meaninglessness & Meaning

Meaninglessness

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS MIHI

At the height of the heavens,
the angels, whose voice I hear, glorify me.
I am, beneath the sun, a wandering ant,
small and black, a rolling stone
reaches me,
crushes me,
dead,
in the sky
the sun blazes furiously,
it blinds,
I cry out:
"it will not dare"
it dares.
Georges Bataille 1954 (p.162)

The Milky Way galaxy, of which we are a part, is about 100,000 light-years across. Unfortunately, with distances of this magnitude one cannot even begin to comprehend in units of miles so it is necessary to measure in time. This amounts to approximately 186,000 times the number of seconds in one hundred thousand years. That is how long it takes light to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other. To imagine the amount of space that "space" takes up is futile.

After examination of the Hubble Telescope's Deep Field images this year it would be impossible for one to deny the diminutive nature of the human being's existence. With just a sliver of film, a fraction of an inch, one sees only a tiny part of the "BIG" picture but the view is breathtaking. Millions of galaxies, possibly billions exist in the dark and immense sea we call "space".
Where does that leave humankind? It is possible that we exist as a part of an ordered and structured reality, but is it possible that perhaps we may not be as important as we think we are? From across the galaxies there is no difference between humans and any other life forms. In fact, there is no difference between our solar system and any other that may exist in our home of 100-150 billion stars.

We are not the center of the universe. We are not even the center of the Milky Way. What does this mean to life? It forces one to stop and think. Do we really matter in the realm of cosmological "truths"? If not, then what does this do to our own personal meaning in life?
Meaning and Meaninglessness are polar opposites and humans have been struggling to find their place since they could first ask the question, what is life?

The prospect of meaninglessness affects everybody. We have all questioned the meaning of our lives and existence at various times in our lives. The effects of our conclusions are extremely important because they touch upon all that we are and ever will be.

People have described their experiences with meaninglessness. Sixty-four percent said that while they are experiencing meaninglessness they become very depressed. Thirty-three percent say that while they are experiencing meaninglessness they feel disconnected from the world and all others. Twenty-five percent said that they feel alienated and they do not `belong'. Half said that they feel that there is no purpose for them personally and 24.9% feel hopeless and that their existence has no meaning whatsoever.

Some of the characterizations of meaninglessness are very revealing as to how an experience of meaninglessness can make one feel. For instance, not unlike Bataille, a twenty-six year old man said that "a person may walk and step on an ant with no regard - I feel like I could be stepped on and the world would not even see it." A 27 year old woman said that she would characterize what it is like to experience meaninglessness with the analogy of "a blank landscape after a nuclear war with no life. Just a gray, awful burned out place; something void and empty." A twenty-seven year old man described it as a picture of space without stars or 1,000 slaughtered people." Another 27 year old man characterized meaninglessness as simply as "a perfect nothing".

Salvador Maddi believes that:
existential sickness stems from a comprehensive failure in the search for meaning in life and that existential neurosis in which the cognitive component is meaninglessness, or a chronic inability to believe in truth, importance, usefulness or interest value of any of these things one is engaged in or can imagine doing. (As cited in Yalom, 1980, p.420)

A loss of meaning can create many psychological problems. Salvador Maddi (As cited in Yalom, 1980, p. 450). asserts that "a significant amount of current psychopathology emanates from a sense of meaninglessness." Some common manifestations are "Crusadism, Nihilism, Vegetativeness".

There is also compulsive activity that "consumes the individual's energy to the point that the issue of meaning is drained of its toxin" (As cited in Yalom, 1980, pp. 450-451).

There remains a clinical manifestation of meaninglessness that Yalom does not describe.

It is the tendency for many people to search for meaning and try to find it in idolatry. This is a common occurrence among people who would not normally be "diagnosed" with psychological or emotional disturbances. It can be found in people of all ages but seems to be predominant in younger adults. It is characterized by an intense preoccupation with another human being who is somehow greater and the desire is to all at once emulate and possess this "object". It can be found in "Beatlemania" of the sixties.

