Chapter 2 - Meaning and Faith

In this chapter, the author does a pretty extensive of job describing and defining the concept of "meaning-making". He discusses how we as children redefined our meaning of the world even beginning at the transition from conception to birth. Faith, he describes, is the knowledge of what "is" and that being spiritual - not religious - helps us to have that knowledge while we transition and redefine our meaning-making processes throughout our life.

It's interesting how the author disucsses "A new reality beyond loss". When working with the young adult population, or society in general, we are constantly handling with loss in our lives. Helping our youth address their losses so that they are able to recreate reality through faith and knowledge making, they will be successful in both our classrooms and their lives in general.

What becomes challenging for the people that we work with is that, whatever context we are working with them in, there is some re-definition of meaning that is taking place in that person's world. This happens regardless if the incident is a transition from a more challenging life as a foster child to a more permanent life and instilling that security and positive sense of meaning back into their world, or when we are working with a young adult in an educational setting.