In Search of Meaning

“I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now as I shall not pass this way again.” - William Penn

Trials tend to test our inner resolve and reveal our true self. As individuals continue to struggle and suffer through the indignations imposed by self-serving leaders, many will question why this is happening and lash out in anger, while others will contemplate why there has to be so much suffering in life.
Many people have tried to solve the mystery of the meaning of life by referring to the teachings of great teachers, prophets or philosophers; studying sacred writings; reflecting on religious doctrine; listening to the ideas of new age thinkers; or they may simply ponder the question in quiet meditation.
Years ago I read Viktor Frankl’s seminal book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate at Auschwitz during World War II. Frankl was trained as a psychologist and as he observed the behaviors of others who were forced into dehumanizing circumstances, he asked himself: “How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?”
His clinical background allowed him to make accurate observations and test the theories of Freud. He was particularly interested in how others found meaning in the midst of extreme suffering. Unlike Freud’s belief that people who were placed in dire circumstances would resort to animal-like behavior; Frankl observed that some of the inmates would walk through the huts comforting others and giving away their last piece of bread, even though it might mean starvation for them. Frankl stated that “they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
While on a forced night march with fellow prisoners, his thoughts were focused on his wife who was sent to another concentration camp. As his mind pictured her image he had a thought that transfixed him: “for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his suffering in the right way – an honorable way – in such as position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.”
We have the ability to choose our responses in life. There are those who choose to do things that better the lives of others, and there are those who use their power and influence in self-serving ways to manipulate others for their own benefit. Frankl postulated that there are only two races of men: decent and indecent. He believed that no society is free of either of them, and in his situation he observed that there were “decent” Nazi guards who showed concern for others, and “indecent” prisoners who would torture and abuse their fellow prisoners for personal gain.
We have those in positions of power who are decent and trying to do what is best for the people of the Commonwealth, and we have others who are so focused on their own personal objectives that they are willing to allow others to suffer while they bargain with their lives for their own personal gain.
As we continue to experience greater hardships in life, remember that you have the power to change your circumstances for the better. Do not give into the machinations of indecent men and women who are at the heart of all this suffering. Instead, find greater meaning by focusing on how you can help alleviate the suffering of others. Remember that “love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.”
We are not put here to see through one another, but to see one another through. Frankl concluded that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living. Life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death.

“Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.” – Victor Frankl