The Meaning of Life

One of the most important questions that come to all of us at one point or another is “Why am I here, what is the purpose of my life?” Philosopher Victor Frankl addresses this issue through his logotherapy philosophy  Frankl feels that we cannot ask the question in a larger sense, that we have to continue to ask ourselves the question throughout our lives to give meaning to one specific moment at a time. There is no answer to the question, “what is the meaning of life?” but we can ask and find purpose if we ask “what is the meaning of my life right now?”  He compares the generalized version of the question to asking a chess master, “what is the best move in the world?” He goes on to explain that there is no such thing. There is no such thing as a best move that stands alone from a particular situation in a game. It’s the same in life, we can find meaning over and over depending upon our current situation.  Our purpose may shift from becoming an advanced snowboarder to being a good parent, to helping a partner deal with an illness and so on. To search for an abstract meaning of life is to suffer. We all have a mission in life to fulfill a goal. But then that goal is met or it leads to a different trajectory and we move from one ambition to the next. In that forward motion, we are irreplaceable and our lives take on meaning.  

Each situation is a challenge and gives meaning by providing a problem to solve.  And so it is not that we ask life, what are you about, but rather it is life asking us-what are you about right now.  This allows us to take responsibility for our journey. And so the meaning of life never changes.

One important element to finding purpose is that it is not within us, it is outside in the world.  Finding the purpose of life is when our focus is directed toward something or someone that is outside of ourselves.  The more we forget ourselves, by giving over to a cause to serve or a person to love, the more we reach our inner potential and the more we expand into the limits of our capacity to experience life.  We can’t reach our potential for ourselves without transcending ourselves.  

According to the theory of Frankl, typically we find purpose in our lives in one of three ways, depending upon where we are in our lives.  Either through our work, whether that’s what we get paid for or what we volunteer for or something we’re building or creating; something that we are achieving or accomplishing.  Another avenue is through experiencing something like travel or a hobby or learning something new or experiencing someone-falling in love, meeting a mentor, meeting someone who needs our help.  Finally, the third way to experience life in a meaningful way is purely through the attitude we take toward our life’s struggles.  

Buddha thought teaches us that “life is suffering” or that life is one struggle after another.  This can seem like Buddha is a real down guy but what he’s trying to teach us is that our troubles, our struggles are not personal and that no one is immune to them.  We all struggle no matter where we are in our lives or what our status is-we all struggle and the only thing that we can change about that is our approach to those struggles.  Frankl is saying the same thing, that we can find meaning in life even in the face of tragedy. In our lowest moments, we can arise and find strength. Yoga philosophy talks about this concept in a succinct phrase: “things happen for us, not to us”.  If we look at life’s struggles as opportunities to grow stronger, we will triumph. Yoga teaches us to look for moments that cause self-transformation and to at a minimum surrender to them and even more so, embrace them. Our greatest stories are about moments where we were victorious-where we were challenged to change ourselves.

So the next time we are feeling lost, or that life has lost meaning-you may be right.  For that moment, what was filling you no longer does. But that’s not a reason to give up hope-that’s a moment to understand something needs to change, a new direction must be searched out and pursued.  The most difficult moment is the space between those purposeful directions. Being at the crossroads is a pause between an inhale and an exhale and if we feel stuck there, we panic. Knowing that life consists of waves of meaning we stop questioning the whole ocean and find patience in the pause.