Meaning of Life
According to Viktor Frankl, the meaning of life lies in finding purpose and being responsible over ourselves and our fellow human beings. It is the art of understanding various aspects of life and tackling various questions concerning human beings. According to him, we can make our world a better place only by feeling free and sure of the objectives that motivate us (Viktor 16). That said, it is possible to see that understanding the meaning of life is a complicated issue. Such issues are underlined by various transcendental, philosophical, and moral nuances. According to Frankl, a man can maintain a vestige of spiritual freedom and independent thinking, even in difficult situations of physical and psychic stress. Sometimes we ask ourselves many questions about life, and in most times, we feel a deep existential void. Frankl was faced with this similar situation prompting him to find an answer that invites a constructive reflection.
There is no conventional method that human beings can use to obligatory define life. Each human being can define life in his or her way. For us to define life, we rely on our abilities and experiences, which ultimately enables us to discover ourselves daily. Even though the meaning of life varies from one person to another, it is also true that human beings have different ambitions and goals at different life stages. The essential thing is for each goal to give us encouragement and satisfaction to get up in the morning and pursue what we want. Victor Frankl’s masterpiece, man’s search for meaning, has inspired millions of people across the globe to reclaim their lost joy and positive attitude towards life. Frankl was imprisoned in Dachau and Auschwitz at the same time the world was witnessing holocaust. The author lost his family, and perhaps, his primary purpose in this life was to help others find their propose about life. Frankl emphasized leaving from a perceptive of love, working day by day with motivation, and having courage at all times in adversity as the main drivers to finding purpose in life. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In hard times, we should handle those hard circumstances with a lot of motivation and positivity. But how do we approach this? First, it is essential to understand that human beings possess similar biological structures, which makes us different from one another is our level of determination. Being determined to attain our goals, overcoming all the obstacles that may block us from achieving these goals, despite how negligible such goals are, they will help us in clarifying our purpose in each stage of our life. Frankl states that “Everything we can be taken from a man except one thing: the last of human freedoms- to choose one’s way, to decide one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances” (Viktor 34). Even if we go through suffering, Frankl suggests that we should not lose our purpose in life, and through this, we will regain our strength. He explains that it is dangerous to perceive our strength useless. We should, therefore, endure our suffering and see it as a challenge in our lives.
People with a purpose never give have up when challenges strike them; instead, they learn from such problems and apply their experience to tackle future challenges. Lessons learned from such difficult situations can also help us in achieving our objectives. It is, therefore, essential to change our attitude for us to find a higher meaning in life. It is also good to understand that sometimes life is not fair. Sometimes we work very hard by investing our energy, emotions, time, and heart only to face unexpected setbacks in our life. These are some of the discouraging moments in life because we lose the value of ourselves. Our dreams fall apart, and we feel discouraged from fighting for our objectives. In such situations, backing down is more understandable and logical, but when this happens we have two options; assume that I impossible for us to change what has happened and become prisoners of such circumstances; accept that we cannot change what has happened to us and develop a positive attitude towards it (Viktor 54). This means that we need to adopt a more resilient and more robust approach, improve our positivity if we need to find higher meaning in life and more hope.
The meaning of life is not asked; instead, it is felt. All the answers about our lives are just within us. Books cannot explain to us the meaning of life. Our friends cannot give a satisfactory answer to the purpose of our own lives. All our needs, ambitions, passions, and existential goals are within ourselves. We have to pursue them without fear while at the same time maneuvering over the obstacles we may face in our fight. Our passions and goals change over time as we grow and mature; at every stage, we set different purposes depending on various life factors. Understanding the freedom and responsibility we have to define our goals is one of the most important things. Victor Frankl wanted to bring the point that we have a chance to make a decision at every second of our lives, a decision that will determine whether we will be prisoners of circumstances or we will accept circumstances and develop positive attitudes towards them.
Work Cited
Viktor, F. (1945) Man’s Search for meaning in life. Experiences from a Concentration Camp. 3-93