Man´s search for maning in critical life situations – the results of an experiment Crises are a natural part of human life. Sometimes they appear unexpectedly, other times their occurrence can be expected and anticipated with relatively high probability. According to Vodáčková, every subject whose state manifests as an apparently unfounded weakening of regulatory mechanisms, perceived by the individual as a threat to their own existence, is in a state of crisis. (Vodáčková, 2002: 27-28) Crisis can thus be understood as a subjectively threatening situation with great dynamic charge and potential for change. However, it would be difficult to achieve life progress or personal maturation without it.
In connection with crises, French mathematician René Thom (1972) in his catastrophe theory drew attention to the serious fact that human reasoning focuses mainly on what can be easily predicted, on what is a kind of continuous continuation of previous development. If a phenomenon is a sudden developmental break not corresponding to the previous course of events (a discontinuity), it is more or less understood as undesirable and random. (Vodáčková, 2002: 32) On the other hand, it rarely happens that such a number of opportunities for a new arrangement of human life are offered in such a short time.
As for the very process of crisis formation, most experts agree with the so-called principle of double quantification, according to which, for any reaction of an organism to occur, the current situation (internal environment) of the organism must align with an external trigger. „Physicist René Thom identifies three aspects as external precipitators:
- loss of an object (e.g., death, separation, disruption of attachment to a source of help, disappointment, betrayal, injury, dissolution of expectations)
- change (in health, family, work, atmospheric state) and
- choice between two equal qualities.“ (Thom, 1972 In: Vodáčková, 2002: 32)
The aforementioned author further points to two internal precipitators of crises – the first is the necessity of the subject's adaptation to their own development and the changes arising from it. The second is a phenomenon that Thom calls a substitute measure. This means that under unfavorable life circumstances, the organism implements, in the interest of smooth development, a kind of „temporary suspension“ – a provisional measure with limited temporal validity and effectiveness. Usually, it is something that suppresses physical or psychological pain and diverts conscious attention from the arisen situation. Erikson uses the term psychosocial moratorium for similar situations. Thom further explains in his catastrophe theory that if we find ourselves at a bifurcation point, that is, a place where our development seemingly forks, we can find ourselves in several qualitatively different states.
From the above it follows, among other things, that a crisis (psychological, social) worker should in a certain way be an expert on catastrophe theory, should know the most common types of crisis situations, be able to see the background of the arisen situation, and also be able to anticipate its development, taking into account hidden variables. The crisis worker also functions as someone who brings structure and support, and who can make the situation clearer.
A crisis worker should be able to strengthen the client's competence to such an extent that they engage in resolving the crisis situation as much as possible through their own effort. If we can effectively accompany a person through such transitions and the changes associated with them, we can almost certainly rely on the new state revealing new satisfaction and new meaning to the client. We must not forget that a person in crisis comes as a whole – with their psyche, body, relationships, and social anchoring – and therefore the help of competent crisis workers should also occupy the entire bio-psycho-socio-spiritual space.
The theme of meaning emerges particularly strongly in borderline situations, which can include not only serious fateful blows such as illness or death, but also career choice, relationship crises, drastic interventions in the quality of the living environment, or typically socio-pathological themes such as unemployment, homelessness, drug addictions, care for the elderly or the severely disabled.
However, questions of meaning in contemporary society, characterized by episodic and fragmentary living, arise with unexpected urgency also in connection with the consumer lifestyle, and thus in situations of relative prosperity, oversaturation, and boredom. Feelings of meaninglessness and hopelessness, or even contempt for life, weaken in many individuals the inhibitions against self-harm, or on the other hand, lead to a chase for extreme or „pleasurable“ experiences that stimulate the nervous system, through which they attempt to repress feelings of inner emptiness, loneliness, and the pain of existence lacking meaning.
