„Obstacles arouse in us abilities that would remain hidden under favorable circumstances.“ Horace
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People have been concerned with the question of the meaning of life since time immemorial. The meaning of life is also related to happiness. Aristotle already found that more than anything else, people seek happiness. What is happiness? What is the meaning of life? — we often ask these questions.
Plato perceived the meaning of life and its fulfillment in unity with the idea of the Good, which he considered the highest ontological principle that man should strive to know. (Platón 1990) Aristotle sees the fulfillment of life in the attainment of bliss, which according to him is the ultimate goal of existence and the highest meaning of life, achieved through a virtuous life. Aristotle considered justice to be the most perfect virtue. He understood virtue as mental excellence. According to Aristotle, an individual is happy if he has sufficient material means to lead a life free from hardship and poverty. Aristotle encouraged individuals to acquire material goods morally and to share them with friends and other people. (Hetteš, 2015) St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas perceived the fulfillment of human life with meaning in man's relationship with God. Views on the meaning of life have often changed from the perspective of philosophers.
Csíkszentmihályi (1990) found that happiness is not something that happens to a person. It is not the result of a lucky coincidence or of a person drawing a winning lottery ticket. It is not something that can be bought with money. It does not depend on external circumstances, but rather on how we interpret them ourselves. In fact, happiness is a state for which we must be prepared, we must cultivate it, and every person must guard it privately. People who learn to control their inner pleasures will be able to determine the quality of their lives, and that comes closest to what we can call happiness. But we cannot find happiness by consciously seeking it. How we perceive our lives is the result of many forces that affect our experience, and each of them has an influence on whether we feel good or bad.
The state of flow can be explained as a state of mind where miracles begin to happen. The sign of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy and enthusiasm; it is a mental state of full concentration and inner motivation. According to Csíkszentmihályi (2021), tragic events destroy many people's lives and many are exposed to various stressful situations, but even serious catastrophes do not unconditionally destroy happiness. Whether a person feels bad as a result of an unfortunate situation, or is able to find the good even in misfortune, is decided by the person themselves, based on how they react to stress.
Happiness may at first glance seem related to material goods, but when we begin to examine the origin of happiness more deeply, we find that even people who do not have material goods experience a feeling of happiness, and conversely, people who have absolutely everything are nevertheless not happy. Even based on this finding, a certain conclusion can be drawn that happiness does not lie in what material goods one possesses. Happiness can be characterized as a state of mind that does not depend on external influences, but above all on our inner attitude. However, happiness is also related to the meaning of life. Only a person who can find the meaning of life can be truly happy. A meaningless life is merely endured. We are even of the opinion that happiness cannot be associated even with health, as some authors claim. The author perceives the meaning of life as a driving force that gives meaning to living despite the various obstacles that arise in life. Or perhaps thanks to them?
Throughout life, a person goes through various phases. Part of every person's life includes not only moments of well-being and happiness, but also unfavorable situations such as serious illnesses, injuries, death, floods, earthquakes, fires. To this day, local conflicts are taking place in various parts of the world, in which not only professionals fight against professionals, but people also attack their neighbors. Those who differ in appearance, language, culture, or property are attacked, driven out, or even killed. However, this human incorrigibility has one positive aspect. It turns out that those who are persecuted by fate and survive suffering can, under certain conditions, emerge from difficult experiences strengthened, changed for the better. A serious life event can paradoxically trigger positive changes, bring a person onto a new path in life. This is also reflected in the proverbs „What hurts, teaches“ or „Every cloud has a silver lining.“ Today, the saying of the philosopher F. Nietzsche is also used: „What does not kill me makes me stronger.“ Seeking positive consequences in negative life events is nothing fundamentally new in the history of mankind. (Mareš, 2012).
Even a person going through a difficult life situation has a choice about what attitude to take toward the specific situation. Professor Fausto Massimini studied mainly young severely disabled people whose fate changed as a result of illness or injury and found that many of them adapted surprisingly well to the crisis. In their own words, their lives became better. Their life was exceptional in determination, through which, by focusing their spiritual energy, they triumphed over difficulties. They learned to make even basic, simple activities such as dressing, the ability to move around the apartment, driving a car, and the like, a source of their happiness (the feeling of flow). Most set new goals; some enrolled in university after an accident, while others saw their main task in helping others overcome feelings of hopelessness. Many openly said that their lives were more meaningful and valuable than before. Learning to live again was in itself a reason for joy and pride, and so they were able to transform a tragic accident such that the source of entropy became an opportunity for finding inner order.
