It cannot be said enough: meaning is found at the intersection of what is truly good and what the individual uniquely has to offer. But, although our understanding of what constitutes goodness changes and (ideally) increases over time, what constitutes goodness does not change. It is woven into the fabric of reality, the moral aspect of existence which is also the most foundational.
We intuitively grasp what is good not by “gazing immediately on” it “in the abstract or in the general” (pg. 7). We do so by paying attention to specific people and instances and intuitively grasping what is good (or not) about them. “Our Intuitions look to Single Objects, and not to abstract or general notions” (pg. 7). Virtually everyone can see the goodness in buying a meal for a homeless person or holding the door open for someone who has their hands full. They can see the evil in a parent neglecting to feed their children or a bully picking on the weak.
It is through reasoning up from these particular instances that we can identify general moral principles. The first principle we come across is that good and evil are not relative. Try to imagine a universe in which abusing children or the elderly is good. Unless your soul is utterly corrupted and disconnected from reality it is impossible. Our souls reject such a proposition as contrary to the nature of reality. Our intuitions tell us that goodness is fixed, even though our understanding of it may evolve.
This fact requires acknowledgment of an important dynamic. If meaning is found at the intersection of what is truly good and what the individual uniquely has to offer, and if goodness is fixed, eternal, and universal, then to find that intersection requires the individual to change. We cannot redefine goodness to accommodate our imperfections. Goodness is fixed. It's not going anywhere. So we must move toward it if we are to find the intersection where meaning is located.
A great example of this dynamic may be seen in the recent blockbuster movie Top Gun: Maverick (minor spoiler to follow). There is a character who is confident, aggressive, and extremely talented. But he is also self-absorbed and is constantly putting his teammates in unnecessary danger through his cocky and selfish behavior. However, at the end of the movie he channels his aggressive and assertive behavior to save the lives of his teammates rather than put them at risk.
This character teaches us a couple of lessons about goodness and individuality. First, he had to change if he was to act in a manner we could recognize as good. There was a fixed standard he had to meet and it involved putting the needs of his team before his own. Unless and until he did that his actions were not good, regardless of how impressive they may have been.
Second, realigning his behavior to what was good rather than self-aggrandizing did not in any way threaten his individuality. On the contrary, it emphasized and highlighted what was uniquely good about him. Whereas before he was just another run-of-the-mill jerk with some talent, caring about what was good made him more fully himself.
The key point is that we find the intersection of what is good and what makes us unique not by trying to be more unique, but by growing in goodness. Our unique qualities will manifest themselves of their own accord. Our individuality is necessarily prepackaged in everything about us. Those unique traits find their fullest expression not in service to the self, but in service to the good.