Personal Religious Orientation and Frankl's Will-To-Meaning in Four Religious Communities

Abstract

Numerous theorists argue that the anomie characteristic of contemporary mass-society results in a lack of meaning and personal identity and that membership of small religious communities serves to relieve, if not eliminate, this existential vacuum. In order to explore this area further, four religious communities in Johannesburg — the Jesus People, the Hare Krishna Devotees, the Maharaj Ji Premies and a Catholic Priest community — were given the Purpose-in-Life test together with its complementary scale (Seeking-of-Noetic- Goals Test) as well as the Religious Orientation Scale. Analysis of the data confirmed the hypotheses that as a function of integration into any one of these groups individuals' lives take on greater meaning and purpose and that the motivation to seek meaning decreases. The results also indicate that members' personal religious orientations become more intrinsic.