The Crisis of Meaning and its Antidote
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
Viktor Frankl wrote these historic words in his memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning, narrating how he endured the Nazi death camps in Auschwitz. The “why” over here refers to the reason you’re facing the obstacles that lie in this journey called life. The reason for your existence. The meaning of it all.
Frankl talks about how it was meaning that gave his soul the courage to withstand any hardships he faced. For him, it wasn’t the physical torture that caused him the most pain. Instead, it was the dehumanizing contempt with which the Nazis treated them that shattered his spirit the most. For instance, he narrates how once during a snowstorm, a guard hurled a stone at him as if he were a mere beast, just because he leaned on his shovel momentarily to catch his breath while mending some railway tracks. Whatever courage dwelled within him, was almost completely shredded into fragments with humiliating episodes like these. But yet — he did not lose heart. Reminiscing about his ordeals, he says:
“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.”
The Buddha has said it very aptly: “Life is suffering.” And while our suffering might seem trivial compared to what the Holocaust survivors faced, it doesn’t negate the fact that we too, in our own unique ways, suffer.
Amidst life’s sorrows and misery, we start questioning the meaning of it all too. Losing your job, heartbreaks, failures; catastrophes like these, or any other that you think are unique to your being, have the potential to knock us down on our knees. Then the choice is ours — we either dust ourselves and get back on our feet, or stay down in the mud, losing all hope.
There’s one good news though: the struggle gets easier if you have meaning on your side, or a “why” as V. Frankl says.
The Search For Meaning
“The mystery of human existence lies not just in staying alive, but in finding something to live for” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
I can still remember my early teenage years, struggling in my algebra class, when nothing written on the board made sense to me except the date. I didn’t understand the point in taking this class. It was dreadfully meaningless to me. I found myself constantly looking at the clock, waiting for the agony that was algebra to end.
Likewise, when life or the adversities surrounding it don’t make sense, fulfillment goes out of the window. Connecting the dots seems like an insurmountable task. Your mind is flooded with existential questions like: What is my purpose? What’s the purpose of this human living on a tiny rock called earth, that’s floating in an unimaginably gigantic universe comprising of trillions of stars? How could this exceedingly tiny creature have some meaning in an ever-expanding universe? Why should I bear this tragedy called life?
Questions like these, it seems, are deeply programmed in our psyche; and so it follows that we should at least attempt to seek their answers. Perhaps, there’s some special wiring in humans that prompts us to live a meaningful life. For all one knows, that could be the ultimate aim of human existence — to find meaning.
The Necessity of Meaning
Emily Esfahani, the author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters, tells us that studies have shown “having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression.”
Simple shifts in attitude can change how meaningful something can be to us. For instance, living with intent and reflecting over the things we do daily. Asking ourselves: Whether the things we’re pursuing in life really mean something to us, or are we just doing them because that’s what is expected from us, or because everyone else is doing it? Are you pursuing that degree because you really love it or because your parents always expected you to do that? Are you hanging out with that group of friends because you really like them, or to gain social approval and look “cool”? Asking such simple questions can be the impetus that drives you towards having a meaningful life.
Constant comparison with others and the urge to climb social ladders distract us from asking the bigger questions of life. We begin to miss the forest for the trees. We chase happiness, thinking that it’s the goal of life. But what about contentment? You can have all the material pleasures of life, but that still doesn’t have the power to bring peace to someone’s heart. Had that been the case, we wouldn’t have seen prominent actors and musicians taking their own lives.
Let’s ask ourselves: how will our life be enriched if we abandon pursuing success and hedonistic pleasures, and instead live each moment as meaningfully as we can? Once we’re ready to accept that this less trodden path of meaningfulness is worth walking on, we can then look for ways to add meaning to our lives.
What follows isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list or a manual for living. Each individual finds meaning in their own way, but as Lao Tzu in his Tao Te Ching says: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Trying to adopt these principles might perhaps help you embark on this journey of living a meaningful life.
