man's fallen nature. "What God is by nature, man becomes by Grace."

    The fact that 80%+ of Americans believe in a supernaturally ordered plan or purpose for their lives makes sense to me. I would say that this generally over laps with a belief in God (or Higher Power). As a (somewhat reluctant) Protestant, my observation is that most people that I know believe in God, but many are skeptical of organized religion. Often, this is the result of some sort of bad/unpleasant experience with the people and/or institutions of the Church. And in another sense, this comes from America's overall (Neo) Protestant spirit… In some novel strains of theology, Faith is sometimes reduced to a one-on-one relationship rather than a belonging to an Faith Community (i.e. the Church). I am sometimes asked "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?" My answer, is "Yes, I do have a personal relationship with Jesus through His Mystical Body, the Church." In classic Christian theology, getting closer to God means also involves getting closer to other members of the Mystical Body, both here on Earth and in Heaven.

    The cultural indoctrination of "Finding my meaning from within" that Bishop Barron mentions here is certainly relevant here. In a sense, most Americans are comfortable with a relationship with God, on their own terms. In my experience, this would apply to most other Protestants that I know, and many lapsed Catholics as well. On a positive note, it would seem that, unlike the situation in Europe, most Americans believe in God. But on a less optimistic note, it seems to me that most American Christians that I know (Catholic and Protestant alike) tend to "pick and choose" (Thanks to Bishop Barron for teaching me the Greek word for this!) what tenets of the Faith that they choose to practice/believe…

  14. “Without a relationship to God I can’t really be happy …” (ca. 8:40). In an earlier generation apologists for theism of Robert Barron’s calibre asserted: “Without a relationship to God I can’t really be moral …”. To his credit, and in reference to his appreciation of the life and work of Christopher Hitchens, Barron has explicitly repudiated such a claim, and recognizes that individuals who are not persuaded of supernatural claims (i.e. religious non-believers) can still be profoundly moral.

    Why should finding meaning or happiness require being persuaded of supernatural claims any more than being able to lead a moral life? Is Robert Barron really trying to claim (to name a few individuals he knows about) that Alex O’Connor, Douglas Adams, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett or Ayaan Hirsi Ali have failed to find or found greater difficulty in finding meaning and happiness? It’s time to recognize and respect that non-believers can be as fully capable of the best human qualities as those who are — often for the most noble reasons — persuaded of, and proponents for, supernatural claims.

  15. facts as a former new age practitioner. I never achieved peace love or happiness by my own merits. Now with God, he naturally gives me peace love, and happiness for free without me doing anything. Especially when I am under the influence of the Holy Eucharist. It is as if I was walking in literal heaven.

  18. Thanks Bishop Barron and Brandon Vogt.
    It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that our meaning in life is to get things from this world that can make us happy, famous, or better than others. I think religious Christians, non-religious, and people of other faiths will fall into that definition one way or the other. Of course, the problem with that is, all of us, no matter what we can do, will in the end lose the things we own, will always have new problems in life no matter how much we've "climbed up", and will never get the ideal situations we imagined previously. And for many people, just to get the sufficient necessities of life can be very difficult and despairing.

    The idea of putting our meaning of life into the materialistic mindset is destroying our souls and dignity of life; as though if we don't get what we're "expected to" from our family or society, or if we can't have a "productive" working life, we're a waste in the society and a problem. However, we're alive and conscious not because we've signed a contract to have certain things or do certain things, we're alive purely because of God's love at the very fundamental, if the love of the family is taken away by evil. We're alive so that we can know God and be with God in the eternal goodness, no matter how we're called to do our parts in the pilgrimage to heaven.

    "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (Matthew 24: 35)

  19. Congratulations Brandon. Thank you Bishop Barron. God created intellect to seek truth and our will to desire good but why and how the same intellect accept lies and will desires that are not good? This happened to adam and eve before the fall. How do we understand this? Thanks again

  21. I work at a charity and we recently had a brainstorming session where we were tasked with thinking of the charity's "Why Statement". I couldn't help but think that this is the equivalent. "Why" am I doing what I'm doing??? This needs to be top-of-mind SO MUCH MORE in today's world!

