The first day of the week is always the hardest to get motivated. Headhunters call, I submit resume's and then there is a deafening silence. Home alone and wondering what is the next step in my lifelong quest for meaningfulness.
The greatest challenge we face in our lives is the Search for Meaning. What is life really about? What are we really here to do?
Dr. Viktor Frankl, founded an entire school of psychotherapy, Logotherapy, based on the psychological requirement for meaning. Its fundamental principle is that the many and profound psychological problems people face in our modern world - including severe neuroses - arise from a lack of true life meaning. The pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain are NOT the only motivators of human activity. Rather, the Search for Meaning is vitally important to healthy human life.
The majority of people don't know why they are alive, nor do they trouble to give it much thought. Yet, a life without meaning is unbearable in the final analysis. This is why so many people die within a few short years of retirement. It's why the unemployed feel dreadfully depressed and worthless. It's also why some fabulously wealthy and famous individuals are desperately unhappy.
Searching for meaningfulness is vital precisely because without it, you fall prey to the lure of "counterfeit" meanings. If you make no effort to discover the meaning of your individual life, you end up with a vacuum at the very core of your being. You exist, but you really don't know why. A vacuum is always filled. This is where the problem of counterfeit meaning comes in. In the absence of the true meaning and purpose of our lives, the vacuum will be filled with something else. By doing so, you quiet that tiny voice that entreats you to search your soul. Instead, you busy yourself with this counterfeit meaning and expand it until it fills your life. In this way, you need not be troubled anymore or concern yourself with why you exist in the first place. You feel more comfortable; at least for a while.
Do I have meaning if I am a great father? Do I have meaning if I haven't killed anyone? Do I have meaning because I drive a Jeep? Do I have meaning if I like to get out and commune with the great outdoors? The question that needs to be asked is not the one where my meaning comes from the things I do or even the garbage I have. The question has to be bigger and it has to come from inside.
