5 Christian Concepts That Are Aligned with the Unified Theory of Meaning

A Unified Theory of Meaning can't truly be unified if it isn't aligned or compatible with most philosophies.  In this blog post, I thought I'd start to show how all philosophies have the eight core concepts of meaning embedded into their ideologies.  Let's begin with Christianity, which has a lot of relevant concepts.  Here are five ideas from the religion and how the principles behind them are key to finding meaning: 

Note: This post is neither promoting nor criticizing these ideas but rather exploring the underlying concepts that make them significant.  The Unified Theory of Meaning, which is a Growth-Centric View that shows growth, experience, desire, belief, emotions, ethics, support, and choice as the eight key factors in whether someone finds meaning in their life, could only have been developed after studying the ideas of various religions and dissecting why and how they formed and worked.

• The Ten Commandments – The Ten Commandments are God's core ethics for Christians to follow.  Ethics are critical to meaning because they help you live your best life without harming other people.  Thou shalt not kill, steal, commit adultery, etc. all provide examples of where your actions may harm another physically or emotionally and so should be avoided.

• The Golden Rule – To do unto others as you would have them do unto you is basically teaching the importance of behaving in ways that you would want reciprocated because reciprocity is one of the human race's intrinsic ethics.  Reciprocity is key to human relationships and necessary for a peaceful, functioning society, so having a recommendation that you should keep the other person's well-being in mind when you act is an important reminder to promote friendship and cooperation.
• Prayer – Prayer is a means for several activities in the Unified Theory of Meaning: defining what you want (and asking for it), expressing gratitude, asking for forgiveness, and building belief.  It can even be an emotional management practice similar to meditation if it helps you to quiet your mind and relax.
• The Act of Contrition – This is a specific prayer dedicated to expressing sorrow, asking for forgiveness, and seeking to make up for past wrongdoings or improve behavior in the future.  Similar to prayer overall, this exercise can help to ensure emotional health and reinforce ethics to lead to better future outcomes for the person and the people around him or her.
• Free Will/Temptation – The idea that people have the freedom and power to made decisions and that they might be tempted to do something that could be detrimental to others or themselves needs to be understood and mastered for an effective future.  While people might disagree on which acts are harmful and to what degree someone can or should indulge in behavior that is deemed inappropriate, the teachings about balancing the freedom of choice with the responsibility to behave in positive ways can help people optimize their own behaviors and social interactions.

What is interesting about this list is that the underlying ideas behind these concepts can be beneficial regardless of whether you believe in or adhere to the religion.  Having a set of core values and ethics can help you to behave appropriately in society.  Treating others well can benefit others and lead to reciprocal treatment that is beneficial to you.  Taking time to be clear about what you want and be grateful can be beneficial to your emotional well-being.  Admitting when you have done something wrong and asking for forgiveness is important to positive social interactions.  Knowing the power and responsibility of your choices and how you might have to choose between the easy path with short-term benefit or the harder path with long-term benefit is critical to life planning and decision making.

What I like about the Unified Theory of Meaning is that I can look at the common elements across philosophies and see how these important concepts manifest without having to be critical of them or judge their appropriateness.  You will ultimately find the life philosophy that works for you, and hopefully you can analyze the potential value of holding different beliefs or exhibiting different behaviors and leverage them where appropriate—regardless of whether you decide to adopt a specific belief system or not.