Roberto Mucciarini
Il senso di ogni vita
(The Meaning of Every Life)
Extended Abstract
Illumanesimo — from the fusion of Umanesimo (Humanism) and Illuminismo (Enlightenment): Il senso di ogni vita is the existential culmination of the corpus of the eponymous philosophy.
1. Situating the Work within the Illumanesimo Corpus
Il senso di ogni vita constitutes the existential culmination of the Illumanist philosophical project. Within the eight-volume corpus, this work performs a distinctive and conclusive function: it represents the transition from abstract metaphysics to concrete existential philosophy, articulating the manner in which the ontological foundations expounded in the preceding volumes translate into guidance for lived experience.
If L’Illumanesimo offers the general synthesis of the paradigm, Esperienze develops the ontological anthropology, and La Realtà expounds the metaphysical foundations, Il senso di ogni vita completes the reverse movement: from theory to praxis, from the universal to the singular, from speculation to concrete existence. The work responds to the fundamental question that every metaphysics must ultimately face: what difference does the recognition of the ontological structure here proposed make in the life of the individual?
As the natural conclusion of this journey, the work “returns to the human being, concentrating on Spirit in contact with the body and on the profound implications of this interaction.” The work thus offers an integrated vision of human existence in its spiritual and corporeal dimensions, completing the philosophical journey with the application of universal principles to the concrete dynamics of life.
2. Structure and Thematic Organization
The work is organized into seventeen thematic sections that accompany the reader through the entire arc of human existence, from the prenatal phase to the post-mortem state. This structure reflects the ambition of providing a complete existential philosophy, capable of illuminating every phase of life in the light of Illumanist principles.
2.1. The Meaning of Life: Foundations
The first section addresses the fundamental question of the meaning of life, affirming that it is neither universally given nor inscribed in any book, but takes the form of a personal path arising from the intersection of multiple factors: the analysis of inner drive, the understanding of the dynamics between necessity and existential choices, the relationship with the material world. The central thesis is that the meaning of life consists in the knowledge of materiality — a purpose that is neither ready-made (as fideism would have it) nor arbitrary (as nihilism maintains). This is the knowledge that each Spirit pursues and acquires individually through the experience of Reality, using the body as its instrument. Authentic meaning is always individual and is realized in an unrepeatable way.
2.2. From the Beginning of Life to the Future
The second major section systematically examines the initial phases of existence: the encounter between Spirit and cultural reality, the first contact of Spirit with the fetus, birth, formation, cultural change and development, intelligence, interiority, and individual limits. Particular attention is devoted to the prenatal phase, in which the preparation begins that will favor the psychic adaptation of the physical structure to its spiritual counterpart, the formation of the soul, and the role the soul plays in forming the unconscious.
2.3. The Existential Program and Experiences
A central section is dedicated to the existential program: the overarching project developed by the CEFA — Campo Energetico di Forze Autocoscienti, Energy Field of Self-Aware Forces — before each incarnation, which indicates the fundamental experiences to be accomplished. This is not a rigid destiny, but a flexible framework that identifies the priority evolutionary themes, allowing considerable scope for variation both for Spirit and for the body. The program traces guidelines that must reckon with the intrinsically imprecise and fluctuating nature of the human psyche.
2.4. Existential Dimensions
The central sections of the work explore multiple dimensions of existence: equilibrium as synthesis and divine signature of cosmic order; the complexity of the human being; the relationship between Spirit and matter; the new awareness; the indissoluble bond between Spirit and body; the experience of freedom; joys and sorrows; the essence of being in its multiple aspects (the relationship with Spirit, material realities, the necessity of direct experience, the repetitiveness of life, social progress, the dissatisfaction that accompanies well-being, the foundation of relationships, truths, believing and assenting, changing the world, the principle of fellowship, creativity, rationality, will); the dimensions of the public and the private; the politics of the future; the encounter between different truths.
2.5. The Rediscovery of Old Age
A significant section is dedicated to old age. By removing this stage of life from existential marginalization, the work proposes approaching the “third age” as a phase of life that has no less value than the preceding ones. The work examines the challenge posed to the value of old age in contemporary society, the relationship between body and Spirit in the process of aging, and, above all, the perspective of Spirit on the different phases of life — a perspective radically different from the human perspective, for which age-based distinctions hold little importance in comparison with the quality and intensity of experience.