A great catastrophe that frustrates the central goal of our life either destroys our self or provides us with a new, clearer, and more urgent goal: to triumph over our defeat. If we choose the second path, a life tragedy does not necessarily mean a deterioration in the quality of our life; quite the opposite. The ability to cope with misfortune and gain something good from it is a very rare gift. Those who have it are spoken of as „survivors,“ they are said to have „guts.“ Whatever they are called, they are generally regarded as exceptional people who overcame great difficulties and obstacles that would break most people. When we ask people to name those they most admire and explain why, it is most often courage and the ability to overcome obstacles. Why does stress weaken some people while giving strength to others? The answer is simple: those who know how to transform hopeless situations into new activity leading to the experience of flow, which they can control, will be able to rejoice in their lives and emerge stronger from a difficult life trial. (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990).
Qualitative research conducted by the author also confirmed that people with disabilities, despite severe physical impairment, were able to change their attitude toward life with positive thoughts. In their view, a crisis can also bring about positive change and help with self-realization. Despite severe disability, they were able to find meaning in life, especially in relationships but also in helping others. (Szegfüová, 2019). Our research also confirmed that the approach to life depends on our inner abilities and our attitude; a crisis can strengthen a person internally when a person is able to understand their situation. Our view of a given situation always depends on our inner ability to perceive things positively.
Every negative life situation has two sides to the coin; on one hand we can perceive a difficult life situation as a huge obstacle, as something bad that happened to us, but the other view, the positive one, can extract the maximum even from a difficult life situation and find something positive, inspiring in it that can give life even greater meaning. Not for nothing do they say in China that crisis is an opportunity for change. Every crisis a person experiences can also be a challenge — a challenge for change for the better.
Crisis as a Challenge
„A Chinese proverb says that crisis is a time of danger as well as a time of opportunity. Crisis is generally associated with the idea of great difficulties, failure, decline, or a state of 'rock bottom.' On the other hand, however, crisis can represent a peak period in which the greatest things happen.“ (Bučko, 2009, p. 231).
We fully identify with this idea, as we are convinced that it is precisely in times of crisis that the greatest changes can occur in a person's life. It is then that a person is placed before a situation that they must somehow resolve. How they decide depends entirely on whether they accept the situation as a fact that cannot be changed or try to get the most out of it and, despite the crisis, continue to strive to develop.
Even a crisis can be a path to self-realization; it can offer such hidden abilities that we did not even know about, or did not have time to deal with. A crisis can also be a test. A person usually perceives a crisis as something negative, but at the same time is forced to find a solution to the given problem; a crisis also teaches us. A person subsequently looks at many things from a different angle.
Extreme situations can also help a person gain inner maturity. A person who matures through suffering matures toward truth. According to Frankl (2007), if a person suffers from some illness, they do not end there; existentially they can reach a higher level, that is, grow inwardly. Suffering is an achievement and growth, but also maturation. A person who grows beyond themselves matures toward themselves. Maturation consists in a person gaining inner freedom — despite external dependence. A person is free in that they can take a value-based stance toward circumstances and conditions, toward real suffering. It is freedom under all conditions, which knows no conditions.
Difficult life situations are a natural part of every person's life. General awareness of mental resilience is weak, yet mental resilience is a prerequisite for success. A burden is the discrepancy between the demands and requirements of the external environment and the individual's preparedness to cope with them. We distinguish between physical and mental burden. To increase mental resilience, it is necessary to trust oneself and other people, to believe in one's own abilities, to be able to accept the past, to evaluate unpleasant events as sources of valuable experience, to understand the future as a source of open possibilities and joyful anticipation of the best, to focus on the positive outcome of possible obstacles, and to make decisions autonomously. It is also important to set goals that are realistic and achievable with one's own strength, to give meaning to one's life, to understand and master what is at stake in given situations and what meaning they have. (Prevendárová et al., 2017).
Self-realization through Crisis and the Meaning of Life
A person's personality depends on several factors they encounter in life. A person's personality is shaped by life situations, events, but also everyday little things, encounters with other people, as well as the extent to which they accept their opinions and attitudes.
