Fascinating- especially the wording of “make” meaning rather than “finding” meaning. I have always considered meaning as something that exists outside of me rather than something I create myself.
Attitudes on work are very important. It took a long time for me to develop a positive attitude about it. I started reading about Objectivist philosophy last year. Having good health or taking care of yourself is also huge. I enjoy working and being productive now 😀. Moderation is a virtue for good reason as it gives us time to apply our focus on the things that matter most.
Terrific article that rings true. In perhaps his greatest gift to me, my dad had me read Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer before high school graduation. Thank you. Stoicism beginner here.
I really appreciate what you have expounded on in your essay, and agree with the majority, though I have some of my own takes on it, as our own experiences inform our understanding. I'm also dealing with my own personal trials, which include not always thinking straight, due to pain. So, hopefully this will be coherent.
I think Frankl's proposition on discovering meaning ties in with the Christian commandments to Love thy neighbor as thyself, and to love God with all your being (yes, both paraphrased, but not to take meaning from them.)
1. By creating a work or doing a deed: When we encounter someone with a problem that we have the possibility of aiding them with, we offer service. It is then their option to accept or not. If we are allowed to help/serve them, we do indeed create a joy and meaning in our own lives.
2. by experiencing something or encountering someone: This can be compared with both commandments. We experience a situation, a blessing, a miracle, a tragedy, or encounter someone who has and how we deal with it effects our sense of self and the world outside of us. We can take a lesson from their trials and add meaning to our own live because of it, or we can ignore it, as being outside of our purview, and gain nothing from it, not even empathy.
3. by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering: This one again, ties to both, I feel. Both our attitude for our own suffering (was it imposed by God? If it was, why? Was it imposed by someone/something that we have done through our own choices (freedom of agency, not freedom from consequences), or through someone else exercising their own agency and it spilling over onto us.) As well as the suffering we see in the world and around us (like your Dentist and Staff), how are we reacting and interacting with that.
As Newton's law states - for ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we choose our actions based on the world that we choose to live in, we are finding and making our meaning in life. If we are constantly in a situation of reaction, we are constantly at the mercy of someone else's actions, and it seems as though life has no meaning, and is nothing more than a roll of the dice.
As we take responsibility for the happenings and most especially our reactions/actions to those happenings, we can control our attitude, even if we can't control the forces working against us. And I don't feel like Frankl is talking about rationalizing our situations, when he speaks about taking responsibility to make meaning, as an individual, for our own path of happiness and joy.
The hospital worker is a wonderful example of finding her joy in her service.
I hope that all made some sense. Thank you for your wonderful essays that cause me to think deeper into my own actions and entrenched biases.
Firstly, The True Believer is now on my reading list. Secondly, I would appreciate your thoughts on finding meaning and fidelity in other forms of labor beyond one’s chosen profession. In my observation, those who labor for their community also tend not to suffer the tyrant. For example, the Lion’s Club member, the church vestryman or the Scout leader. Is this because these things are vocational, like work? Or are these things all downstream of individuals who have already claimed excellence for themselves?
Thanks Barry will have to read Hoffers book some amazing insights, as Leonard Read says, Those who refuse to rule themselves are usually bent on ruling others. Those who can rule themselves usually have no interest in ruling others.
Reading, Insightfully, Hoffer observes, “Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves. The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause.” made me think of your recent series on Meditations and how Marcus Aurelius spoke of the divinity inside you and "your own divinity"
Fascinating- especially the wording of “make” meaning rather than “finding” meaning. I have always considered meaning as something that exists outside of me rather than something I create myself.
Attitudes on work are very important. It took a long time for me to develop a positive attitude about it. I started reading about Objectivist philosophy last year. Having good health or taking care of yourself is also huge. I enjoy working and being productive now 😀. Moderation is a virtue for good reason as it gives us time to apply our focus on the things that matter most.
Terrific article that rings true. In perhaps his greatest gift to me, my dad had me read Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer before high school graduation. Thank you. Stoicism beginner here.
I really appreciate what you have expounded on in your essay, and agree with the majority, though I have some of my own takes on it, as our own experiences inform our understanding. I'm also dealing with my own personal trials, which include not always thinking straight, due to pain. So, hopefully this will be coherent.
I think Frankl's proposition on discovering meaning ties in with the Christian commandments to Love thy neighbor as thyself, and to love God with all your being (yes, both paraphrased, but not to take meaning from them.)
1. By creating a work or doing a deed: When we encounter someone with a problem that we have the possibility of aiding them with, we offer service. It is then their option to accept or not. If we are allowed to help/serve them, we do indeed create a joy and meaning in our own lives.
2. by experiencing something or encountering someone: This can be compared with both commandments. We experience a situation, a blessing, a miracle, a tragedy, or encounter someone who has and how we deal with it effects our sense of self and the world outside of us. We can take a lesson from their trials and add meaning to our own live because of it, or we can ignore it, as being outside of our purview, and gain nothing from it, not even empathy.
3. by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering: This one again, ties to both, I feel. Both our attitude for our own suffering (was it imposed by God? If it was, why? Was it imposed by someone/something that we have done through our own choices (freedom of agency, not freedom from consequences), or through someone else exercising their own agency and it spilling over onto us.) As well as the suffering we see in the world and around us (like your Dentist and Staff), how are we reacting and interacting with that.
As Newton's law states - for ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we choose our actions based on the world that we choose to live in, we are finding and making our meaning in life. If we are constantly in a situation of reaction, we are constantly at the mercy of someone else's actions, and it seems as though life has no meaning, and is nothing more than a roll of the dice.
As we take responsibility for the happenings and most especially our reactions/actions to those happenings, we can control our attitude, even if we can't control the forces working against us. And I don't feel like Frankl is talking about rationalizing our situations, when he speaks about taking responsibility to make meaning, as an individual, for our own path of happiness and joy.
The hospital worker is a wonderful example of finding her joy in her service.
I hope that all made some sense. Thank you for your wonderful essays that cause me to think deeper into my own actions and entrenched biases.
Firstly, The True Believer is now on my reading list. Secondly, I would appreciate your thoughts on finding meaning and fidelity in other forms of labor beyond one’s chosen profession. In my observation, those who labor for their community also tend not to suffer the tyrant. For example, the Lion’s Club member, the church vestryman or the Scout leader. Is this because these things are vocational, like work? Or are these things all downstream of individuals who have already claimed excellence for themselves?
Thanks Barry will have to read Hoffers book some amazing insights, as Leonard Read says, Those who refuse to rule themselves are usually bent on ruling others. Those who can rule themselves usually have no interest in ruling others.
Reading, Insightfully, Hoffer observes, “Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves. The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause.” made me think of your recent series on Meditations and how Marcus Aurelius spoke of the divinity inside you and "your own divinity"