2.6. Facing Death and the Change of State
The concluding sections address the theme of death and the post-mortem state: overcoming the fear of dying; the two contrasting drives — the desire to leave and the desire to remain; drawing closer to death; the culture of non-death; the natural protection of the human being and of Spirit. The final section, dedicated to the change of state, addresses the transition itself, the oblivion that accompanies the post-mortem state, and the question of finding one’s loved ones again in the spiritual dimension.
3. Core Theoretical Theses
The sections that follow present the load-bearing theses of the work.
Meaning as evolutionary knowledge. The meaning of life, in Illumanesimo, is the knowledge that Spirit acquires through the experience of material Reality. It is neither ready-made nor externally imposed, yet neither arbitrary nor non-existent: it emerges from direct contact with matter, in accordance with epistemic needs that precede incarnation. Every Spirit incarnates with the aim of experiencing the material dimension, employing the body as its instrument. This immersion enables it to comprehend the deep nature of materiality and its principles. Experience lived with awareness can become more refined with the advance of age, increasing the capacity to recognize one’s own authentic inner needs and to attribute meaning to existence.
Symbolization as ontological mechanism. The work describes the process of symbolization as a precisely defined ontological mechanism: life becomes the privileged locus in which Spirit, through the body and by means of the Soul as interface, transforms lived experiences into knowledge that permanently modifies its own evolutionary structure. The sequence unfolds in four phases: material experience, psychic processing, symbolization, spiritual integration. Only when an experience has been fully internalized by the psyche can Spirit appropriate that new knowledge as its own. This process remains open at every age.
The existential program as flexible guide. The existential program does not rigidly determine the life of the human being, but delineates an underlying orientation that guides earthly experience while preserving broad margins of freedom. The possible failure to fulfill the program does not constitute a fault in any absolute sense: the evaluation transcends individual subjectivity and is governed by criteria defined by universal laws, which take into account the evolutionary level of Spirit, the difficulties encountered, and the insurmountable obstacles confronted during incarnation.
Imperfection as evolutionary guarantee. Spirit is fully aware that material existence entails imperfection, and recognizes in chaos and in difficulty a fertile ground for its own growth. An excess of perfection and tranquility would risk weakening the stimulus to change and inquiry, rendering the programmed experiences less significant. The imperfection of the world thus becomes a guarantee of experiential richness, offering Spirit the possibility of confronting the unforeseen. Every season of life, including old age, partakes of this condition and offers occasions for growth proportionate to the challenges it presents.
Death as passage and transformation. Death is not conceived as a tragic event, but as a passage between different existential conditions. The dissolution of the body does not represent, for the spiritual part, the end of everything, but rather the conclusion of one among the many possible conditions and the beginning of a new phase of Spirit’s adventure. The journey of Spirit through death represents a process of readaptation, of reacquisition of full freedom, of evaluation and reprogramming. The knowledge and experiences acquired during earthly existence become part of the evolutionary heritage of Spirit.
The revaluation of the body and matter. The conclusion of the existential journey is not the negation of the material world, but its revaluation through the rediscovery of the indissoluble bond that unites the material world to Spirit. The body, far from being a mere shell, regains its universal value, revealing itself as the indispensable instrument through which Spirit experiences the world and itself. It is in the encounter with the resistance of matter, with the challenges and opportunities offered by concrete circumstances, that Spirit can give full expression to its potentialities and fulfill its evolutionary task.
4. The Perspective of Spirit on Existence
One of the most significant innovations of the work consists in the systematic adoption of the perspective of Spirit as a lens through which to reinterpret the whole of human experience. While the human being tends to subdivide existence into well-defined categories — childhood, youth, adulthood, old age — for Spirit such distinctions hold little meaning. What counts is the quality and intensity of experience, not the chronological age of the person experiencing it.
