A Matter of Whys and Hows post

A Matter of Whys and Hows

Quote

(attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, and often repeated by Viktor Frankl).

Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, and the founder of Logotherapy, was a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor. He observed that in the concentration camps, when one lost their sense of meaning in life, death was soon to follow.

“To be sure, the concentration camps I went through did in fact serve as a testing ground that confirmed one of the main tenets of logotherapy, the theory that the basic meaning orientation of an individual—or, as I am used to calling it, the “will to meaning”—has actual survival value. Under comparable circumstances, those inmates who were oriented toward the future, whether it was a task to complete in the future, or a beloved person to be reunited with, were most likely to survive the horrors of the camps.” (Frankl, Viktor. The Doctor and the Soul. Originally published in German in 1946.)

Later Frankl wrote,

“Again and again we have seen that an appeal to continue life, to survive the most unfavorable conditions, can be made only when such survival appears to have a meaning. That meaning must be specific and personal, a meaning which can be realized by this one person alone.”

Here are my personal notes from reading this passage:

Suicide rates are high because people have lost of sense of meaning in their lives. People suffer with a feeling of meaninglessness. They feel a lack of agency and experience the depths of helplessness and hopelessness. They keep wondering, “there must be more to life this.” And if there isn’t, they asked themselves, “what’s the point.” With the answer being drowned out by the noise of the culture all around them.

And if they don’t kill themselves outright, many people fall into the trap of wasting their life energy and time on a hamster wheel of work and return home after a long day to entertain themselves to death with binging activities such as sports watching, drinking, eating, netflexing, shopping, gambling, gaming, porning, masturbating, promiscuity, and/or social media scrolling. We are either maladaptively trying to recover from the day or trying to fill in the time until the next day begins. And the cycle continues.

This is how the Thief, is strategically stealing, killing, and destroying our life. (John 10:10a).

King Solomon wrote about this three thousand years ago.

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.

Riches, wine, business success, knowledge and wisdom, real estate, land, crops, livestock, power, prestige, and sex. All in excess. And still vanity. Meaninglessness.

The Good Shepherd, Jesus of Nazareth, has come for you to have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10b).

And He has provided the plan for that to happen.

For Frankl, a profound sense of meaning and purpose—your "why"—is the primary human motivation, enabling individuals to endure extreme suffering and adversity. Discovering your why provides an inner strength and an unwavering purpose that transcends temporary feelings of motivation, allowing you to find meaning even in difficult circumstances.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26.

This is not just about self-denial. It is about self-denial with a purpose. Suffering and living with meaning. It is about doing whatever is necessary, your how, to accomplish the mission God has given you, your why.

For Noah, his how was building an Ark when there was no forecast of rain. And certainly not a whole earth consuming flood. His why was to safe his family.

For Abram/Abraham, his how was leaving his family and homeland. Taking his wife and going to a new land. His why was to be the father of nations.

For Jesus, His how was to leave His throne in heaven. Be born of a God fearing, obeying, full of faith virgin young lady. Taking on the very nature of man and forfeit His divine power. Be tempted in all ways and remain sinless. Heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and teach and teach and teach. Ultimately His how was to go to the cross and suffer a brutal death for the why of our opportunity for salvation.

For Stephen his how was to serve God as a deacon in the church and die a martyr’s death. His why, though he didn’t know it at the time, was to usher in Saul’s transformation to Paul.

Stephen’s story is a strong reminder that we may not always know our why. But we are led by God’s Spirit to do the how and our why is obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Tactics

Our how is whatever is necessary to accomplish the why God has given us.

For You what is your why? You can and will do the how that is necessary. God will help you!

You can break your whys down into the different domains in life.

Spiritual

Physical

Intellectual

Emotional

Relational

Vocational

Start by asking yourself why have strength in these domains? What makes them important to you?

Journal your responses.

As an example, in the Relationship domain and you are married, ask yourself, “why am I married?” What is the purpose of marriage?” “Why does it matter if I stay married or not?”

Don’t tackle them all at once. Start with the one that is most pressing at this time and ask yourself:

What is my why for this particular domain. Why does it even matter to me? What is its purpose? What value does it hold? Deep down what am I sensing God saying to me?

Then start thinking about your how. How am I going to accomplish this? What should I be doing now and tomorrow?

Everything involves sacrifice. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or uplifting all of the time. So, the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we care about is our ability to handle the rough patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days. Mark Manson.

For me, my strongest motivation and why is to hear from God,

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What’s your why?

Running the Race,

David

P.S.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of support to you.