It can be found in the Michael Jackson craze of the eighties, and Kurt Cobain of the nineties. It can be easily spotted in popular culture. It occurs when otherwise `normal' human beings are suddenly viewed as extraordinary and it is believed that they have the answers to all questions of a metaphysical nature. This otherwise normal human being is transformed into something superhuman. This person or group of persons become a pre-21st century scapegoat. They are expected to passively take on all of the `sins' and shortcomings, as well as the hopes and dreams, of the multitudes who worship them. They are fantastically reformed and subsequently `deformed' while those who worship them and find their own meaning in their existence are depleted of their own humanity and sense of purpose.

We have become a culture of deification because we cannot look inward to find our own meaning. We can only bear to look outside of ourselves because looking inward is scary and lonely. When we unabashedly idolize other human beings as `gods' we have abandoned our quest for authenticity. We are `guilty' of ontological guilt. We are isolated by our inescapable isolation and social `apartheid'. We are `faced’ with death via the lack of meaning in our lives and we attempt to kill death with death.

We are avoiding facing the loss of our own lives while begging another to sacrifice their own. When an `idol' collapses from drug abuse and dies in a puddle of their own vomit, or when an `idol' takes their own life we cry, and bemoan a tragedy that we did not own. We mourn, but for ourselves. We allow the Jim Morrisons, Kurt Cobains, Karen Carpenters and Marilyn Monroes to die, so we don't have to, only to make way for the next.

Our children grow up, caught in this whirlwind of difficult existential dilemmas because of our own inability to explore the depths of our being. Idolatry takes many forms. Sometimes they are subtle and sometimes they are glaring. It matters not how it is embodied because the bottom line never changes. When we cannot generate our own sense of meaning and purpose we look elsewhere. We want what others have because our emptiness is too demanding to fill by ourselves. We receive these idols as sacred alms onto which we rest our despair. In the end, everybody loses. The idol loses. The one who is idolizing is losing and as a whole we all become more of what we aren't and less than what we are.

In literature one finds a continuous stream of human thought and emotion regarding the meaning or the lack thereof in our lives. Bataille (1954) wrote about meaninglessness. He describes the human being's dilemma of facing the void:

Trembling. To remain immobile, standing, in a solitary darkness, in an attitude without the gesture of a supplicant: supplication, but without gesture and above all without hope. Lost and pleading, blind, half dead. Like Job on the dung heap, in the darkness of night, but imagining nothing-defenseless, knowing that all is lost. (p. 35)

He describes the realization one may have concerning the pain of meaninglessness; the utter and overwhelming feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. The "knowing that all is lost" is particularly accurate in the experience of meaninglessness. When one can no longer find meaning in their life everything that once touched the center of reality is lost.

This is paradoxical because the loss of meaning does not mean the loss of the tangible world around us. We can still see the joy of others. We can still see the blue of a perfect sunny day. We can still see all parts of life but just not for ourselves. In a sense, we are forced to be reminded of all that is lost.

Bataille (1954) also reminds us that in the scope of existence, there may have never been any meaning at all:

This infinite improbability from which I come is beneath me like a void: my presence above this void is like the exercise of a fragile power, as if this void demanded the challenge that I myself bring it, I-that is to say- the infinite, painful improbability of an irreplaceable being which I am. (p. 69)

This is a painful realization and it also enters our being as dread
as it is very frightening to the human being who wishes to live and have meaning. "We are afraid to approach the fathomless and bottomless groundlessness of nothing. [There's nothing to be afraid of.] The ultimate reassurance, and the ultimate terror" (Laing, 1967, p.38).

There is nothing to be afraid of.

Heidegger believed that we use "equipment" in order to keep existential anxiety at bay. When that equipment breaks down (which it always does) we are forced to look at the realities of our existence. We are forced to face the realization that the world can go on just fine without us. We are forced to deal with the questions surrounded our existence.

When we go out to start the car in an early morning of winter there is a chance that it won't start. It will not start and the universe does not seem to care one way or another how late you are. The winds continue to blow, the trees continue to sway and life goes on as you try not to acknowledge it.

