Reading Viktor Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning is a rite of passage for anyone interested in self-discovery and intentional living. I read it a few years ago now, and it’s one of the limited books that I gave 5 stars on my GoodReads. But, I’ve come to realize that while Frankl’s story is incredibly inspiring, it didn’t answer any of the questions I had about my own purpose.
Frankl suffered, and he found positive light through it all. He advocated for finding purpose in your suffering, but I never really got it. Inevitably, I would end up in the same place of attempting to find a logical end to my life. But, I’ve never found it.
I’m kind of sick of writing these existentialist medium posts that try to reason out how I am supposed to live. I just end up in the same place I started. Maybe logic and reason aren’t going to get me the answers I sought in Frankl’s experiences.
I can’t help but remember Malcolm Gladwell’s story about the Cleveland firefighter in Blink. After receiving a call about a fire, the lieutenant rushed into the house with his partners. They tried to “charge the line” by consuming the kitchen fire with water, but the fire didn’t fade. Suddenly, the lieutenant called out for everyone to escape the house immediately. The kitchen floor soon collapsed, revealing that the source of the fire was in the basement. At a time of great peril, the lieutenant relied on his intuition. While he couldn’t logically explain why they needed to get out, he made the call anyway. He trusted his instincts.
The power of the unconscious mind is undeniable. It throws thoughts into our consciousness ostensibly willy-nilly, making us jump from thinking about going to the supermarket to recalling the death of a close friend. There’s a lot going on under the hood that we don’t know about.
My steadfast grip on logical reasoning demands a reason for why we do what we do. But, what if I can’t actually communicate reasons behind my actions? What if I accept an intuitive answer simply because it’s intuitive?
Reading a famous CEO’s LinkedIn “About Me” section, I came across a new perspective on purpose. Instead of looking for your purpose, why not just choose it? While not a particularly revolutionary idea, I thought his wording shed some light for me: “I am not big on doling out advice but I think it’s a worthy endeavor to write down what you would like your purpose to be.”
Instead of purpose-searching, I am going to start purpose-creating. I won’t be asking how I can find my purpose anymore. Rather, I will be asking how I can make my purpose.