Building a perfect personality is a lifelong task. The emergence of the true Self is not some fashionable experiment, but the highest task a person can set for themselves. Only the one who can say yes to their inner calling and demands its realization becomes a personality. Self-knowledge and self-actualization are a necessary prerequisite for undertaking a higher commitment, which is the realization of the meaning of individual life to the greatest possible extent and in the best possible form. (Jacobi, 2013)
A life loss can lead to growth, to expansion in personality development, but also to regression. Everything depends on whether the individual can manage the crisis triggered by the loss. Loss is without doubt a universal human experience — every one of us has at some time experienced the loss of something or someone. Every crisis includes 3 aspects: loss, choice, and change. We can explain this with an example: if an individual suffers some significant loss (e.g., loss of employment, loss of health, something expected does not materialize, a miscarriage occurs, a disabled child is born), as a result of this loss a change occurs in their life (e.g., change in family, work, or health status), and they must decide how and what they will do. (Špatenková et al., 2017)
A crisis often hides within itself hidden opportunities for progress. A crisis itself can be a reason for positive changes in our life. It is only a matter of perspective how we look at a crisis — whether as a loss or as a gain. In crisis situations we lose something, which is why we speak of a crisis, but at the same time we also gain something. Perhaps it is precisely through crisis that God wants to show us a different path, which, although it initially appears to be an unfair, difficult, and demanding situation, we may eventually come to understand that without the crisis we could not have accomplished things through which our life changes, and that for the better. With every crisis, whether it is a serious illness or something else, we receive an opportunity to find the meaning of life that lies hidden in suffering. This new path shows us a different direction, changes our original plans, and helps us fulfill our secret and hidden desires. (Szegfüová, 2019)
According to Csíkszentmihályi (1990), material conditions are secondary and affect us only indirectly through experience. The state of flow and joy, on the other hand, improve the quality of life directly. Health, money, and other material advantages may or may not improve our lives. If a person has not learned to control psychic energy, they may not be able to use such advantages at all. Conversely, many who have found themselves in great difficulties not only survived but also learned to have genuine joy in life. How is it possible that people are able to achieve harmony of mind and the integrity of their personality grows even when the worst things imaginable happen to them? A person who can find the experience of flow in life is able to have joy even in situations that seem completely hopeless.
The Meaning of Life in Humanistic and Existential Theory
Humanistic and existential theory belong among person-centered theories. They are non-directive theories. The humanistic approach is about self-discovery and achieving the full potential of a human being; it does not focus on problems but rather on the individual. One of the representatives of humanistic theory and the founder of the person-centered approach is Carl R. Rogers, who perceives people as unique human beings who deserve respect and understanding.
The person-centered approach is based on the belief that clients have rich resources for development within themselves. Rogers found that if three conditions — congruence, empathy, and acceptance — are fulfilled in one participant of an interpersonal relationship, then something begins to change or grow in the other. The humanistic approach is about self-discovery and achieving the full potential of a human being. (Mátel, Schavel, Grey, 2015)
Existential theory focuses on the value of human life and raises questions about the meaning of life; it perceives a person as an autonomous personality. There is a mutual interaction between the environment and the person and the person and the environment. Existential therapy seeks to find the meaning of people's lives. A person has free will and can determine their own future, thus they have the possibility of choice. The goal of existential theory is to enable people to grow; it focuses on uncertainties and the fear of the unknown, which it considers a fundamental part of life. The basis of the existential approach is the idea that each of us has personal responsibility for our own life. It seeks to find answers to everyday difficulties. It is similar to the humanistic approach because it is oriented toward the person and their capabilities. The group of existential therapies also includes logotherapy, whose founder is V. E. Frankl.
V. E. Frankl and the Search for Meaning
The most significant representative of the concept of the meaning of life and the founder of logotherapy is V. E. Frankl. V. E. Frankl was a Viennese neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the horrors of a concentration camp. He found that a person has free will with which they can seek the meaning of life. According to Frankl, no difficult life situation or suffering can destroy a person to the extent that they completely lose the meaning of their life.
For every person and for every moment, the meaning of life is different, therefore the meaning of life cannot be defined universally. (Frankl, 2011). Even though the meaning of life varies among different people over the course of life, it means that meaning exists. Every life situation has meaning, even the most difficult and tragic ones. Frankl asserts that without the suffering he experienced in the concentration camp, his growth would not have been possible. He is of the opinion that life has meaning despite suffering.
Logotherapy is also a psychotherapeutic approach that assumes that the will to discover and fulfill the meaning of one's own life is the main motivating force in every person.“ (Mátel, Schavel, Grey, 2015) The significance of this theory in social work lies in the fact that it perceives a person in their entirety, as a physical, psychological, and spiritual being. In logotherapy, the therapist seeks to mobilize the client and motivate them in changing their thinking.
