Man’s Search For Meaning Flashcards
Is everyone’s meaning for life the same?
If you ask any great chess player what the best move in chess is, they’ll just stare at you with a puzzled face. There is no such thing. There is, however, a best move in any particular constellation of pieces on the board. Of course there’s a best move in any game situation, but no general move beats all others.
The meaning of your life is the same way.
There’s no general meaning of life and not even one, singular meaning of your own life. Your life’s meaning is not only unique to you, it also depends on your decisions and situations.
This is what logotherapy claims and it flips the common misconception that you have to find your life’s meaning first, before you’re able to live your best life, upside down.
Instead, how you act, and how much responsibility you bring to the decisions you make determines how big your sense of meaning in life is.
For example, Frankl found meaning when stumbling through the night, barefoot, across icy rocks and through big puddles, forced to work by the Nazi guards, simply by thinking of his wife, imagining her face up in the clouds and finding bliss in this moment of love.
What are three sources for meaning?
Work, love, courage
What does logotherapy mean?
According to logotherapy, this striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.
This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.
To be sure, man’s search for meaning may arouse inner tension rather than inner equilibrium. However, precisely such tension is an indispensable prerequisite of mental health.
What is the existential vacuum?
The existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in a state of boredom.
And these problems are growing increasingly crucial, for progressive automation will probably lead to an enormous increase in the leisure hours available to the average worker. The pity of it is that many of these will not know what to do with all their newly acquired free time.
Regarding the meaning of life; Should men ask what’s the meaning of life?
Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence.
This emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the categorical imperative of logotherapy, which is: “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
Is happiness the meaning/goal of life?
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph.
Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to “be happy.” Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically.
Once an individual’s search for meaning is successful, it not only renders him happy but also gives him the capability to cope with suffering.
Quotes
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
How can you apply the most important principles of this book to your own life?
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