Keeping Death in Mind
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” — Gandalf
J.R.R Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring
Death. The word no one wants to hear, but it’s one of the only few things that’s guaranteed in life. The fact that we’re all going to die one day. Morbid as it is, thinking about our limited time on this earth makes us realize that most of the things we worry about do not even matter. Oh yes, you failed that test; the girl or boy you swear you can’t live without doesn’t like you back; and you have to pay your student debt as well. But ask yourself: will this all matter after a hundred years? Most likely not. Many of us won’t be alive by that time anyway. Why do we then drown ourselves in distress, for things that we have no control over, when life is so short? Why don’t we realize that time is all we have? Why don’t we make use of this gift in the best way possible? “And what would be this ‘best way’?” someone might ask. That’s a question that you have to answer. What’s the most meaningful goal that you can have? How do you want to use this life on earth that we only get to live once?
Living Intentionally
“It is not death that a person should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
A note found in the diary of one of the most powerful Roman Emperors, Marcus Aurelius. What does this mean, one might wonder, am I not already living? Well, in a way we are, but, living you see, isn’t just breathing in and out. That’s what other life forms do as well. But would you really consider that true “living”? Something in the human conscience tells us that we’re not meant to just eat, sleep, reproduce and die; that human life isn’t just about getting that dream job, or that guy or girl that you’ve always desired. It’s about something else too. Something more meaningful, something that will last…
Following your Conscience
“To be that self which one truly is,” says Søren Kierkegaard, the renowned 19th-century philosopher who came to be known as one of the precursors of the existentialist movement.
In this short, yet very profound sentence, Kierkegaard calls upon us to be ourselves, to reveal our true selves, and to not live contrary to what our conscience commands.
Human beings are social creatures, and often in conforming to society, we stop heeding to what that little friend living in our conscience tells us. We dismiss that voice by convincing ourselves that they’re just random ramblings of our mind. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Each one of us has an ideal we aspire to reach in our minds, according to Jordan B Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life, and it is this conscience, he says, that guides us to follow that ideal. Our ideal could be a living person, a historical figure, or a fictional character; it doesn’t matter. If we move away from that ideal, our conscience judges us and torments us. The conscience also demands that we take responsibility for life, and Peterson’s opinion is that the more responsibility you take, the more meaningful your life gets.
Let’s envisage for a moment: What would our life be like if we followed our conscience for a few years, and not do anything that goes against what our conscience tells us? Would you be the same person, or a very unrecognizable one if you take responsibility, not just for yourself, but for others too?
Let’s remind ourselves of the great people that lived through fire and hell, but yet they withstood all of that pain contently because they had a mission, a goal, that meant something really deeply to them. Nobody can claim that Nelson Mandela had an easy life — after all spending 27 years in prison is by no means a life of ease. But google his image, and all you’ll see is a smiling, content face; as if his soul had everything that it desired.
Whether it’s Mandela or any other hero who sacrificed their time and energies to shoulder the burden and pain of others, we see the same pattern repeating. A life of tribulations, but one that is brimming with a peaceful serenity. And there’s only one way to achieve this state: following your conscience, which then leads you to take responsibility not only for yourself but for others too.
The Final Step
For some people, this won’t be enough. Because a person might still ask: Why should we carry this responsibility when eventually everything is going to end? What’s the point of choosing the hero’s journey, when we’re all in this sinking ship called life, and we’re all going to drown and vanish into nothingness? A good question that I’ve pondered over a great many times. That’s when we get to the final step that Kierkegaard proposes and which came to be known as “The Leap of Faith.” For him, a leap of faith is embracing the supernatural, the unseen, and believing in it wholeheartedly, even though it might seem irrational to some.
Studies show that belief in the supernatural does indeed infuse your life with meaning, with a sense of purpose. Because it’s something that lasts. With this mindset, you believe that whatever you do in this world echoes through eternity, and your actions will never go to waste. Needless to say, humans like things that last. And the same goes for meaning, we crave meaning that doesn’t end with the sands of time. Of course, you can still live a meaningful life without believing in the supernatural or an afterlife. But naturally, this leap of faith certainly appears to guard against the nihilistic worldview that’s so prevalent today, where the significance of human life itself — in the grand scheme of things — is being questioned.
Nobody can decide your course of life except you. That is the beauty and the tragedy of life. And so I ask you: Are you ready to follow your conscience to live a meaningful life? Are you ready to abandon chasing success, and instead start pursuing meaning? It is an uphill battle, I know. But the fight might very well be worth it.
