Although researchers are now able to assess reliably the variable of existential meaning, quality longitudinal investigations of meaning's relationship with specific clinical variables are scarce. The author conceptualizes existential meaning as a composite of personal, spiritual, and implicit meaning. These latter three variables are, respectively, the experience of one's particular life as having purpose and coherence, experiencing a transcendent or spiritual presence from which one derives a sense of unique purpose, and manifesting attitudes and behavior that are normatively valued. Utilizing a sample of 395 male and female undergraduates and employing the framework subscale of the Life Regard Index-Revised (LRI-R-framework), the Spiritual Meaning Scale (SMS), and the Personal Meaning Profile (PMP) to measure personal, spiritual, and implicit meaning, respectively, the author explored existential meaning's relationship over time with depressive symptoms (as measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II, depression scale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, and depression scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory) and hope (as measured with the Herth Hope Scale, the Adult State Hope Scale, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale). A latent cross-lagged panel analysis of the relationship between meaning and depression over 2 one-month time periods indicated that meaning exerted unidirectional influence on depression, with decreases in meaning leading to increases in depressive symptoms. Additionally, hierarchical regression analysis showed that individuals with low levels of existential meaning were more likely than those with higher meaning levels to experience increased symptoms of depression in response to increased stress levels. Because the newly developed SMS (appended to this paper) was the only meaning measure exhibiting sufficient discriminant validity with regard to hope, only the SMS was entered in cross-lagged panel analysis measuring its relationship to hope over the 2 one-month periods of time, with results indicating that spiritual meaning and hope reciprocally influence one another. Existential meaning seems appropriately conceptualized as a construct consisting of personal, spiritual, and implicit components. Because this construct can be assessed reliably and may play a role in the etiology and alleviation of depressive symptoms, the author calls for increased research within clinical settings on methods for optimizing individuals' levels of existential meaning.

Proefschrift--Groningen, 1946. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-215).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-111).

Sleepwalk, Dance, Repeat is a one-act play with existentialist themes such as absurdity, death, and authenticity. Existentialism deals with subjective human experience in a meaningless, incomprehensible world. We are condemned to label everything around us, but the world is such that we can never be satisfied with our labels because they do not capture individuality. Everyone, to some degree, feels the need to understand what's going on, but we are always missing some piece of the puzzle. Thus, absurdity is the normal state of affairs for us. It is the result of our trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. The protagonist, Rose, is an existentialist hero in that she gradually accepts the inability to comprehend. My goal in writing this play was to breathe new life into existentialist ideas and introduce them to others in a way that sparks significant introspection.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves 116-118. / 118 l

‘In the blink of an eye’ is a figurative expression which, in its most basic interpretation describes the experience of a fleeting but momentous event. It comes, however, to represent an encounter with the ‘eternal’. That it can contain these antithetical elements points to the abidingly paradoxical nature of the Augenblick. In this thesis we follow the development of the concept from its roots in the theology of Søren Kierkgaard and the myth of Friedrich Nietzsche, to its existential eludidation nearly a century later in the work of Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger. In the final two chapters of this thesis, the Augenblick is viewed as an inherited conceptual tool for metaphysical thought. We apply it to the consideration of an historical epoch of great social change and to certain works of art which express its zeitgeist. This well-used metaphor is a living idea, it continues to gather meaning to itself.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 1995. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-102).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1989. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Academisch proefschrift--Amsterdam. / "Stellingen": [4] p. inserted. Bibliography: p. [136]-137.

Inaug.-Diss.--Munich. / Vita. Bibliography: p. [1-4] (last group).