Haha, I would love this on my wall. I just finished Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” His eyesight was certainly better than mine. Basically, he asserts that meaning is different for each individual, but it generally boils down to two things, “giving himself to a cause to serve or to a person to love”.
I respect Viktor Frankl. His words carry weight with me. That said, I do not agree that “giving himself to a cause to serve” in itself gives life meaning. Francisco Solano López gave himself to the cause of glorifying Paraguay. He came within a breath of destroying the country. He started a war with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. The result? 90% of the males of Paraguay were killed in the war. 90%. Robert E Lee gave himself to a cause : the defense of Virginia. That meant the defense of slavery. Does giving yourself to an unholy, inhumane cause give your life meaning? What meaning? Rachel Carson gave herself to the cause of stopping DDT, the most effective agent against mosquitoes. She succeeded, and at least 33 million people in Africa died from malaria as a result. But those were black people, and the press takes little note of the deaths of Africans.
A cause may not give your life meaning. What will give your life meaning? Moulin Rouge -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iC7_1e0IBI
Haha, I would love this on my wall. I just finished Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” His eyesight was certainly better than mine. Basically, he asserts that meaning is different for each individual, but it generally boils down to two things, “giving himself to a cause to serve or to a person to love”.
ReplyDeleteI respect Viktor Frankl. His words carry weight with me. That said, I do not agree that “giving himself to a cause to serve” in itself gives life meaning. Francisco Solano López gave himself to the cause of glorifying Paraguay. He came within a breath of destroying the country. He started a war with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. The result? 90% of the males of Paraguay were killed in the war. 90%.
DeleteRobert E Lee gave himself to a cause : the defense of Virginia. That meant the defense of slavery. Does giving yourself to an unholy, inhumane cause give your life meaning? What meaning?
Rachel Carson gave herself to the cause of stopping DDT, the most effective agent against mosquitoes. She succeeded, and at least 33 million people in Africa died from malaria as a result. But those were black people, and the press takes little note of the deaths of Africans.
A cause may not give your life meaning. What will give your life meaning? Moulin Rouge -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iC7_1e0IBI
In my pragmatic judgment, I say the meaning of life is life. Life brings order out of the chaos in the universe. The purpose of life is babies.
ReplyDelete