Man's search for meaning
Man’s Search for Meaning Overall Rating 9/10
Idea: Life’s Purpose is Having a Purpose
Tagline: striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man
Rereadability: 9/10 Timeless concepts about Choice and decision making and life as a human being
Useful Ideas:
Quotes:
“This striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man”
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Nietsche
“ Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one ought to accomplish or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore indispensable to mental well-being. We should not then be hesitant about challenging man with potential meaning for him to fultil. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.”
“The truth- that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire.”
“The salvation of man is through Love and in Love.” Cole- It is not the projection of Love towards others but the emotional feeling of Loving that is powerful.
“In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only acchievment may consist in enduring his suffering in the right way – an honorable way – in such a pposition man can, through Loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfilment. The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”
“Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved.”
“The active Life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfilment in experiencing beauty, art or nature.”
“The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or, in the bitter fight for self-preservation, he may forget his human dignifity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.”
“He wrote, he remembered a film in which a man was portrayed who waited for death in a courageous and difnified way. The boy had thought it a great accomplishment to meet death so well. Now- he wrote – fate was offering him a similar chance."
“Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance to achieving something through his own suffering.
“Emotion, which is suffering ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.” --- “ In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. “
“Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how “
“I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions.”
“Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.”
“The more one forgets himself – by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love, the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. Self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transecendence.”
“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” --- Cole- From my experiences focusing on hedonism we can find a meaning in experiencing and pursuing pleasure. Possibly frankle did not have a focus on hedonism and thought that everyone else wouldn't either by projecting this way of feeling onto them.
“Every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.”
“Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life. “
“A human being is a deciding being.”
“Decisions, not conditions, determine what a man is.”
“We discover meaning in life in three different ways: 1 by doing a deed; 2 by experiencing a value; 3 by suffering.”
“Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.”
“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.”
“A human being is a deciding being”
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response, lies our Growth and our Freedom.”
Idea: Life’s Purpose is Having a Purpose
Tagline: striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man
Rereadability: 9/10 Timeless concepts about Choice and decision making and life as a human being
Useful Ideas:
- Between Stimulus and response there is a space. This space is for choice.
- You can’t always choose the outcome you want but you can choose your reaction to whatever outcome
- With a Strong enough why the how takes care of itself.
- Decisions, not conditions, determine what a man is.
Quotes:
“This striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man”
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Nietsche
“ Mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one ought to accomplish or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore indispensable to mental well-being. We should not then be hesitant about challenging man with potential meaning for him to fultil. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.”
“The truth- that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire.”
“The salvation of man is through Love and in Love.” Cole- It is not the projection of Love towards others but the emotional feeling of Loving that is powerful.
“In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only acchievment may consist in enduring his suffering in the right way – an honorable way – in such a pposition man can, through Loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfilment. The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”
“Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved.”
“The active Life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfilment in experiencing beauty, art or nature.”
“The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or, in the bitter fight for self-preservation, he may forget his human dignifity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.”
“He wrote, he remembered a film in which a man was portrayed who waited for death in a courageous and difnified way. The boy had thought it a great accomplishment to meet death so well. Now- he wrote – fate was offering him a similar chance."
“Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance to achieving something through his own suffering.
“Emotion, which is suffering ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.” --- “ In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. “
“Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how “
“I am not a product of my circumstances, I am a product of my decisions.”
“Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.”
“The more one forgets himself – by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love, the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. Self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transecendence.”
“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” --- Cole- From my experiences focusing on hedonism we can find a meaning in experiencing and pursuing pleasure. Possibly frankle did not have a focus on hedonism and thought that everyone else wouldn't either by projecting this way of feeling onto them.
“Every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.”
“Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life. “
“A human being is a deciding being.”
“Decisions, not conditions, determine what a man is.”
“We discover meaning in life in three different ways: 1 by doing a deed; 2 by experiencing a value; 3 by suffering.”
“Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.”
“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.”
“A human being is a deciding being”
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response, lies our Growth and our Freedom.”