More on Frankl

See: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/theres-more-to-life-than-being-happy/266805/

"In his bestselling 1946 book, Man's Search for Meaning, which he wrote in nine days about his experiences in the camps, Frankl concluded that the difference between those who had lived and those who had died came down to one thing: Meaning."

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing," Frankl wrote in Man's Search for Meaning, "the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"In the words of Martin E. P. Seligman, one of the leading psychological scientists alive today, in the meaningful life "you use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self."

The pursuit of happiness seems to be a topic of near-universal interest. After all, doesn't everybody just want to be happy?

So we try, try, try. We pursue happiness. We go out and meet people and go on vacations and buy things and we might even read books about happiness. And yet...sometimes there is just that niggling feeling that something is missing. Maybe it isn't happiness, but meaning.

I don't mean to say that I believe happiness and meaning are mutually exclusive - I don't think that all - but I do think the article brings up interesting points about the pursuit of happiness versus the pursuit of meaning. I don't think that happiness is necessarily selfish; I think that doing something selfless might make someone pretty happy as well as bring meaning.

To finding meaning.

P.S. Additional Thoughts on Man's Search for Meaning

Oh, and maybe Frankl's main point is this: that man is driven by the search for meaning, for purpose. I find that uplifting.

You know all those conversations about whether humans are innately good or innately bad? I go back and forth. I read about horrible things happening in the world, but then there are also people trying to do good. Dedicating their whole lives to it, in some cases. Right now, I believe that people are born with the potential for good as well as the potential for bad. Their parents, their environments, etc. shape them to a certain extent of course, but then they also choose. They make the decision to do whatever it is.

Since I graduated and started working last year, I've been thinking about meaning a lot more. I agree with Frankl, that humans are driven by the search for meaning and purpose (as well as you know, food and shelter and all that). I'm searching for my meaning, my purpose.

I definitely haven't found it yet. I don't even think I'm close. I think I'm still pretty much at the beginning of it, actually. It doesn't really matter where you are, though. You know that line about how it's not the destination, but the journey? Cliched and corny as it is, it's true. So it doesn't matter how young or old you are, how far you think you may be from where you need to go...just start. Search.

And hey, look out the window once in a while. Enjoy the scenery.

Man's Search for Meaning Review (and of course, a few quotes)

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

I read this book a few months ago, mostly during breaks at work. There I was, not exactly thrilled about being at work, and then I would travel back in time (15 minutes at a time) to the 1940's, to Auschwitz. To being a prisoner at Auschwitz.

I was stunned by this book. Frankl managed to make life in a concentration camp meaningful. How many people have so much, and yet live their lives dissatisfied? I told myself that if Frankl could make his concentration camp experiences meaningful, surely I could endure work in higher spirits.

I was struck by that quote, how a person always has the freedom "to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." There is so much we don't know, so much we can't control in life. But we can control our attitude, how we react. It might not sound like very much. But it can be everything.

Frankl made it through the concentration camp partially because he knew he had a book manuscript to finish. He had a higher purpose. He had to make it through the concentration camp so he could fulfill his destiny. And you know what? He did.

"If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."
-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

I'm an agnostic. I'm not sure exactly what I believe. But I'm inspired by this quote. It's logical, too, isn't it? I don't know what the meaning of suffering is, but to believe that there is a meaning to it can help.


"human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death."
-Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Even if you don't feel like your life has meaning (I think everyone feels this way at least a few times), it does. I can't explain it to you. Maybe no one can. It's yours to make, yours to discover. It's a great, great privilege (as well as a challenge and a responsibility), don't you think?

To choosing your own attitude, your own way, especially in the times it seems like you can't.