The Meaning of Life

Abstract

This essay answers the question of the meaning of life. It does so from the perspective of pastoral theology by turning to a children’s story: William Joyce’s award-winning The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. After the introduction, this essay has two basic parts. The first part describes the context of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, summarizes its narrative, and explores its reception. The second part articulates three ways in which The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is suggestive for pastoral theology with regard to questions of meaning—existentially, psychologically, and morally. In doing so, the essay builds on Donald Capps’s insights in The Poet’s Gift, assumes the perspective of Victor Frankl as articulated in Man’s Search for Meaning, and suggests that the reframing technique of dereflection is especially useful with regard to the preservation of meaning. This essay also includes a considerable amount of primary source material from an interview with William Joyce conducted by the author.