It was 79 years ago when Dr Victor Frankl said that people were “spiritually bombed out”.
“Today, our attitude to life hardly has any room for belief in meaning. We are living in a typical postwar period. Although I am using a somewhat journalistic phrase here, the state of mind and the spiritual condition of an average person today is most accurately described as ‘spiritually bombed out’.” [1]
That was 1946! Pre-internet! Today, it seems no better, and people are still as stressed and aimless.
Not an excess of tension, but a lack of it
Dr Victor believes that some tension is good for us. A lack of tension seem to make people create problems out of thin air! Perhaps you have a relative who complains about everything, yet she has a good life, perhaps too good, that allows her to be at home all the time? Or a perfectly healthy friend, skilled at work, popular with people, but still feel he is missing out on a vague something?
Man needs not hunt, so he scales a mountain
Dr Frankl wrote:
(1) Man not only does not primarily care for tension reduction – he even needs tensions.
(2) Therefore, he is in search of tensions
(3) Today, however, he does not find enough tensions.
(4) That is why he sometimes creates tensions.
This set of small sentences well explain the rising of mental problems in a society where people are not starving. It is not just Singaporeans who are feeling the heat, dealing with rising costs and a hyper-competitive nation. It is a worldwide condition that afflicts the developed world.
” We are living in an age where man need not walk – he can drive his car. He does not need to climb stairs – he may take the elevator. So, in this situation, he suddenly takes up scaling mountains!” [2]
The lack of tension leads one to create tensions, but only bad tensions were created. Good tensions are problems to be solved, at a level where it is neither too easy nor difficult. Indeed, life is a series of challenges, and we must rise above them in order to feel useful and respected.
The Search for Meaning in the Digital Age
“For, seen in the light, a person is free to shape his own character, and man is responsible for what he may have made of himself.” [3]
What do we humans really need, of course not excluding the basic necessity that is money, which keeps us alive and breathing and eating for another day? We need work that is meaningful, love that is real and fulfilling, and a inner circle (family, not family, does not matter much) that is warm and supportive.
All of these takes work, especially on the human aspect where it takes two hands to clap. But it is worthy work, because it allows us to take responsibility for the terrific and grand meaning of our own existence.
[1] <Yes to Life>, Dr Victor Frankl, page 23.
[2] <The Unheard Cry for Meaning> , Dr Victor Frankl, page 96
[3] <The Will to Meaning>, Dr Victor Frankl, page 5.
Recommended Reading:
<Man’s Search for Meaning> by Dr Victor E. Frankl
<The Unheard Cry for Meaning> by Dr Victor E. Frankl
<The Will to Meaning> by Dr Victor E. Frankl
