Do we need to give life a purpose?

After reading Viktor E. Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning," I found myself questioning whether we need to give meaning to life or if it was just something instilled in us that made us forget to simply live. Amid our busy lives, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and wonder about the meaning of it all. But what if the answer lies in the present moment and our ability to shape our destiny? From taking action and evaluating our strengths to embracing introspection and accepting the uncontrollable, this article explores and questions the essence of a meaningful life based on Viktor E. Frankl's book.

The first sentence I underlined in the book reflects the theme of the book: "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how," and "endure the How of existence," which reminds me of the phrase "Hope dies last" because losing hope means losing everything, including the will to live. Doesn't the loss of hope serve as a common factor for those who suffer from depression and have suicidal ideation? The loss of the ability to anticipate or imagine a future leads to the loss of hope, which in turn leads to the loss of the will to live. Is having hope enough to truly bear "almost anything"?

For Frankl, life is "a search for meaning" and he considers three possible sources:

1. Work - "doing something significant"

How many of us identify with our work? Feel that if we lose our job, we lose a part of ourselves or even the meaning of our life?

2. Love - "caring for another person"

And what about a partner or loved one? If for some reason they cease to be part of our lives, how many of us feel that they took a part of us with them?

3. Courage - "in difficult times"

Courage? Here I am biased, I can't help it. The only thing that comes to mind is "In difficult times, is there any other option than to have courage and keep going?"

"The forces beyond our control can take everything away from us except the freedom to choose how we respond to a given situation."

"We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we feel and what we do," in other words, how we react. This is the typical phrase we hear in those moments when we feel really bad and the last thing we want to hear is that we can do something about it because we want to blame everything and everyone and not take any responsibility for it. It was hard every time I heard it. If I'm being completely honest, it still hurts during tough times. The difference is that today it resonates, today I know with my mind and my heart that this phrase is correct. If I'm in traffic and someone does something that can put our lives at risk, I can choose to get upset, to feel angry and have my blood boil, or I can take a deep breath, and calm down (because our nervous system always responds, especially to situations it perceives as danger), understand that there's a human being on the other side who makes mistakes just like all of us, and move on. Hey, I'm not a saint or a monk, there are days when I manage to have the second approach, and there are others when I fall into the first one, but I'm always trying because I know that the second approach brings me peace, which is what I desire the most.

"We can never be stripped of everything as long as we maintain the freedom to choose how we react."

"...everything can be taken from a man except one thing: ...the ability to choose our attitude in any given circumstances, to choose our way of doing things."

"...the kind of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not solely the influences of the camp... any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually."

"It is this spiritual (inner) freedom - that cannot be taken away from us - that gives life meaning and purpose."

"Among the prisoners, only a minority retained their full inner freedom and reached the values provided by their suffering, but a single example of this is enough proof that the inner strength of human beings can lift them above their outward fate."

"The man whose self-esteem has always depended on the respect of others is emotionally destroyed" when they take away what they consider to be the reason for earning the respect of others. In other words, as long as we depend on external factors, we are constantly giving others the power to destroy us.

Frankl says that it is possible to "heal the soul by helping it discover the meaning of life." Nietzsche says, "He who has a reason to live can endure almost anything." Does this mean that having a purpose in our lives, finding a justification for being here, not only gives us the will to live but also helps us endure almost anything that comes our way? Is this the reason why so many of us desperately search for a reason to live? Is this also what religion is based on? This seemingly innate need that arises from being human?

But do we really need a reason to live? Can't living and appreciating each moment that we are here be reason enough to live? Why do we want more?

"It is not the physical pain that hurts the most; it is the mental agony caused by injustice."

Regarding human suffering, Frankl compares it to the behavior of gas. "If a certain amount of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it fills that space completely and evenly, no matter how large the chamber is. Similarly, suffering fills the human soul and conscious mind completely, regardless of whether the suffering is small or great. Therefore, the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative. It follows from this that something insignificant can cause the greatest of joys."

"They preferred to close their eyes and live in the past. For such people, life becomes meaningless." This reminds me of a quote by Gleison Andrade, "Anxiety is living in the future, and depression is living in the past when the wisest thing is to live in the present."

Bismarck said, "Life is like going to the dentist. We always think the worst is yet to come, and yet, it has already passed." We tend to believe that we can predict and visualize what the future holds for us, but the truth is, we imagine it to be worse than it actually will be. We will not be the same person we are today when facing tomorrow. Today, we may not know how to face tomorrow's challenges, but our future selves will probably know. Believing that the best is already behind us leads us down the path of depression. "By losing faith in the future, one also loses spiritual control; one lets oneself decline and becomes exposed to physical and mental decay."

"It truly didn't matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life and instead think of ourselves... every hour of each new day. Our answer must consist not of talk and meditation but of right action and conduct. Life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to overcome the challenges that it constantly presents to each individual. These challenges and therefore the meaning of life vary from person to person and from moment to moment."

"At times, the situation in which a man finds himself may require him to shape his destiny through action," meaning not resigning to something for which there may still be some action to change. "Other times, it is more advantageous for him to seize an opportunity for contemplation and, in this way, evaluate his strengths," in this case, it is to stop and think and assess what (if any) the next steps should be according to what we know so far. How many of us stop the autopilot and spend some time questioning our lives, our actions, and the direction we would like our lives to take? "Still, other times, a man may be called upon to simply accept his fate, to bear his cross." When we are faced with situations over which we have no control, and that we cannot change, resisting acceptance of this fact only leads to suffering. The only viable option is to accept and move forward. And this, in my opinion, is the most difficult of all, but also the most liberating.

The very question, what is the meaning of life, "conceives life as the achievement of some goal, through the creation of something of value," because why do we assume that there is some purpose? Some ultimate destination? Isn't the meaning of life, simply and solely, to live it? Just as happiness is not a destination, but rather a journey?

One of my favorite quotes from the book is "Everything you have experienced, no power on Earth can take away from you." You can lose everything in life, but your memories, experiences, and life stories, no one can take those away from you. And isn't our life made up of that? Of the little moments? Of solitary and shared experiences? What goes with us when we die? And what remains here after we are gone? The memories of those who loved us and remember us when we are gone.