| Summary: | A multiple case study approach was used to investigate the pattern how
a life mission evolves in lives. The participants were one man and two women
who described themselves as having a meaningful career or a mission in life.
The participants were chosen to portray different careers. The investigation
produced three vibrant, detailed narrative accounts of how a life mission
evolved. Each one is told from the perspective of the individual who
experiences a life mission. The accounts were based on in-depth descriptions
of the experience. Each account was reviewed and validated by the case study
participant.
A comparison of the individual accounts exposed a pattern of
experience that was common to all three cases of those who developed a life
mission. It can be best portrayed as a six stage model, with each stage
possessing unique characteristics and each subsequent stage building on the
preceding one. Further, in each case, the development of a life mission
exhibited a process that was more dialectical than lineal in nature.
Several theoretical implications emerge from this study. First, it
supports those models that describe the development of meaning or mission in
life from the standpoint of both a general pattern of experience and a general
pattern of process. This combination was illustrated remarkably in Cochran's
(1990) description of the phases of life for persons with a sense of vocation. Furthermore, the current study's general pattern of process strongly followed
Charme's (1984) account of how meaning evolves in lives.
Second, the accounts suggest that the meaning of one's life mission can
be discovered in a life issue that emerges early in a person's life. This life
issue runs through the person's life guiding his or her engagement in activities
and a career(s), until he or she transcends the life issue through the
clarification of a mission in life.
Third, the accounts do not support the idea that a life mission or
discovering what makes life meaningful is a nebulous, elusive and abstract
endeavour. From a practical perspective, through integrating them, the
general pattern of experience and the general pattern of process can serve as
a guide for those who are searching for a mission or meaning in life and for
those who counsel them.
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