What's out there? What's the meaning of life, mine and yours??

Picture above is Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa). Picture below is Mt Blanca (Bolivia).

Climbing Higher: Answering big Questions 

Not everyone climbs mountains, however stories of climbing adventures provide insight into the adventure of life that we all share: overcoming obstacles in life and reaching out to something bigger and higher than immediate daily activities. History and psychology indicate that this is a strong human need that includes having a sense of meaning and purpose.  Mountains can symbolize obstacles in meeting these needs, and experiences in climbing mountains provide a vehicle both actually and figuratively for exploring mechanisms and impacts involved. The book begins with a personal experience climbing Mount Fuji that nearly ended in disaster, with the question of why people do such things.  Subsequent chapters alternate between mountain climbing experiences and research results about why people pursue difficult tasks.  A bottom-up approach supports culminating proposals of spirituality as a universal personality trait, nognosticism that recognizes knowledge is limited, ecumenical humanism for religious tolerance, and the philosophy of pragmatic pluralism.  For life to be meaningful and manageable, people need a sense of purpose and coherence that is best met by having belief in a higher transcendent realm while also having enough doubt about its nature or validity to pursue a quest for ultimate reality despite the great paradox.

You can get this book from all major retailers such as (click on the name): Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, ThriftBooks.

What, Why, & How? Bottom-up Answers is a follow-on to the more comprehensive Climbing Higher and has the following theme:

At one time or another, most of us have wondered what is the reason for our existence. Why I am here struggling to make a living, to be comfortable and happy, and how best to do it? These basic questions usually get submerged because of more immediate questions about meeting daily needs, but they are still there in the recesses of the subconscious mind. There they can create a nebulous feeling of dissatisfaction or can boil up at an inconvenient time. Today’s media, politicians, and educators with their emphasis on consumerism, power, competition, and violence do little to address these basic questions. The author has spent  90 plus years growing from a scrawny kid to a gung-ho soldier to a research psychologist contemplating and researching these questions. This is about what he learned.

It is available from all major book outlets such as (click on name): Amazon, Barns and Noble,  ThriftBooks, Books-A-Million.

Survival of life is a follow-on book about the purpose and meaning of life.

This book is about the purpose of life, survival. Throughout human history this has been the most important and most fundamental issue. Our ancient ancestors thought a lot about this and developed explanations to make their efforts manageable and to provide other benefits such as support, morals, ethics, belongingness, and immortality. These explanations formed religions that continue to dominate societies; however, they have not kept up with modern experiences and research findings, and they have lost many of their benefits.

Many of the current world’s problems would be alleviated if we once again thought about this fundamental issue, and if our media, politicians, and educators emphasized this topic rather than the current emphasis on consumerism, power, and violence.

Studies of history reveal a pattern of continuing development of nature. From the “big bang” when minute forces self-organized into atoms, then molecules, organisms, plants, animals, and humans. This pattern indicates a design and purpose of increasing complexity and sophistication that may develop life’s ability to survive the eschaton predicted by most religions and the ultimate global warming predicted by science.

Survival of Life was released July 2023 and is now available from all major book outlets such as (click on these names): Amazon, Barns and Noble, ThriftBooks, Books-A-Million.

Picture above is Mt Aconcagua (Argentina).

Ever since he was a scrawny kid Robert Wheeler was interested in where he came from, where he was going, and why he was here. While serving in the military with 20 years of experience working with people of various cultures as an infantryman, aviator, engineer, advisor, and research & development coordinator, he developed a keen interest in the view people have about meaning and purpose in their lives. His last assignment before retiring was Chief of the Foreign Technology Office at the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command. Then during another 20 years, he filled positions at St Louis University to include Director of Health Promotion Research and adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology formally studying this topic. His major work was research about personality characteristics that contribute to health, well-being, and performance. He also developed measuring instruments and performed analyses for health promotion programs from a didactic viewpoint to assist participants, from an evaluation viewpoint to determine effectiveness, and from a research viewpoint to increase knowledge of health enhancement and quality of life improvement.

Now retired, his current work is with spirituality as a personality characteristic and its role in human nature and health. In 2014 he set a new Guinness World Book Record as the oldest man to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He was planning to climbing again in 2019 to celebrate a 90th birthday and renew the record but that was overruled by a heart attack. He did make it to Pulpit Rock in Pennsylvania for that occasion.

Picture above is Humphreys Peak (Arizona).

Follow me and share @OntosScience on Twitter.

Questions about the book or mountain climbing?  Please feel free to post a comment on my Blog page or email Robert at OntosScience here.