Frankl. Well, I actually enjoyed this. I feel the main topic of this entire reading is suffering/meaning.
"If you do not suffer, you don't have meaning. So is our only meaning in this world to suffer? If that is the case, I WANT OUT!!! Ok, that was definitely a joke. True, we can not avoid suffering because everyone will have to go through it. It is a part of life. Some of the questions that we talked about really got me thinking. One specific question I just want to expound upon is "why would we say that meaning is not the same for everyone? Why can't "meaning of life" be defined in a general way?" We discussed that every person has a different meaning of life because we all have different goals. There is a basis from where one draws meaning. So no, every single persons "meaning of life" is not the same, we each have a different purpose, however we all have one thing in common and that is that we do have meaning. If we all had the same general meaning of life, I feel there would be no sense of hope.
Speaking of a sense of hope, I also found the question: "Why does Frankl say that the prisoner who has lost faith in his future is doomed?" portrays meaning of life as well. If we lose faith in a future, we lose hope. If we lose hope, then we have no meaning in life. It becomes doomed. Nothing.
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I agree with your post. I think that even though every person has a different definition for the meaning of life, we all want to find our own meaning. We each want to understand our purpose on this earth. Every individual person wants to know that their life had meaning to it. And no matter what anyone says, every single person has a purpose in life.
ReplyDeleteI think that the one thing as far as meaning goes that everyone has in common is just that everyone wants to have a purpose, they want to find what their meaning is and then fulfill that meaning. However, I don't think that there is just one specific meaning for every man woman and child. Some christians might say that man's meaning should be to glorify God, but every single person in the world is certainly not a christian, so that means everyone's meaning can't be the same. Everyone needs to find out their own purpose, and they will form it based on their life experiences, the people they meet, and the places they go. It actually reminds me of some of what Jon Acuff was saying last night at true spin. He talked about how stress college kids get about finding that one special thing that they are supposed to do with their lives. He said instead of looking forward, people should look back on their lives to discover what made them happiest (for example, painting, working with children, or singing) and then the right specific purpose will come with the core.
ReplyDeleteIt is SO true that everyone wants purpose. Frankl really examined this when he gave examples of cases which his patients lacked that purpose and felt depressed. Interestingly, Acuff spoke the other night about linking our passions with our future career and in a way I think he addressed purpose. As Christians, the purpose is recognized as a core to be glorifying/serving/loving God- but then beyond that sometimes we lose track of what else He is calling us to do. Acuff reminded the audience to recover what those things are that we really love and want to do and figure out how God wants to use that. So application? Can meaning be recovered, if it is already there but we have lost it in a sense, or maybe even hidden it?
ReplyDeleteTo an extent, I found a lot of truth in the idea that if a person doesn't suffer, he or she does not have true meaning. To me, this is because if you have met no opposition of any kind, no questions regarding your "purpose," how could you possibly know that what you hold is true? Personally as a Christian, I believe that my ultimate purpose, the thing that gives my life meaning, is my relationship with God. Is that to say that my human relationships don't mean a great deal to me? absolutely not. My family, my friends, and my boyfriend all mean a great deal to me, and loosing them would be nearly unbearable (note the word nearly). My school work is important to me (as of right now, its hard to remember WHY its important to me, ask me in a few weeks...) but I would eventually be ok if for some reason I was told that my scholarships were being revoked tomorrow and I was sent packing. Anyway, to finally make the point I was trying to make, I KNOW that my life's meaning is found in Christ, but I don't think I could truly say that had I not, even in relatively small ways, suffered to come to that conclusion and because I came to that conclusion. (I hope this made fairly decent sense)
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