„In relation to the meaning of life, the term 'meaning' expresses understanding, knowledge, and interpretation of life events and of life itself in a meaningful context. The second meaning concerns importance and significance. It is used as an expression of relevance, signification, and purpose. In relation to the meaning of life, it expresses the presence of relevant and significant goals or values in a person's life. [...] it concerns answers to existential questions such as 'What is the goal of my life?', 'Does my life have meaning?', 'What is valuable in my life?'.“ (Tavel, 2004: 110)
We understand the term meaning, contained in the title of this paper, primarily in its expanded sense – as a source of strength usable and activatable in overcoming challenging life circumstances. In Maslow's classification, the need for meaning is ranked among the higher, secondary needs – so-called metaneeds. According to several authors, in Maslow, meaning (of life) expands into a personal worldview – it is a need that must be fulfilled for a person to function healthily. According to Frankl, a person does not necessarily have to understand meaning under certain circumstances. Then they only try to guess it. Each situation has only one correct interpretation and the individual must decide according to their best conscience. The „organ“ of meaning for him is conscience, and it can also be defined as the ability to discover the unique and unrepeatable meaning hidden in every situation – it is the ability to perceive meaningful contents in specific life events. (Tavel, 2004: 46) The will to meaning in humans is motivated by the tension between reality and the ideal. It is a kind of motivation for self-actualization – to the extent that a person fulfills meaning, they actualize themselves. Contradiction and adequate tension between what a person is and what they could become are necessary for mental health, because people need a certain kind of tension that permanently orients them toward specific values in order to realize them, and toward the meaning of existence that is to be fulfilled. Tension between subject and object does not weaken health, but on the contrary strengthens it. (Tavel, 2004: 58) Viktor Frankl was also convinced that meaning must be found individually by each person. The uniqueness of the person and the situation thus creates a unique human task. Several factors usually contribute to its creation: the macrostructure – the overall cultural, ethnic, and socio-demographic background determining the individual's value system, and the microstructure – the domain of the individual's concrete life including their relationships, experiences, specific characteristics, or subjective activity. (Tavel, 2004: 44) This view later led several authors to attempt to categorize the sources of creating meaning into groups. Lukasová in her research found nine content categories of the meaning of life: one's own well-being, self-realization, family, employment, society, interests, experiences, service to a conviction, and vital needs. (Ibidem.)
Research Process and Results
The methodological basis applied in our research was the theory and practice of logotherapy. The justification for this choice is the fact that logotherapy is a non-deterministic psychology, meaning it rejects the belief in the immutability of human destiny in terms of biological, social, cultural, psychological, or personality conditioning. It is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to investigate to what extent „spiritual“ (moral, ethical, worldview-related, and similar) forces in a person can be mobilized to eliminate frustrations, correct mental disorders, and alleviate psychological and physical suffering.
The sample of our research consisted of 194 respondents obtained through a combined method of purposive selection and self-selection (snow ball technique). The purposive selection factor was applied in the criteria of age and education – specifically, there were 110 women and 84 men with completed university education, aged 25-71 years. The vast majority of respondents came from the age category of 30-55 years, which in specific numbers represented 139 persons, corresponding to 72% of respondents. In terms of marital (or partnership) status, the research sample consisted of: 34% single individuals (of which 21% divorced), 39% respondents living in marriage, 18% individuals living in a common household with a partner, and the remaining 9% of respondents were widowed. Given the sensitivity of the research topic, which was crisis life situations and their specific impacts on the lives of respondents, ensuring the anonymity of probands was particularly important. Based on professional consultations, we ultimately decided to use electronic questionnaires containing mostly open-ended questions. These were subsequently sent to an internet address created exclusively for the purposes of this research.
The setting of the minimum age limit (25 years) was related to the fact that this period mostly corresponds to a life phase reached after undergoing several types of life challenges (adolescence, forming partnerships, orientation in the labor market, and so on), and thus it was possible to assume their motivated decision-making and the formation of attitudes toward experienced (discomforting) events. The criterion of university education, on the other hand, emerged spontaneously from the results of the pilot study, when respondents were not sufficiently capable of conscious reflection on past life events.
From the respondents' answers to the first question – What kinds of crises, or significantly problematic situations, have you had to face in your life so far? – it emerged that the most frequently occurring types of crises were triggered by: 1. termination of a partnership (divorce or breakup), 2. death of a close person (relative, friend, mentor), 3. one's own illness, 4. partnership conflict (concerning mainly communication barriers, but also the awareness of different values of partners – this category in our research refers to the type of partnership that was not terminated). The fifth most frequent trigger of crises was family discord (parental rejection of a child, emotional coldness in family relationships, verbal conflicts, sibling or generally family disputes) and in 6th place appeared existential and spiritual crisis. From the total of 15 categories of crisis states we identified and reported, the crisis directly related to the issue of the meaning of life thus occupies a prominent place and serious importance. (7. illness of close persons, 8. unemployment, 9. conflicts in the workplace, 10. loss of values, further: identity crisis, loneliness, addictions.) According to Lukasová, existential despair is most often related to the absolutization of some relative value, even if significant, which a person considers the only possibility for fulfilling (the meaning of) their life. (Lukasová, 2009: 223) (For example, if someone perceives a partnership relationship as an essential need and priority, while neglecting other ways of meaningfully shaping their life, they will experience life without a partner as unfulfilled and meaningless.)
From the probands' answers to the second question – Who or what helped you overcome/manage crisis life situations in the past? – it emerged that the most effective sources of overcoming crisis situations in the past were: 1. relatives and 2. friends. The third reported category (3. myself) was one's own strength – abilities, knowledge, and skills. Faith and spirituality appeared in 4th place, the need for further education and drawing information from books in 5th place. In 6th position appeared activities leading to the conscious diversion of attention from the arisen problem (so-called distraction activities) – expressed in the respondents' own words as: „Do anything, just not to think about it.“ „I made up many different activities.“ and the like. Among the first ten most used sources (of drawing strength) in the past, our research participants also mentioned: 7. partner, 8. seeking professional help, 9. art (understood as an experiential activity), and 10. drugs (including alcohol and cigarettes). In further imaginary positions were placed: the belief that time heals everything, focus on work, sports, perspective, entertainment, sleep, and awareness of responsibility for others (children, close persons). Awareness of responsibility was simultaneously identified as the most significant internal factor – personal motivation for overcoming the crisis. In 2nd place was faith in a better future, in 3rd the belief in the meaning of events, in 4th religious faith, and in 5th position the awareness of a goal that was desirable to achieve.
