Why We Still Struggle to Solve Humanity’s Most Persistent Problems—And What Practitioners Can Do About It

Luis A. Marrero
Dec 5, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Jan 4

“The greatest crisis facing humanity is not a crisis of resources, but a crisis of meaning.” — Viktor Frankl

In the last century, humanity has achieved astonishing feats.

A small team working under crushing deadlines built the first atomic bomb in just a few years.

Scientists across the globe developed and deployed multiple COVID-19 vaccines in record time.

We have landed rovers on Mars, sequenced the human genome, and harnessed technologies that would have looked like magic to prior generations.

And yet, with all this brilliance and innovation, we still struggle with problems far more fundamental to human thriving:

Exemplary leadership remains rare.
Nations are no closer to peace.
Hunger persists.
Divorce rates remain stubbornly high.
Delinquency and crime continue to spread harm.
Employee engagement hovers near historic lows.
Organizations are awash in burnout, confusion, and distrust.

It is striking—almost paradoxical—that we can solve technical challenges at lightning speed, yet leave the most critical human challenges unsolved decade after decade.

Why is that?

The Missing Variable: Meaning

Technical problems yield to technical solutions.

Human problems do not.

Leadership, social cohesion, well-being, relationships, and moral responsibility all arise from deeper forces that shape how people interpret life, make choices, align with purpose, and act toward others. These forces—meaning, motivation, and purpose—form the internal architecture that determines whether a person leads or harms, commits or withdraws, uplifts or destroys.

But because conventional approaches focus heavily on behavior, incentives, or surface-level interventions, they miss the underlying causal mechanism. As a result, practitioners, policymakers, and leaders continue to fight symptoms instead of causes. We improve processes, refine strategies, offer training, and adjust systems—yet the underlying meaning dynamics remain untouched.

That is why the problems persist.

This isn’t a matter of intelligence, good intentions, or lack of effort. It’s simply a limitation in the tools and models we’ve relied on.

A Different Way Forward

Meaningful Purpose Psychology (Logoteleology) emerged precisely to address this gap. It offers a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for understanding:

Why people behave as they do
How identity forms and breaks down
Why efforts at change often fail
What allows individuals and communities to thrive
How to diagnose and correct the hidden meanings that sabotage progress

And, importantly, it gives practitioners clear methods for transforming meaning—not by imposing ideology or prescribing behavior, but by restoring lucidity, purpose, and healthy psychological functioning.

None of this is about claiming superiority or dismissing past efforts. Quite the opposite: it honors the enormous contributions of psychology, organizational science, leadership development, and allied fields. But it also recognizes that without directly addressing meaning, no amount of strategy or skill-building can resolve the deeper issues we face.

The Meaningful Purpose Psychology Solution

An Invitation to Practitioners Who Want to Make a Real Difference

If you’re a practitioner who senses that your clients or organizations hit invisible barriers…

If you’ve seen well-designed interventions fall flat…

If you know that deeper forces are at work but haven’t had a model to explain or address them…

Module One of the Meaningful Purpose Practitioner Certification is where your journey begins.

It is not our abilities that show who we truly are… it is our choices. — J.K. Rowling

Meaningful Purpose Practitioner Certification – Module One (2026 Cohort Launch)

Discovering Meaning: Awareness & Identity Formation

In this 30-hour foundational module, you will learn:

The core concepts and methods of Meaningful Purpose Psychology
Why traditional models struggle with complex human challenges

How to diagnose meaning accurately and guide others toward purpose-aligned transformation
How to strengthen your own clarity and meaning as a practitioner

You will learn directly alongside an international cohort and receive hands-on guidance from me, the developer of this model.

First meeting: February 12, 2026

Cohort-determined weekly schedule | Online (Zoom/Teams)Investment: $300 | Limited seats

To register or request details, click below:

Click Me

Closing Thought

Humanity already has extraordinary technical intelligence. What we lack—what society urgently needs—are models that can cultivate moral intelligence, psychological health, and purposeful action at scale.

Meaningful Purpose Psychology provides a way forward.

If you feel called to be part of that work, I invite you to join us.