Meaning of life download#

“ Being human,” he writes, “ always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself – be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter.”įrankl’s existentialist approach, then, invites us to let go of our obsession with ourselves and of values such as self-realization, self-improvement, and happiness. It has to be discovered in the world rather than in our own psyches. 115) argues that meaning has to be located outside ourselves. Meaning can also be found in the experience of love and the appreciation of beauty, excellence, culture, and nature.Ĭrucially, Frankl (2004, p. This includes creative works but also merely making something, learning something, or being productive. The meaning of our lives can be creativity in the broad sense of the word.

If there is a potent “why” that drives us, Frankl declares, paraphrasing Nietzsche, we can tolerate almost any “how.”įrankl believes that we can discover the meaning of life in three main areas: “(1) by doing a deed or creating a work (2) by encountering someone or experiencing something and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering” (Frankl 2004, p. It could be a strong desire to return to a beloved person, complete a creative or intellectual project, or simply the strong wish to help others. Their personal meanings took many different forms. In the autobiographical section of his deeply moving book, Frankl relates that those who managed to stay in touch with what made their lives meaningful in the Nazi extermination camps were more likely to survive. We must find meaning even in our suffering, he writes, for otherwise we are lost. It was written by the Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and founder of logotherapy, Viktor Frankl, who lived from 1905 to 1997.įrankl argues that our primary task in life is to furnish it with meaning, whatever form this may take. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor FranklĪt the top of my list (and many others of its kind) is Man’s Search for Meaning: The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust (Frankl, 1946, 2004). Altruism: The Science and Psychology of Kindness – Matthieu Ricardġ. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment – Eckhart Tolle Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life – Edith Hall The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living – Dalai Lama and Howard C. These creative, science-based exercises will help you learn more about your values, motivations, and goals and will give you the tools to inspire a sense of meaning in the lives of your clients, students, or employees.

Meaning of life download#

I hope you will find it enlightening.īefore you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Meaning and Valued Living Exercises for free.

The list below includes thinkers from both sides of the argument. Other common suggestions include self-realization, relationships, pleasure, service, and creativity. The most cited contenders are happiness and love. But they tend to disagree on what that meaning might be. Others maintain that there is an absolute meaning to our existence. The meaning of life, they argue, is a subjective affair.

Some believe that life has no intrinsic meaning and that we must construct our meanings ourselves. Many thinkers, past and present, have grappled with it (Baggini, 2005 & Eagleton, 2007.)īroadly speaking, the theorists of meaning fall into two camps. There is no more important topic than the meaning of our lives. What aims should we pursue to live a fulfilling life?