We Need to Seek Purpose, Not Happiness

Mama has often mentioned to me about Man's Search for Meaning, a book by the concentration camp survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl, and a few days ago I was reading an article and it mentioned it again. I decided it was finally time to read it! It has changed my life, as has the article that led me to read the book! Frankl's whole idea is that man cannot be happy simply by pursuing happiness. To truly be happy and satisfied with our lives, we have to fill a need that is larger than ourselves. The article mentioned that happiness is often focused on getting, while meaning is focused on giving. The article also mentioned that sometimes we can't have all the components of "happiness" when we focus on filling life with meaning (for example, raising children gives great meaning to life, but it can often mean stress and fewer luxuries). However, I know that meaning is deeper and more satisfying than "happiness" (AKA pleasure). Frankl noted that in the concentration camps, he experienced this truth face-to-face. Those who gave up the will to live in those hellish conditions were those who didn't feel that they had something to go back to. Others focused on what they still needed to give to life--to a child or a scientific work, for example--that they alone could fill. He also makes the point that instead of us demanding things from life, we need to see that life (or Heavenly Father, or something bigger than ourselves) demands something of us. We are responsible for what we contribute. This is the path to fulfillment and true, sturdy happiness. I am so excited to change my life!

“To the European, it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to ‘be happy.’ But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to ‘be happy.’ Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation." -Viktor Frankl