When a metaphor becomes a research question
What happened after “When Physics Becomes the Language of the Soul”?
Written by Dr. Salvatore Grammatico
Last year, I wrote this article on this blog: When physics becomes the language of the soul. It was not an attempt to explain physics or convert spiritual life into science. Rather, it was an invitation to use the four fundamental forces of the universe as symbolic metaphors for the four essential movements of the human soul: grounding, connection, inner union, and transformation.
The responses from readers have been both encouraging and thought-provoking. Many appreciated the possibility of being able to talk about meaning, faith, and psychology through a language that was accessible without simplification. Some asked thoughtful questions about the relationship between metaphor and scientific understanding.
That conversation stayed with me.
Looking back now, I see that this article did not mark the end of my reflections, but the beginning of a new phase in my research.
My work as a psychologist and psychotherapist never begins with theory. It always started with the people.
Over the years, I have listened to stories of people facing illness, grief, career insecurity, relationship crises, and moments when life itself felt disoriented. I find myself asking the same questions over and over again.
Why do some people connect deeply with meaning even in the most difficult situations, while others lose their inner compass in similar situations?
Viktor Frankl devoted his life to this question. His answer, the “will to meaning,” has shaped my own professional journey over the years. Further observations gradually emerged from clinical practice.
Some knew clearly what their purpose in life was, yet struggled to open themselves to others. Their lives were consistent but often self-contained.
Others have given themselves generously to serving people, communities, or ideals while personally struggling with doubt, emptiness, or uncertainty about the meaning of their lives.
These experiences suggested something important.
perhaps meaning of life and self-transcendence Even though their psychological realities were not exactly the same, they were deeply connected.
But clinical intuition is just the beginning.
Psychology advances by asking whether intuitions stand up to empirical testing.
This conviction led me to many years of psychometric research. My colleagues and I worked to develop and validate a psychological instrument that could assess both meaning in life and self-transcendence. More recently, in collaboration with Professor Giuseppe Crea of the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, these studies have evolved into a broader study of how these two aspects interact.
Preliminary findings were interesting.
Although meaning in life and self-transcendence were found to be strongly related, they did not overlap completely. People who score high on one dimension may not necessarily show equally high levels on another dimension.
Rather than representing a single continuum, they appeared to function as two complementary dimensions of existential life.
This insight became the basis for what we call. existential circular complex-A conceptual map that explores different configurations of existential functioning through the interaction of these two dimensions.
The Existential Circle—A map of the meaning of life and self-transcendence.
This model is deliberately understated in its ambitions.
It does not seek to categorize people or reduce the richness of human experience to categories. Instead, it provides a framework for asking better questions.
How do purpose and generosity toward others shape psychological well-being?
Could different configurations of beings require different treatment approaches?
How can education help young people develop the ability to transcend themselves, not only in their goals but also in their relationships, responsibilities, and service?
These remain open questions and require further research without definitive answers.
Looking back, I find it interesting that this scientific journey did not begin in a statistics lab.
It started with a metaphor.
The symbolic language of the first article did not amount to scientific evidence. Nor was it meant to be.
Rather, it generated scientific curiosity.
The image of the four fundamental forces prompted me to look more closely at the hidden dynamics that seem to sustain human existence. Symbolic considerations did not replace empirical research. It raised new empirical questions.
This distinction is important.
Science and symbolism belong to different realms. Science seeks explanations that can be tested, refined, and sometimes rejected. Symbolic language speaks to dimensions of human experience that cannot be easily captured by numbers alone.
Confusing these two approaches weakens both.
But separating them completely also undermines our understanding of what it means to be human.
Throughout history, many scientific discoveries began with imaginative ways of seeing reality differently. Metaphors do not provide evidence, but they help formulate questions worth investigating.
For me, this has been one of the most unexpected lessons of the past year.
The final symbolic reflection theory of everything within The empirical research that led to the Existential Circumplex is not a competing project.
These are complementary expressions of the same search.
Exploring the human through the language of psychology and psychometry.
The other explores the same mystery through symbols, spirituality, and interdisciplinary dialogue. For me, this dialogue is rooted in faith, the conviction that the order we find in the universe and the order we long for in our souls ultimately answer to the same root.
Both stem from the same belief that humans are more than symptoms, behaviors, and performances. We are creatures in constant search for meaning, constantly being invited to go beyond ourselves through love, responsibility, creativity, and hope. And for those of us who pray, we are continually drawn to a love that precedes and exceeds our own search.
If there’s one insight I’d like to add to last year’s article, it’s this:
Sometimes metaphors aren’t just useful for understanding life.
Sometimes they help us discover new questions about life.
And sometimes, if we are willing to examine these questions with intellectual humility and scientific rigor, they can become the beginnings of real research that does not replace faith, but can become another way of taking seriously what faith has always intuited about the human soul.
The journey continues.
Not from conviction to conviction, but from one meaningful question to the next.
Full details of the research“The Existential Circle: Meaning of Life and Self-Transcendence as Orthogonal Dimensions of Existential Functioning” Co-authored with Professor Giuseppe Crea, Dialogue in philosophy, spiritual science, and neuroscience You can read it for free online.
Author biography
Dr. Salvatore Grammatico He is a psychologist, psychotherapist, and co-lecturer at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, where his research focuses on logotherapy, the meaning of life, and self-transcendence. he is the author of theory of everything withinan iconic journey that unites science, mind and spirituality, co-authored with Professor Giuseppe Clare. Existential circular complexa peer-reviewed psychological model of meaning and self-transcendence. For more information, www.lateoriadeltuttointeriore.com.
Source: Spiritual Media Blog – www.spiritualmediablog.com
