Dimensions of Spiritual Meaning and Well-Being in the Lives of Ten Older Australians

Abstract

This study examines how ten prominent older Australians—seven male and three female—impart a sense of spiritual meaning to their lives. The study is a secondary analysis of published interviews conducted by Caroline Jones on the Australian Broadcast Corporation's radio program, “The Search for Meaning.” The interviews explicitly address issues of personal meaning. The findings reported in this article focus mainly upon non routine or “spiritual” aspects of meaning. The topics addressed are: global sense of meaning, altruistic behavior, transcendent experiences, life review, and wisdom. Acquiring knowledge emerges as a global life purpose; altruistic behavior is prevalent, transcendent experiences are reported with frequency; life review and wisdom underscores both a sense of coherence and the continuity of personal characteristics over the life span, and a decidedly optimistic orientation toward human nature. The impression gained is one of older persons with an integrated and often deep and spiritual orientation toward their lives.