Meaninglessness is one of the most scary words in the English language. It surpasses all other concerns. Death may not be so bad if there is hope of a meaning. Isolation is not so bad if one possesses meaning. Freedom is not so scary or arbitrary if there is meaning in the foreground. Meaninglessness is the final stop. It decides most everything else.

If one is experiencing meaninglessness then what does it matter if one dies or feels lonely or frightened. Nietzsche once said that as long as there is a why one can handle any how.
"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two entities of darkness" (Vladimir Nabokov, Speak Memory 1947, as cited in Barrett,)

Sometimes it is not necessary to look to the sky in order to experience the meaninglessness of human existence. Everyday there is tragedy. Everyday, there is someone in the world who is faced with events that can topple over the strongest "meaninglessness defense shields". Yalom, (1980) describes the consequences of such experiences:

Uncanny are the social explosions that suddenly uproot the values, ethics, and morals that we have come to believe exist independently of ourselves. The Holocaust, mob violence, the Jonestown mass suicide, the chaos of war, all of these strike horror in us because they are evil, but they also stun us because they inform us that nothing is as we have always thought it to be, that contingency reigns, that everything could be otherwise than it is; that everything we consider fixed, precious, good can suddenly vanish; that there is no solid ground; that we are "not-at-home" here or there or anywhere in the world. (p. 482)

With these things in mind is it possible for humankind to find and have a purpose? Can there be meaning even in the face of meaninglessness? This author says yes. Unfortunately, one finds that there is not enough attention paid to meaning and meaninglessness in psychology unless one looks to Logotherapy, and psychiatrists and psychologists such as Viktor Frankl, William Fabry, Irvin Yalom, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May and other `Humanistic/Existential' psychologists.

Meaninglessness is rarely mentioned as a clinical entity because it is generally considered to be a manifestation of some other primary, and more familiar clinical syndrome. Indeed, Freud once stated that `The moment a man questions the meaning of life, he is sick...By asking this question one is merely admitting to a store of unsatisfied libido to which something else must have happened, a kind of fermentation leading to sadness and depression. (p. 477)

meaning

Fortunately, there are those who do not believe as Freud did in regards to meaning. The leading proponent of meaning as a fundamental part of human psychology is Viktor Frankl.
Viktor Frankl created `Logotherapy', which literally means `meaning therapy'. He believes that human beings need to have meaning and purpose in their lives in order to be completely healthy. He also contends that even in suffering one can find meaning.

During World War II, Frankl watched helplessly as his entire family (except one sister) was exterminated in concentration camps. He watched as some fellow prisoners committed suicide by `running into the electric fence' and he watched as many struggled to survive, himself included. This experience could have caused Frankl to lose his faith in the belief that there is always meaning in life but it did not. In fact, it only served to solidify his beliefs that one can always find meaning, even in the face of certain death.

Frankl has been called the founder of the "Third Viennese Force in Psychology". He differs from Freud who asserted that human beings are motivated by a will-to-pleasure and he differs from Alfred Adler's (Freud's pupil and Frankl's teacher) concept of will-to-power. Frankl asserts that the prime motivator of human behavior is the search for meaning and that things such as pleasure, happiness and power are by-products and a means to an end respectively.
Although Frankl stresses that each individual has a meaning that no one else can fulfill, these unique meanings fall into three general categories:

1. Activities: This category includes a person's work, job, hobbies, and deeds a person does for the sake of others. These meaningful activities are never a means to an end but are rather ends in themselves. It matters not what kind of work one does and Frankl has said, "What matters is not how large is the radius of your activities but only how well you fill its circle."

2. Experiences: This category includes experiences with truth, beauty, and love. Meaning through experience is received by the individual. Again, it does not matter how long these experiences last nor how often, what matters is their content. In this area, Frankl emphasizes the experience of "mature love".

Attitudes: This is the area in which Logotherapy asserts that the deepest meaning can be found. This area is most important in the face of the "Tragic Triad": unavoidable suffering, death, and ontological or "unerasable" guilt. Logotherapy recognizes that every human being must face these truths at some point of their lives and to find meaning in the face of them requires the strength of the human capacity to choose one's attitude in regards as to how one accepts them. (Fabry, 1968, p.40).

