I saw an excerpt from a 2016 article written by Frank Martela & Michael F. Steger titled, The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. It discussed finding meaning in life through coherence (a sense of comprehensibility and one’s life making sense), purpose (a sense of core goals, aims, and direction in life), and significance (a sense of life’s inherent value and having a life worth living). Life may be experienced as meaningful when it is felt to have significance beyond the trivial or momentary, it has purpose, or it has a coherence that transcends chaos. I have several blog posts about purpose and significance, so I want to focus on coherence.
When something is coherent, all its parts fit together so they form a united whole. Coherence comes from a Latin word meaning “to stick together.” An argument with coherence is logical and complete — with plenty of supporting facts. When we say policies and strategies are coherent, we’re praising them for making sense.
Coherence is the quality of being logical, consistent, and sound; there is
unity, and clarity between the vision and mission, roles and goals, priority and a plan, and desires and discipline. It is a unified whole. Our heart, mind, emotion and physical systems operate in harmonious alignment. The idea of “a coherent life” is that the different elements of life – work, family, friends, beliefs and ideals – should all make sense together. The different aspects of life should balance each other, and what we present to the world as our persona should be consistent through all of them. Not living a coherent life is hypocritical.
“Living coherently doesn’t mean everything is in perfect order all the time. It means you are living in alignment with your values and have not sacrificed your integrity along the way.” – Bill Burnett
Belonging increases one’s sense of coherence. A cohesive community is one where barriers have broken down while trust and understanding have been established. There is common vision that builds on diversity and utilizes the strengths of each member of the community. Community members resonate with the energy of care, kindness, genuine listening and cooperation.
Coherence within an organization reflects culture, strategic intent, and priorities. In sport, cohesion is described as the tendency for team members to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of achieving goals. Team coherence is the alignment to a common purpose and requires the establishment of trust. The trust component is the difference between a team and a committee. One could argue that coherence creates the source from which a company and people draw their purpose. Whether an organization, team, or individual, beliefs and ideals define us and should inform our day-to-day behavior. We need to be authentic, consistent, and gapless.
When the Great Depression struck, FDR promoted a plan popularly referred to as the New Deal. This plan sought to stimulate the economy, provide employment for Americans, while laying the foundations of present-day America. Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, infrastructural masterpieces such as LaGuardia Airport, Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams, were born of this plan. A key attribute that drove the success and longevity of the New Deal was its coherence. Funded projects covered various sectors from Agriculture to Transportation, Hospitality and Tourism, Education, and others. No one sector, nor state, or region were considered in isolation. Rather, logic and consistency were applied to form a unified whole that would sync easily and enhance the outcome.
Through the act of creation, God manifested His Divine Presence into the physical and material world. God created all things. Ordinary matter is the hiding place for Spirit and thus the very Body of God. Since the very beginning of time, God’s Spirit has been revealing its glory and goodness through the physical creation, the Judaic concept of wholeness, completion, fulfillment in ‘shalom.’ So many of the Psalms assert this, speaking of “rivers clapping their hands” and “mountains singing for joy.”
St. Paul’s life was dominated by a coherent driving vision to preach the
gospel. In Colossians (1:15-17), he wrote in Jesus “all things hold together”. There is no separation of “spiritual,” “physical,” “social,” “emotional,” “intellectual,” etc. No one thing, idea, or person is more important than another if all things are dependent upon each other. He wrote later in Colossians (3:11) that there is only Christ, He is “all and in all.”
For two thousand years Christians have built lives upon the coherence of scripture, supported by the consistent truths of our faith, and within God’s plan for salvation. If we are simply the random descendants of thoughtless order, then we have no identity and life has no meaning. However, since we have been created by God, then we have little problem with knowing who we are.
As we live our life with purpose and significance, let us not lose focus on its coherence – both internally and externally. We must be consistent and sound in our walk towards salvation and in moving His kingdom forward.
