One of the first books I ever read on the search for meaning was Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, a method of psychotherapy focused on the significance of human existence and the individual’s search for meaning (logos comes from Greek and means “meaning”).
According to Frankl, it is not some abstract, universal meaning of life that matters, but the meaning specific to a particular person at a particular time. When new challenges arise, our sense of meaning may shift. Frankl even wrote that one should not ask about the meaning of life but rather recognize that it is life itself that is asking the question. In other words, we are the ones being questioned by life—and only we can answer by taking responsibility.
I was reminded of this recently while watching the film Traffic. Toward the end of the movie, the main character—a judge and government official in charge of fighting drug trafficking (played by Michael Douglas)—speaks at a White House press conference. At one point, his voice breaks, he stops mid-sentence, and leaves the room. His political mission is over before it truly begins.
He gets into a taxi, asks for the airport, and decides to go home: to his daughter, addicted to hard drugs, and to his wife, with whom he has long been unable to connect. Within seconds, we see the tension leave his body, his face soften, and a smile appear. What happened?
I believe he answered the call life placed before him. He took responsibility—for saving his daughter’s life and for his relationship with his wife. He made a difficult choice, giving up the career that had been the center of his existence, and in doing so discovered a new meaning for this stage of his life. Energy arose directly from the source of life itself. What had once been his driving purpose—while also blinding him to the truth of his own situation—suddenly lost its importance. Meaning had shifted. In the final scenes of the film, we see him together with his daughter and wife at a rehab center session…
So—what is life inviting you to right now?