For Spirit, life is neither long nor short, but is judged solely in terms of greater or lesser utility, corresponding to the acquisition of a greater or lesser quantity of knowledge. Spirit has no “evolutionary haste,” nor does it proceed with a conscious slowness in relation to its own evolution: the process follows necessities intrinsic to the inner condition of each individual Spirit, with the choice of path being entirely individual and not influenced by external needs.
This perspective produces a transvaluation of existential priorities: making autonomous choices becomes the most important aspect of existence, since consciousness more readily recognizes the signals of Spirit in personal decisions. Spirit never returns empty-handed from the experience with the body; yet personal decisions, unlike those that are incidental or undergone passively, are more closely bound to the program of Spirit and yield knowledge of greater evolutionary value.
5. Educational and Formative Implications
Particular attention is devoted to young people: enthusiasm, dynamism, curiosity, and openness to change represent the first signals of the inner presence of Spirit. These characteristics, if nurtured and encouraged, can develop into valuable dispositions that will accompany the individual throughout life in the pursuit of ever new experiences.
In this direction, the supreme aim of future education ought to be the integral development of the individual that harmonizes the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
6. Positioning within the Contemporary Philosophical Debate
Il senso di ogni vita enters into implicit dialogue with several philosophical traditions. The idea that meaning emerges from lived experience presents affinities with Bergson’s concept of intuition as access to real duration and with the élan vital, with the Husserlian Lebenswelt as the lifeworld that precedes every theoretical operation, and with Whitehead’s process philosophy. Nonetheless, Illumanesimo distinguishes itself from these by virtue of a specific ontological structure: CEFA entities — individual spiritual subjects that precede incarnation —, the determining role of experience, and the mechanism of symbolization that transforms experience into permanent spiritual knowledge.
With respect to existentialism, the work acknowledges the depth of the experience of the absurd, of nothingness, and of tragic freedom, yet rejects the conclusion that these conditions imply an ontological absence of meaning. The feeling of absurdity arises from the cognitive limitation of the incarnated subject, not from universal Reality in itself. With respect to the phenomenology of death (Heidegger), the work proposes a radically different perspective: death is not the ultimate horizon that confers authenticity upon existence, but a passage between different existential conditions, to be faced with awareness yet without the anguish that derives from conceiving death as annihilation.
7. Conclusions
Il senso di ogni vita represents the completion of the Illumanist philosophical project in its existential dimension. The work does not claim to have discovered new truths to be accepted uncritically; it proceeds instead from the awareness of having defined a new comprehensive framework of Reality and opened new doors onto a path still entirely to be explored, winding along the pathways of existence.
As observed in the conclusions of this complex work, it is precisely intellectual curiosity that can transform the logical premises offered by this philosophy into innovative instruments of inquiry, enabling the exploration of the whole of reality with a new method — rigorous yet open. This is not a matter of accumulating doctrinal notions, but of refining the critical tools for interpreting existence from a new perspective.
The work proposes an integral vision of the human being that surpasses the traditional conceptions of Spirit, matter, soul and body, transcendence and immanence. In this new light, these elements no longer appear merely as abstract theoretical entities, but as real elements of existence. Spirit is understood as a conscious subject, endowed with intelligence, that immerses itself in every aspect of Reality, including the material dimension, which it experiences through the human being. Thanks to this contact, even matter and the body acquire meaning and value, rising to the status of universal elements.
Ultimately, Il senso di ogni vita responds to the urgent need for a form of knowledge capable of rationally addressing the complexity of Reality, proposing a journey beginning from the limited possibilities of the body, yet without hesitating to project the mind beyond the materialist conception of consciousness, always pursuing the search for an ultimate meaning — neither predetermined nor accidental, but constructed through conscious experience that transforms every moment of life into an occasion for spiritual growth.
Keywords: Illumanesimo; meaning of life; CEFA; Spirit; existential program; symbolization; incarnation; experience; evolutionary knowledge; death and the post-mortem state; education; old age; freedom; body and matter; consciousness; existential philosophy.
Complete references to the volumes of the corpus are available on the Books page.
© 2025 Roberto Mucciarini.
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International license (CC BY 4.0).
Extended abstract also archived on Zenodo —
Translation Note. The English translation has been produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools and subsequently revised. In the event of any discrepancy, the original Italian text constitutes the sole authentic reference and shall prevail.