Finding Meaning for Health: Lessons from Viktor Frankl
Why Finding Meaning is So Important for Health
“The Wizard of Oz' is my favorite. It explains what life on this planet is about. Although Dorothy reaches Oz, she finds she had what she needed to go back to Kansas all along, but the Good Witch tells her that she had to learn it for herself. All of the answers to the meaning of life are there.”
—RuPaul
“Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.”
— Viktor Frankl
We are buffeted by howling winds of news, ideas, outrage, and trifles which causes some of us to lose energy and direction.
What we are missing now more than ever is a sense of individual purpose. Without that sense of meaning, depression and bad health may follow.
This becomes noticeable when we have a break, planned or unplanned, from what we feel required to do—whether that’s work, school, or spending time with loved ones. When we step away, the time left open brings with it a sense of despondency and despair, as we are faced with too many choices and no clear direction to guide us.
I found a short but profound book written by a psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, who survived four different Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, despite losing his parents, brother, and pregnant wife.
One year after his release in 1946, Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning—where he explains how a sense of purpose can provide strength and resilience, even during the most difficult times.
It subsequently sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages, and those that read it found it to be among the top ten books that made a difference in their lives.
It is easy to imagine that the most hopeless people to ever live were those in concentration camps. They saw the torture, killing, and slow deaths of those around them due to the grotesque conditions. But perhaps the saddest sight was watching people simply give up and die. They had little to look forward to—barely enough food, constant beatings and other forms of torture, with the constant threat of being sent to a gas chamber. They had no idea when the war would end or if they had any hope of ever leaving.
And yet, some found meaning in their lives and, absent being killed or dying of starvation, they survived. Some lived for many decades longer (Frankl died in 1997 at age 92). If they could find meaning in life, then maybe we can as well. In fact, it was the desire to write that book that kept Frankl going.
Here are some of the concepts that Frankl introduced:
Life does not mean something vague or abstract, but something real and concrete.
Each of us has a concrete assignment that is unique to them; no one else can do it and it cannot be repeated.
When people with enough money find life meaningless, it is because they have means, but no meaning.
Strivings for power, materialism, money, or sexual gratification do not give meaning to life.
Virtually every alcoholic and drug addict reports believing that things seem meaningless.
A human being who is conscious of the responsibility he knows toward another human being, or an unfinished work, will never throw his life away.
He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.
You will not find the answer in talk or meditation but in “right action and right conduct.”
There are three main avenues by which one can arrive at meaning in life:
By using our natural freedom to create a work or by doing a deed (such as volunteering or simply helping others)
By experiencing something such as beauty, art, or love where experience can be just as important as achievement.
By enduring a helpless situation, such as suffering, and rising above it - and changing yourself.
Every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.
Happiness will happen, particularly when you don’t care about it.
Frankl left clues in the book, and I’ve found a few others about how to find meaning:
Look to see if you can have a positive influence on others, even strangers.
Find music, nature or just another person that you can enjoy. For example, when you walk, look up and around to see and appreciate.
Take a break from things that stress you out, like news, politics, etc. to enjoy life. Also, take a minute to think about how little most national and world affairs actually affect you if you don’t let them.
Think about the “why,” the reason for what you are doing.
Realize that what made you happy in the past (e.g., partying, owning things) may not be what will make you happy now.
Here’s one person’s take on how to start finding your purpose: Life Crafting | Practice | Greater Good in Action.
I hope you can start today too.
Have a great week,
—Richard