Logotherapy stands on three interrelated pillars. The first is freedom of will, the second is the will to meaning, and the third is the meaning of life. Freedom of will means that a person's fate is not predetermined and a person has the freedom to actively do something, but in a situation where circumstances greatly restrict them, such as imprisonment in a concentration camp, they have the freedom to take an attitude toward the situation that they themselves choose. They can despair, resign, but they can try to survive out of love for their loved ones, they can try to alleviate the suffering of fellow prisoners. Hand in hand with freedom goes responsibility for a specific decision; a person is thus the creator of their own life fulfillment. (Mátel, Schavel, Grey, 2015)
Freedom of will thus means that a person can decide for themselves how to approach a given situation, while limiting circumstances can vary. Frankl pointed to imprisonment in a concentration camp as such a situation, since he drew from his own experience; however, limiting circumstances can be varied — today we might mention the situation of prisoners, but limiting circumstances can also include a situation where a person has limited mobility due to illness. Even in such a case, and in fact under any circumstances, a person has the opportunity to take some stance toward the given situation, and whether despite unfavorable circumstances it will be a negative or positive stance depends solely on the particular person and their thoughts. The motivation may vary according to the individual situation, such as the effort to survive out of love for loved ones; there may be various other goals and motivations that serve as a driving engine for survival and for adopting positive attitudes despite everything.
The will to meaning means that every person has within themselves a desire for the meaning of life and wants to know it. However, this motivation can be temporarily suppressed when a person focuses on satisfying their instincts, desire for power, and when they do not find satisfaction in that, the will to meaning comes to the surface.
The meaning of life — logotherapy proceeds from the premise that life has meaning under all circumstances. According to Frankl, even seemingly negative situations in human life, associated with suffering, guilt, loss, or death, can be transformed into something positive. That meaning means turning attention away from oneself toward other people or something that transcends the person. (Mátel, Schavel, Grey, 2015)
According to Frankl, when a person lacks the will to meaning, they merely exist through life. When the will to meaning is unfulfilled, such a person feels the meaninglessness of their life, finds no pleasure or value in anything, loses motivation, feels emptiness, which Frankl called the existential vacuum. Frankl was convinced that material things and power cannot fulfill a person's psychological needs and make them happy. Everyone must find the meaning of life for themselves.
Even in difficult situations it is possible to find the meaning of life, and sometimes it is precisely obstacles that force or inspire us toward life change, which in the end can also mean a positive change. According to A. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, for self-realization to occur, a person first needs to fulfill basic physiological needs, needs to have security and safety, relationships, love, belonging, the need for esteem, self-respect. Only when a person has these needs fulfilled can self-realization occur. The fulfillment of higher needs can thus take place only after lower needs are satisfied. (Szegfüová, 2019)
Frankl (2016) asserts that meaning is a life goal. An individual needs a fixed point in the future that shapes their present. Without a fixed point in the future, a person feels emptiness and meaninglessness of existence, and cannot truly exist at all. A long-term life goal is a personal vocation; its object is meaning associated with the feeling of „living for something or someone.“ Meaning is something concrete, unique, and unrepeatable, and it must be discovered for each person. Meaning must be sought, and it can be found in what may lie in the future. Suffering has the meaning of growth, through which we can inwardly existentially mature and at the same time integrate it even more effectively into the context of the way we realize and discover meaningfulness in our lives. A person cannot lose their dignity due to illness, suffering, or pain, and this is also confirmed by V. E. Frankl. (Ondrášik In Dancák, Šoltés, 2017)
Šmidová (2012) is of the opinion that a human being belongs to both happiness and suffering, which can teach them something. When we suffer, we experience a crisis, we often feel injustice, but only over time do we realize that suffering always has some purpose. It is precisely then that a person develops the most. A crisis forces a person to change something; it is then that a person mobilizes themselves, often reflects on their life, because as long as they were happy and did not suffer, they were not forced to deal more deeply with their life. Through crisis we can find the potential for personal growth. Overcoming difficulties requires a great deal of strength, which is at the same time a new energy that shapes a person and changes them into a different, more valuable personality.
CONCLUSION
In this paper we have dealt with the meaning of life, drawing primarily from the approach of V. E. Frankl, who sees meaning even in difficult life situations such as suffering. He is of the opinion that a person going through a difficult life situation can find motivation and always set new goals that help toward growth and self-realization.
We are of the opinion that even when a person finds themselves in a situation that can be called a crisis, they can activate their inner strengths, which help them change their attitude toward the given situation, and even under unfavorable circumstances, or perhaps thanks to them, they are able to achieve a higher degree of maturity, transcend themselves, and find the meaning of life.
Author: PhDr. Bc. Mária Szegfüová Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety v Bratislave – doktorandka. Univerzita Komenského – právnická fakulta, Bratislava. Autorka pôsobí ako sociálna pracovníčka, lektorka, supervízorka. Svoju vedeckú a odbornú činnosť venuje témam ľudských práv, spravodlivosti, verejnej správe, sociálnej politiky. Dlhodobo poukazuje na problémy integrácie a aplikácii Dohovoru o právach osôb so zdravotným postihnutím.
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