The Meaning-Making Project

Meaning-making is a core trait of our humanity. Our capacity to create meaning and to nurture its growth is essential to the flourishing of our species. The Nazi Death Camp Survivor and Psychiatrist Victor Frankl observed that western society broadly suffered from a "cry for meaning" which he identified symptomatically through the proliferation of depression, violence, and addiction in society, also called the “diseases of despair.” Over time it became apparent to many observers that this cry for meaning escalated into a "crisis of meaning." The 2023 public health advisory issued by the US Surgeon General identified for the first time that the top public health need is a lack of social meaning: The Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. This project delves deeply into this crisis, and will develop new ways of understanding how people make making through a model called the Logoplex developed by Ralph Piedmont, PhD in partnership with the Center for Professional Studies in Towson, Maryland.