One man wrote, "We are all on a search for meaning, purpose and significance in our lives that is how we are built. Victor Frankl, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, states, “The will to meaning is a really specific need not reducible to other needs, and is in greater or smaller degree present in all human beings.”
Frankl experienced what happens when people lack hope, and a sense of purpose or meaning in their lives. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he tells the story of a fellow prisoner who had a dream that he would be released for the camp on a certain date. He believed the dream to be true and for awhile it gave him hope that he would survive his experience. However, as the date approached, he realized he would not be released and he lost hope. Without hope, he lost his desire to live and he quickly succumbed to illness, dying on the very day he was dreamed he would be released!
This experience led Frankl to develop a psychological therapy called “Logotherapy” to help people identify the sources of hope and meaning in their lives. He states,
“One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.”
Thus man’s search for meaning is the defining quest of the human identity. It is the need to find “fulfillment” The need to answer the questions ”Who am I?” “Where do I belong?” “Why was I born?” “What is my purpose?”
Our lives are for a purpose. It is important that we discover what that purpose really is or we end up spending a lot of hours in waste and confusion instead of investment and focus. Life is a precious gift. Meant to have meaning and purpose, how is yours going?
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