What gives meaning to life?

Suddenly I had a stomach ache, so I went to the admission department of the hospital. At first I thought that the food I ate in the morning was wrong, but seeing that the food didn't improve after two days, there seemed to be a different reason. My body was sick, so my daily life stopped for a moment and it felt like I entered a strange world that I did not know. This is the moment when all my plans and meetings with people are postponed after I recover and I can clearly see what my learning is based on. I used to pay attention to exercise and nutrition for my body, but it seemed like I was working on building a mind healing school recently as a result of my illness.

I put the Ringer's needle to one side of my arm and lay down waiting for the test, so I felt uneasy. Why is my body like this? What if it's a big bottle? I still have a lot to do ... I took a deep breath. To get rid of anxious thoughts, you need to return anxiety about the future to the present. Breathing is always in the present, so if you focus on your breathing, your mind will naturally return to the present. After several deep and relaxing breaths, my mind calmed down. The pain was still there, but she was patient.

The longer I was in the hospital, the more I looked at my whole life, and my heart became more reverent than in any other sacred temple. People act as if they will live forever, but no one really knows when or how they will end their lives. When my thoughts reached this point, I suddenly remembered Viktor Frankl's masterpiece In the Death Camp. Frankl was a Jew who worked as a psychiatrist in Vienna and was forced by the Nazis to go to the Auschwitz camp and suffered unimaginable suffering for three years. His books, read all over the world, detail how he does not lose his dignity and hope in the face of immense trials and pain in front of people, based on his experiences in concentration camps.

According to Frankl, what matters most to people is not the pursuit of money, power, or pleasure, but whether I have a reason to exist. People who feel that there is meaning in life do not lose human dignity and hope for life even in extreme situations, such as Nazi camps, and those who feel senseless choose suicide even if their bodies are healthy or they will soon get sick and die. In addition, Frankl says that even if life is somehow suppressed or in good conditions, it may be because the cause, purpose, or meaning of life cannot be found.

Frankl gave a touching example. It is said that people who did not lose the meaning of life, even in a situation when they were tired and hungry from hard work, showed a compassionate air, going around the camps to comfort those in need and distribute the last bread. Of course, such people were few, but their existence, which did not lose human dignity, gave the prisoners great courage and meaning. Because they were living witnesses who showed that even if the external situation gets worse and they lose everything, they have not lost their inner choice as to how to accept it.

So what gives meaning to our lives? When I think about it, it can be found in the moment of giving up selfishness and experiencing self-transcendence. For example, love. The reason we have to live is because the people who need us still exist in this world. I have a family that absolutely depends on me and loves me, I have old friends and colleagues who have lived together, and some have employees who are responsible for life. In a sense, life for the people you love, and not for yourself, is a path that transcends yourself, but also a path to a sense of meaning, beauty and value in living together.

Self-transcendence also seems to be experienced through work. For example, you might feel proud and meaningful by helping yourself a little in things that benefit the world. As for me, every time I see people say that they are very encouraged by a greeting message posted on social media, I apologize and thank you.

As a final addition to those seeking meaning, let us not dismiss this experience as useless when the great test of life approaches, like Frankl, but as a significant event for spiritual growth. Because of my soreness, I looked back on my life and decided to plan and practice more meaningful things that are beyond me, so this pain that I now feel has a lot of meaning.