The Search for Meaning in Life
The Human Quest for Meaning
Throughout history, philosophers, artists, theologians, and scientists have pondered one of humanity's most profound questions: What is the meaning of life? Perhaps more than any other intellectual traditions, philosophy and psychology have offered sustained attempts to answer this question.
Existential Perspectives on Meaning
Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, believed that people find meaning through three primary avenues: creation, love, and the attitude they take toward unavoidable suffering. Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher, argued that meaning is illuminated through being-toward-death-the awareness of one's own mortality-which can awaken a more authentic way of living. Jean-Paul Sartre, a French existential philosopher, maintained that meaning arises through our projects: the goals, commitments, relationships, values, and pursuits that we freely choose and invest ourselves in. Albert Camus, another French existential thinker, argued that human beings are born into a universe that offers no inherent meaning. Through what he called the absurd, he suggested that we respond by creating purpose and significance through the way we live. Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher often regarded as the first existential thinker, believed that meaning is found through an individual's personal relationship with God and through the responsible exercise of freedom in becoming one's authentic self before God. Finally, Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, argued that meaning is created through the formation of our own values and ideals rather than through adherence to externally imposed moral systems.
Creation, Destruction, and the Transformation of Self
Many philosophical traditions have explored the concepts of creation and destruction as complementary processes rather than absolute opposites. Creation would mean to bring forth, produce, or give form to something new. Destruction would mean to demolish, tear down, or dismantle what already exists. The creation of meaning often involves the destruction of old ways of being and relating in order to create new forms of being and relating in the world. For many clients, this process of creation and destruction can be anxiety provoking, as holding on to old ways of being is often experienced as comfortable and reassuring, while establishing new ways of being can feel equally uncertain and anxiety provoking. In other words, to create new meaning in our lives, we often have to "destroy" who we previously were in order to allow for new forms of meaning to emerge. However, what may be most reassuring is that since the self is ever changing, fluid, and malleable, and open to new forms of meaning, individuals always have the freedom to create new meanings in their lives. As Heraclitus said, "No person ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he/she is not the same person."
Meaning Through Multiple Pathways of Growth
Perhaps growth toward the meaning of life is not found through any single philosophy, but through multiple lived pathways and experiences. As Friedrich Nietzsche aptly wrote: "We grow like trees-that is difficult to understand, like all life! Not in one place only, but everywhere, not in one direction only, but equally upward and outward and inward and downward; our energy is at work simultaneously in the trunk, branches, and roots." Nietzsche captures how growth does not occur along a single pathway but unfolds through a diverse range of experiences and directions.
Three Practical Strategies for Finding Meaning
Foster the idea that meaning is found through multiple avenues and pathways, and that there is no single or fixed route to discovering meaning in life.
Focus on your own journey in finding meaning. Others' paths are their own, and your task is to attend to intrinsic worth and personal values while reducing external comparison.
Practice patience. The process of finding meaning in life often involves ongoing effort, setbacks, and successes over time, all of which contribute to development and clarity.
Recommended Books on Finding Meaning in Life
The Courage to Create and Man's Search for Himself - Rollo May
Man's Search for Meaning and The Unheard Cry for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
Demian - Hermann Hesse
When Nietzsche Wept - Irvin Yalom
The Art of Loving - Erich Fromm
The Courage to Be - Paul Tillich