Viktor Frankl
We live in a time where we have everything to live with, but often nothing to live for.
Do you remember when life’s challenges weren’t “performance stress” or “the anxiety of comparison,” but simply survival and building something of value? Today, we have conquered many diseases and created technologies that save us time, yet we have surrendered to a new epidemic: the existential vacuum. It is that strange sense of emptiness that settles in when the day ends and we realize we’ve been very busy, but not necessarily fulfilled.
This is what the psychology of meaning tells us:
A human being does not seek happiness as an end in itself; happiness is merely a byproduct of finding a reason to be happy. We have become masters of entertainment, but we remain beginners in the search for purpose. Our social behavior is shifting: we try to fill the holes in our souls with “likes,” new purchases, or digital noise, forgetting that meaning does not come from what we take from the world, but from what we give to it.
We fear suffering and we fear silence because, in those moments, we are forced to face the question: “Why am I here?” We have created a society that promises endless comfort, but comfort without purpose is merely a beautiful paralysis. True human strength is not revealed when everything goes well, but when we find a “why” that allows us to endure almost any “how.”
I admire the progress that has lifted the heavy burden of physical labor from our shoulders. It is a great achievement. But sometimes, I think that in this process, we have lost the “muscles of the soul.” We are forgetting that a human being is the only creature who can find light even in the deepest darkness, provided they have something—or someone—waiting for them on the other side.
How about you—at the end of a long day, do you feel you have done something that truly matters, or have you simply survived another 24 hours?
Viktor Frankl
