Every once in a while, I like to wind down and reflect on how things are going in my life. The long July 4th weekend provided adequate time to both relax and think about things without the daily pressures of working a full time job. The daily tasks associated with work fill my weekdays and often make me too tired to reflect on anything more than resting, eating and sleeping. A four-day weekend, however, allows me to not only relax and recreate, but provides time to meditate, contemplate and basically think.Thinking brings analysis and judgment, which opens up a door for the dreaded Existential Vacuum to slip in and demand some of my thoughts. During normal working hours, these mind games are better restricted to mere flashes and whispers from my inner gremlins. But, with more available time, opportunities for full-scale debates arise.
As a student of Viktor Frankl's work in Logotherapy, the seminal discussions found in his book, "Man's Search For Meaning", remind me that the need to find meaning in life is a prerequisite to attaining happiness. Time spent in the Existential Vacuum is important for each individual, as it opens up the search for the compass we use to chart our journey through life. Frankl introduced the idea of the Existential Vacuum; a void within ourselves created by a lack of awareness of any meaning worth living for. This void is caused by an inability to make proactive choices on our life's path and the loss or fading of traditions that have guided people's lives during past generations. A person then suffers this feeling of loss, often resorting to behavior that further traps the individual in a feeling of helplessness.
Symptoms of the Existential Vacuum often include a will for power, a will for money, a will for pleasure, a will for celebrity, or the opposite, a will for self-effacement - all of these in order to be accepted by others. These are only some examples, but the main cause is the lack of meaning in life. Logotherapy provides a solution for these symptoms. Each person must take responsibility in finding personal meaning to their life. This meaning must include action and not rely on abstract thoughts alone. Proactive involvement in life and the world is requisite to achieve a successful plan for a meaninful life.
Logotherapy is very clear in creating a tactical plan. There are three possible approaches. The first is creating meaningful work or performing meaningful tasks. The second is by experiencing something or someone intimately. The third, and perhaps the most important, is the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. An often-repeated quote by Viktor Frankl is "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." This is powerful stuff!
So, at the end of this holiday weekend, I choose to follow all three approaches! Another of Frankl's quotes has also helped me: "The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of of his beloved." All of the great religious Traditions teach LOVE as the most powerful force. "Love conquers all!" There is also a saying, "Charity begins at home", which also means that we must first love ourself before we can love any other person or thing. By opening my heart to the universe, I am asking and receiving unconditional love. I am now able to take the world in a love embrace and follow my bliss and find meaning in life - which is happiness in a nutshell. As the Buddha said, "There is no path to Happiness: Happiness is the Path", And, as one of my trusted spiritual guides says, "Love is always the answer!"
Blessings,
Rev. Alfred P. Voto, M.Msc.
