Meaning-making, suffering, and religion: a worldview conception

Park’s meaning-making model suggests that events such as the loss of a loved one may cause distress because people’s appraised meaning of the difficult event may challenge their global orienting systems. Meaning-making alleviates distress by reducing this discrepancy. Research has shown the important role that religions often play in the meaning-making process. However, this body of research has largely been limited by a reluctance to address the religious content of meaning-making processes and outcomes. Here we advocate for inclusion of religious beliefs in the study of meaning-making in suffering, and recommend the construct of worldview as a promising resource for this endeavour. Finally, we illustrate the promise of this approach by exploring the contrasting worldviews of three religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, and atheism. We trace the ontological, anthropological, axiological, and praxiological assumptions in these worldviews, contrast them, and note the implications for research.