Purpose

In the 1940s, an Austrian existential psychologist, Viktor Frankl was held captive in a Nazi concentration camp. His family, friends, and neighbours were captured too. Viktor lived the horror of losing everything to torture and terror. Despite the brutality, Viktor never gave up his relentless fight for his life.

He found meaning in his struggle, and that gave him the power to push ahead through unimaginable pain. After escaping, Viktor wrote a book called ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, which chronicles his experiences. A quote by Nietzsche sums up his philosophy on how people were able to survive the camps, without losing the will to live: ‘He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.’

Our reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of our life. They arise also from the freedom of choice we always have even in severe suffering. Viktor wrote, ‘In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.’ But he cautioned ‘of getting stuck in suffering mode and mistaking it for nobility.’ He wrote, ‘Suffering unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.’

Viktor underlined the power of purpose. Purpose is what gives us the strength to carry on, if not through dire conditions, then through difficult changes, transitions, relationships, and activities. Viktor concludes from his experience that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death.

On this very day that Bhagat Singh died at the age of 23. Alexander died at the age of 32 years. Mozart died at the age of 35. Swami Vivekananda died at the age of 39. They were able to live worthwhile lives, despite dying young because they were able to find and fulfil their purpose in life. Robert Byrne has said it so well: ‘The purpose of life is a life of purpose’

Let’s find purpose in life and live it now

Live life with meaning before the bow!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.