Our Search for Meaning: Philosophy, Positions and Boring Returns

"Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment."

When I was 17 going on 18 my girlfriend at the time went to college. She bought this book for class and it was used. Someone had highlighted something and she hated writing in books and she said “I hate this but I do not hate this quote". This memory is so clear because of how horribly depressed I was at the time.

I almost died recently before this, (literal white lights and all that, I was in the ICU after getting 39 staples in my stomach for weeks) I ruptured my spleen and I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. Live or die. It was not a, lets go to school or ride my bike. It was just simply live or die. I had almost died and I felt alive for once. I did not want to go back to a place where I did not feel again but I was not sure how to move forward with my life…

The quote was…

"To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." It was actually a quote from Nietzsche and it was also the reason i started taking philosophy classes.

Here are several of my favorite quotes from Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, which speak on his philosophy on life, suffering, and purpose:

1. Freedom of Choice: "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

2. Meaning in Suffering: "Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how.'"

3. Response to Life's Challenges: "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."

4. Happiness and Success: "Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue."

5. Courage to Suffer: "But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer."

6. Acceptance of Suffering: "When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task."

7. Responsibility to Life: "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us."

8. Human Dignity: "Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment."

9. Meaning in Every Situation: "We may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed."

10. Unique Purpose: "Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment."

These quotes reflect Frankl's belief that meaning can be found in even the most challenging circumstances and emphasize the importance of personal responsibility and the freedom to choose one’s attitude toward life’s challenges. It has helped me on my darkest days.

Portfolio returns and positions below as promised: