Man’s Search for Meaning Session 2: What Does Life Expect of Me?

"Live as if you were living already for the second time."

A categorical imperative is a moral principle an individual should follow regardless of circumstances.

Viktor Frankl’s essay “Logotherapy in a Nutshell” is contained in Man’s Search for Meaning. In the essay, Frankl states his categorical imperative: "Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"

Did Richard Curtis, the writer and director of the evocative and brilliant romantic comedy About Time, read Frankl?

In About Time, Domhnall Gleeson plays Tim, a young man from a family whose male members can time travel.

Initially, Tim uses time travel to return to particular days to alter events, such as meeting a woman, played by Amy Adams, who becomes his wife.  Later in the movie, Tim’s father, played by Bill Nighy, advises Tim to use time travel only to relive the same day, not by altering events, but by being more present.

Tim’s father counsels, “Live every day again almost exactly the same, the first time with all the tensions and worries that stop us from noticing how sweet the world can be, but the second time noticing.”

Tim follows his father’s advice and notices how often he is not present for ordinary life events. Commuting to work and buying his lunch are colorless events. Tim is a lawyer; even a victory in the courtroom is a muted experience when he is not mentally present.

Tim learns to bring peace to life’s moments rather than expecting life to bring peace to him. He stops time traveling. Instead, Tim explains, “I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day. To enjoy it as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”

What about us non-time-travelers? How does practicing Frankl’s categorical imperative afford us a more meaningful life?