Another research question concerned the qualities, abilities, skills, or knowledge that help respondents overcome difficult life situations in the present. Our findings showed that the most effective sources used by respondents today are: 1. patience/perseverance, 2. perspective – rational assessment of the situation together with analysis of current possibilities, 3. inner strength/resilience, 4. religious faith, 5. optimism and positive thinking, 6. deliberation, 7. responsibility, 8. the need to help others, 9. awareness of a goal, and 10. past experience.
None of the answers to the question whether crisis situations taught the respondents anything, whether overcoming them brought them any significant knowledge, abilities, or qualities was negative. All unanimously confirmed the benefit of crises in their personal lives. The statements of survey participants differed only in content. The newly acquired positive qualities and abilities were mainly: consideration – respect for others, realistic assessment of the situation and rational analysis of available options, emotional detachment from undesirable circumstances, empathy – the ability to understand the experience of others, inner resilience, tolerance, and perseverance. In the case of so-called „negative gains,“ these were primarily loss of illusions, loss of ideals, distrust of other people, and acquired cynicism.
60% of respondents evaluated the change in attitudes (in the area of basic life questions) resulting from life crises as a positive, and 34.4% as a negative. (Did the crises you overcame influence your later attitudes/opinions on human life, on other people, or on yourself?)
Approximately 64% of respondents in our research declared a change in their value hierarchy due to crises, and approximately 25% perceived their most important values as unchanged.
To the question concerning meaningfulness of human life – In your opinion, does human life have any (specific) meaning? – our respondents answered as follows: almost 76% of respondents perceived human life as meaningful and only 19% as meaningless. The majority sample among the possibilities of its fulfillment mentioned: realization of personal potential, living for others, accomplishing a certain mission, experiencing love, creating some value, or helping others. The second group related to life primarily as a biological given, or perceived it as „suffering lacking meaning.“
According to Frankl, the characteristics of a person lacking meaning include: fatalistic attitude (it is impossible to act and take life into one's own hands, because fate is excessively strong – whether in the form of drives, dispositions, or environment), provisional existence (the belief that the main thing in life is yet to come, until then a person lives provisionally), collectivist thinking (fear of personal responsibility, when a person tries to „blend in with the crowd“ and primarily applies patterns of collective thinking), fanaticism (not recognizing the validity of any way of thinking other than one's own, not recognizing the opinions of others, while frequently succumbing to public opinion and applying the rule that the end justifies the means). (Tavel, 2004: 131)
According to several contemporary psychological studies, in the absence of a task that a person has to accomplish in life, the probability of illness or death significantly increases. Conversely, awareness of a goal maintains a person in mental and physical health, protects them from illness and death (for example, an elderly person suffering from feelings of uselessness and meaninglessness of life). We therefore asked our respondents: Do you think that every person (you) has some mission/task in life? More than 70% of respondents were convinced of having a life mission or task. Half of the remaining respondents do not think they have any mission or task in life, and the remaining part (11.7%) has no definite opinion in this area.
According to logotherapy, the essence of human existence lies in self-transcendence. Man is a being constantly striving to place their physical and mental functions in the service of a certain task, which then makes their life and actions meaningful. They need a meaning for the sake of which they transcend themselves. Therefore, in conclusion, we asked our respondents: Do you feel a need to be socially, communally, or otherwise useful? Almost 82% of the participants in our research answered the question affirmatively.
Conclusion
From the summary of the research findings, the fact emerges in particular that the vast majority of the adult university-educated population consciously deals with the question of meaning. This occurs primarily in connection with critical life circumstances that bring about changes in attitudes toward the basic phenomena of human existence and in the perception of values. The most effective newly created or crisis-recognized personal strategies were indicated as: awareness (realization of availability) of resources, perspective and emotional distance from the arisen situation (self-distance), redirecting attention to other persons or things – self-transcendence, awareness of responsibility (for other persons), change of attitude, orientation toward the future, faith in the transcendent (God, other spiritual principles), faith in the meaning of experienced suffering, and optimism – applying patterns of positive thinking.
Every situation in a person's life is a challenge, and every problem presupposes some solution. A person can answer life's questions only by responding to their daily existence. Fulfilling the meaning of the present moment (within the intentions of logotherapy) means that a person brings higher goals and values into harmony with the specific circumstances in which they find themselves.
Author: Mgr. Pavol Štubňa, PhD. References
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