  23. I enjoy much of htis but I have to fight against what I feel is a self-imposed narrative. As we get odler we look for the enemies we know. It would be easy to see a movie like "Mulan" (the animated version) as looking within yourself or finding yourself but she very clearly was tied to her family. I fel many of these movies provide a narrative of looking inside yourself to find your meaning in the overarching construct of the system you exist within and that the fear of these narratives is you being so used to the system all you (we as adults) see is the challenge to the system not the formative growth of a child which MUST ask questions to truly find themselves in a meaningful way.

    Growth is hard, not only in reaching new heights but not shading the ground below us in foliage that should have been shed long ago.

  25. I am posting on the website because it seems like someone will answer. Why won't a convent answer my letters and email about discernment questions? They are quite a distance away so I can't really just stop in. Thank you for any answers.

  29. I listened but disagreed with the good/evil comment. So Jeffrey Dahmor who killed and ate his victims was doing what he thought was good????
    I totally disagree.
    Good grief!
    So now I cannot send this forward due to that.
    Wow!

  31. I liked Bishop Barron’s answer to the question at the end of the show. I believe the only time when we are truly and fully parted from God is in hell but here on earth even amongst wickedness there is at least some good within us.

  34. "Perform today the simplest act of love, will the good of another " Why not take these concise statements in answer to existential questions on tik tok. I think you will reach an audience that is not being reached.

  36. In a word, nothing. I left the Catholic church, but instead of wussing out into protestantism or Orthodoxy, or atheism, I embraced the utter futility and pointlessness of the universe. (Consider it a complement. If Catholicism is untrue I do not see how the others can be either) I will while away my days assuaging the cares of those who depend on me, and then I'm outta this crapsack world

  40. How is mortal sin possible if the will limits us from doing things we believe are not good or are gravely wicked? Barron says a wicked person can do wicked things, but we use the word wicked for how twisted and confused the person and his or her perception is, so that cannot be a sinner choosing sin with full knowledge of its evil or free will. When someone is tempted into doing something they are not perfectly free. When someone's perception is wicked twisted so as to confuse their wicked choices with the apparent good, that cannot be perfect knowledge of the grave sin of their actions. I agree the will limits us, but this point of view is controversial among my fellow Catholics, I cannot think of how to reconcile it with the idea of mortal sin and the reality of people going to hell in an afterlife.

  42. When you keep asking the question of why, you will eventually stops at God or The Ultimate Value that gives value its value. That’s why St Augustine said “our heart is restless until it rests in you,” Ultimate Value aka Lord.

  43. Excellent show Brandon and Bishop Barron. Answer to the issue of wicked person seeking something good is not at all convincing regardless of who suggested it in terms of the will by it’s very nature seeking the good. I am persuaded by J.P.’s argument that wicked is wicked. Byrne

  45. Quite a thoughtful discussion. I had a debate with someone along these lines who is more of an agnostic than anything and I told him I believe we are hard wired for God, meaning we have an innate desire to be one with a higher, transcendent being or power. The conversation was civil until I said I think a lot of our trouble relates back to the fact that people have decided to rebel against God, in essence, declaring war on Him. Well that raised his temperature quite a bit and I decided the better part of valor was discretion at that point so I moved the conversation onto another subject. I did that because I know a hardened position when I see one. The thing is, this same person was quite intrigued by the idea that we are an extension of the universe and that we were created as a way for the universe to understand itself. When I substituted the universe with God he wasn't that keen on the idea. I think there are a lot of people out there who are fighting against their basic nature, which is to have a relationship with God and I agree that no matter how hard they try to find meaning from within that basic need to be a part of something larger than ourselves will never be fulfilled.

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