Adrolak
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Hey guys, I was thinking earlier, while reading "Mans Search for Meaning" By Viktor Frankl. And well, the first thing I have to say before going on is that instead of thinking of the meaning of life as a broad answer, the thing you need to realize is that it's not, it changes for every person. Frankl states that there are three ways you can find love, and I'm going to post a direct quote from the book here:
And I figured that since I have been denied the ability to find meaning in love multiple times, that I must find meaning in my suffering. I found that, considering I've had the courage and ability to come up to this point, to exhaust all options, to even reach this point - I have accomplished something, that I can find glory in the pain that's unavoidable. The fact that I cannot change my situation right now, that I'm helpless, allows me to find comfort that I'm now able to turn the pain and suffering of being lonely, into the peacefulness of being alone. This means simply put - that for the time being I am going to accept that this is the way it is, and perhaps, given the chance, someday I'll be able to find meaning in love once more. Just wanted to get this out there - feel free to comment or whatever, haha this is a thread after all.
We can discover this meaning of life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. The first, by way of achievement or accomplishment, is quite obvious. The second and third need further elaboration.
The Meaning of Love
Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the essence of another human being unless he loves him. by his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features of the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true...
The third way of finding a meaning in life is by suffering.
The Meaning of Suffering
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation--just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer--we are challenged to change ourselves...
But let me make it perfectly clear that in no way is suffering necessary to find meaning. I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering--provided, certainly, that the suffering is unavoidable. If it were avoidable, however, the meaningful thing to do would be to remove its cause, be it psychological, biological or political...
There are situations in which one is cut off from the opportunity to do one's work or enjoy one's life; but what can never be ruled out is the unavoidability of suffering. In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this meaning literally to the end. In other words, life's meaning is an unconditional one, for it even includes the potential meaning of unavoidable suffering...
[In Auschwitz] the question that beset me was, "Has all this suffering, all this dying around us, a meaning? For, if not, then ultimately there is no meaning to survival; for a life whose meaning depends on such a happenstance--as whether one escapes or not--ultimately would not be worth living at all."
And I figured that since I have been denied the ability to find meaning in love multiple times, that I must find meaning in my suffering. I found that, considering I've had the courage and ability to come up to this point, to exhaust all options, to even reach this point - I have accomplished something, that I can find glory in the pain that's unavoidable. The fact that I cannot change my situation right now, that I'm helpless, allows me to find comfort that I'm now able to turn the pain and suffering of being lonely, into the peacefulness of being alone. This means simply put - that for the time being I am going to accept that this is the way it is, and perhaps, given the chance, someday I'll be able to find meaning in love once more. Just wanted to get this out there - feel free to comment or whatever, haha this is a thread after all.