S
Slough Walker
Member
- Apr 22, 2024
- 31
Someone whom I speak to regularly commented that until each of us finds "meaning", our lives will be miserable. In The Human Predicament, philosopher David Benatar defines meaning in terms of impact on others. Both perspectives link meaning to other people. In other words, meaning can't be found in isolation. It's been a while since I read Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, but I suspect that Frankl would agree that meaning doesn't exist in isolation from others.
And yet, if meaning can't be found in isolation, if meaning requires impact to others' lives, then meaning is outside your locus of control. You can't have a relationship unless the other person wants a relationship with you. You can't work a job unless the employer hires you. Likewise, you can't have impact on others unless others accept your offering and its impact. What happens when you try to have meaning but your efforts are unappreciated or rejected? What happens when you don't know how to create meaning or what you can do that would be meaningful, and you don't even know where to start? That seems like a potential Catch-22: How do you create meaning without connecting with others, and how do you connect with others without creating meaning?
Or, maybe these definitions of meaning aren't necessarily true, and meaning can be found in isolation?
And yet, if meaning can't be found in isolation, if meaning requires impact to others' lives, then meaning is outside your locus of control. You can't have a relationship unless the other person wants a relationship with you. You can't work a job unless the employer hires you. Likewise, you can't have impact on others unless others accept your offering and its impact. What happens when you try to have meaning but your efforts are unappreciated or rejected? What happens when you don't know how to create meaning or what you can do that would be meaningful, and you don't even know where to start? That seems like a potential Catch-22: How do you create meaning without connecting with others, and how do you connect with others without creating meaning?
Or, maybe these definitions of meaning aren't necessarily true, and meaning can be found in isolation?