The Issue of Meaning Part I
I cannot think of an issue more poignant or pained then one’s search for meaning. It is our fundamental existential endeavor and need, yet it can be so evasive. A significant part of the problem is that we often seek meaning head on, it becomes our goal. But meaning, like happiness, according existential psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl, is derivative of something else: creative work, a relationship, or the attitude we take toward situations that are beyond our control and which cause us to suffer. Let us take a brief look at these indirect means to experiencing a felt sense of meaning.
Achievement enables us to experience a felt sense of meaning when we consciously make an effort to express ourselves through our work. Such expression does not require a career in what we typically think of as “the arts.” All work can be a form of creative expression because no two individuals bring the same history, personality, and values to a job. The key is to be conscious that we are bringing the Self to what we do. Therefore, I can choose to be conscious that I am expressing a part of myself in this brief exposition, which once created will forever be a part of history, or I can unconsciously put together some ideas. I experience the former as more meaningful.
Similarly, we can find meaning in our relationships with others, particularly our children. It is through our children that we leave a part of ourselves to the world when we die and then through our children’s children. Other relationships such as friendship and marriage may also be felt as meaningful because they provide encounters through which we feel known and validated in our being; we know we exist and that our existence is valuable because it has been mirrored back to us by another human.
Lastly, when we experience painful events beyond our control, we can suffer bravely as Frankl did in the concentration camps. We can demonstrate to others that we can choose how to respond to events no matter how difficult and in doing so give others the strength to endure challenging events in their own lives and inspire them to thrive.
So let us not seek meaning directly but instead reflect on what is meaningful to us and be conscious of how this meaning manifests in our day-to-day life. As a consequence, a felt sense of meaning may sneak up on us from behind.
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