There's More to Life Than Being Happy

[jtuck004]

In September 1942, Viktor Frankl, a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna, was arrested and transported to a Nazi concentration camp with his wife and parents. Three years later, when his camp was liberated, most of his family, including his pregnant wife, had perished -- but he, prisoner number 119104, had lived. In his bestselling 1946 book, Man's Search for Meaning, which he wrote in nine days about his experiences in the camps, Frankl concluded that the difference between those who had lived and those who had died came down to one thing: Meaning, an insight he came to early in life. When he was a high school student, one of his science teachers declared to the class, "Life is nothing more than a combustion process, a process of oxidation." Frankl jumped out of his chair and responded, "Sir, if this is so, then what can be the meaning of life?"

As he saw in the camps, those who found meaning even in the most horrendous circumstances were far more resilient to suffering than those who did not. "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing," Frankl wrote in Man's Search for Meaning, "the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
...
The wisdom that Frankl derived from his experiences there, in the middle of unimaginable human suffering, is just as relevant now as it was then: "Being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself -- be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself -- by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love -- the more human he is."

Baumeister and his colleagues would agree that the pursuit of meaning is what makes human beings uniquely human. By putting aside our selfish interests to serve someone or something larger than ourselves -- by devoting our lives to "giving" rather than "taking" -- we are not only expressing our fundamental humanity, but are also acknowledging that that there is more to the good life than the pursuit of simple happiness.

Here.


Worth considering, though one has to be careful when they give themselves over to a cause.

[handmade34]

1. bookmark to read later...

but upon quick reflection, it reminds me of some of my insights (throughout my long and arduous life) especially when I attended seminary... I have come to understand life as a series of, sometimes, very tough choices and it is the struggles in life that have the capacity to bring true joy...

I believe that so many people, because of a need for immediate gratification and an unwillingness to see tough times through, never really experience the real joy (not necessarily happiness as some define it) that can be part of life...

for what it's worth

[Journeyman]

2. Thank you. . .

I credit Dr. Frankl with providing the means for me to discover the way out of my addictions.

I look forward to reading this article.

[Flabbergasted]

3. Thanks for posting kr.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with some of the research in the way it is presented. It lacks a lot if depth, and I think some if the conclusions are debatable. I guess what I mean is the article seems to make this fatalistic connection between meaning and sacrifice whereas this is not necessarily the case at all. Meaning can provide ever greater feelings than mere happiness: joy, love, contentment, peace along with a great deal of happiness. Whereas drive reduction inevitably leads to the need to further drive reduction and the diminished returns.