Living Life To The Fullest From The Womb To The Tomb Series

HoHum:

Billy Graham was talking to Art Linkletter when Art mentioned that after he went to heaven, the evangelist would need to find a new line of work, a new purpose. A bit taken aback, Graham asked why. Art replied, “Well, they don’t really need preachers in heaven, do they?”

WBTU:

This is what happens to some people. Their mate dies, they lose their job/ their career, they lose their health so that they are unable to do what they used to do so they just give up. What used to give them meaning and purpose is gone so why try. Nothing left to live for.

Some people believe that the pursuit of meaning and purpose is in itself meaningless. Slavoj Zizek said this, “Life is a stupid meaningless thing that has nothing to teach you.” Brutal, but Zizek is trying to articulate his worldview that the quest for meaning is meaningless. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychotherapy, believed that life is meaningless. To be mature, in the philosophy of Freud, was to accept the meaninglessness of life. Therapy, where the therapist is writing on a notepad with an aloof attitude while the therapee is talking on and on while lying on a couch, was an attempt to resist and repress the transcendent reality of existence. In other words, to counsel people into being mature by accepting that life has no meaning.

Shame because people need purpose. What causes some people to go on and thrive despite less that favorable circumstances? Think of those people who have lived and worked into their elderly years while smoking, drinking, using large amounts of lard and bacon grease, defying all modern health wisdom. What do they have in common? A will to keep living their own way and a sense of purpose, something that gets them out of bed in the morning. A big determiner of length and quality of life: will. The will to be able to contribute to something beyond themselves. Fists full of money is not going to do it because money on its own is meaningless. Family doesn’t do it because the whole idea of raising a family is so they can make it on their own. What keeps us moving forward, what gives our lives meaning, is purpose. After we are baptized, why don’t we just twiddle our thumbs until we enjoy our eternal reward? What keeps us here beyond the simple biological drive to survive? That’s a question not often asked but one worth answering. For most the answer is purpose. We have things we simply must accomplish on this earth, and we are not ready to go until we have done our best to accomplish them.

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl studied Freud and other philosophies of life. Then he was sentenced to the concentration camps, including the infamous extermination camp, Auschwitz, which he survived to tell about. In his book, MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING, Frankl makes the case that every individual is hard wired to search for the meaning of his own existence. He uses the example of his own experiences in the concentration camps to show how a sense of purpose can grant the ability to survive even under the most horrible circumstances. Frankl created a therapeutic process called “logotherapy” (say more about this later). Such therapy sessions center on helping the patient discover the meaning of his or her life. In this way, individuals discover their own unique significance.

Thesis: Logotherapy centers on 3 things

For instances:

1. Work

What do we want to contribute to the world through our work, through our career? Find work that gives us meaning, makes a significant contribution to ourselves and others with our abilities, talents and experiences. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” Ecclesiastes 9:10, NIV. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15, NIV. Work is not a curse, the curse made work a drudgery but we were made to work, to do something. Right work

2. Relationships

“The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” Genesis 2:18, NIV. Jesus said in the Great Commandment- Love the Lord your God, in Old Covenant tied up with parents loving their children.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:4-7, NIV. Jesus in the Great Commandment- Love your neighbor