Frankl's most optimistic and powerful assertion is that even in situations in which one is faced with unavoidable suffering, meaning exists.

Suffering can have a meaning if it changes one for the better. And finally, even when there is no hope of escape from suffering and death, Frankl states that there is meaning in demonstrating to others, to God, and to oneself that one can suffer and die with dignity." (As cited in Yalom, 1980, p. 446)

Frankl had problems with the tendency of many in psychology to focus on Freudian explanations for behavior. Frankl (1986) said:

Though some psychiatrists state that life-meaning is nothing but defense mechanisms and reaction formations, speaking only for myself I would not be willing to live merely for my defense mechanisms and would be less inclined to die for my reaction formations. (p.154)
The assertion that one can always find meaning is not to say that meaninglessness does not exist or is unimportant. According to Logotherapy, every human being is composed of three essential dimensions.

The first is the biological dimension (soma) which houses our physical, genetic and chemical qualities.

There is then the psychological dimension (psyche) that holds our psychological qualities.

Lastly, there is the purely human dimension of the human spirit (Nous). The Noetic Dimension is the aspect of the human being that holds all of our specifically human qualities such as "creativity, will-to-meaning, conscience, humor, ideas and ideals, self-detachment, the ability to take on commitment, capacity for love, self-transcendence" (Fabry, Festival of Meaning, p.10).

It is the perfectly healthy core that each individual possesses. The Noetic Dimension is always healthy and whole. "The logotherapist looks for the healthy human core behind sickness, despair, and suffering" (Logotherapy Course Manual, III, p. 5).

So while it can never become vulnerable to sickness in itself, the Noos can become blocked. The Noos becomes blocked as a result of value collisions and conflicts of conscience, such as a person who was brought up that `Thou shalt not kill' being thrust onto the battlefield of war.
When the Noos is blocked an `existential vacuum' (existential frustration) develops.

Logotherapy describes this `existential vacuum' as the catalyst for feelings of inner emptiness, increased idleness, tendency toward aggression, drug addiction, slovenry, excess sexuality, pleasure seeking, overemphasis of fashionable games, and increased doubts about world, society, and life (Fabry, Festival of Meaning, p.9).

Logotherapy further distinguishes between two stages of meaninglessness:

1. The Existential Vacuum (existential frustration) (as described above)

2. If the person develops, in addition to explicit feelings of meaninglessness, overt clinical neurotic symptomology, then Frankl refers to the condition as an existential or `Noogenic' Neurosis.

`Noogenic neurosis' is a distinctive type of neurosis that results specifically from a blocked Nous. It can cause physical as well as psychological symptoms. Research has been shown that at least 20% of all neurotic clients were suffering from neuroses resulting from existential issues (Frankl, 1981, p. 73).

It is important to note that Logotherapy is usually implemented as an adjunct therapy for many clients. Its techniques are beneficial in many circumstances. Further investigation into this area of psychology is highly recommended and information regarding Logotherapy has been provided in the bibliography section of this paper.

At this point the question should be asked, how is it that we find meaning? How is it that we seem to go on even in the face of meaninglessness? They are easy questions to ask but very difficult to answer. Yalom (1980) tells us that there are two fundamental facts about human existence. The first is that the human being seems to require meaning. The second and paradoxical fact is that "the existential concept of freedom posits that the only true absolute is that there are no absolutes" (p. 287).

Jung (1961) said that "meaning makes a great many things endurable-perhaps everything"(p. 340). With this in mind what is the consequence of having lost one's sense of meaning and purpose. There are many people walking the earth in a constant state of emotional pain as a result of such a loss.

One of the reasons why these questions linger is because there are those who live in the monotonous reality of western civilization life so far removed from their sense of existential issues that they seem to have forfeited their unique lives in order to just get by. Meaning becomes something of a shadow of what we are. Some cannot find it because they are looking for it in the wrong places. Some neither see it nor consciously miss it but the effects of the shadow simmer beneath the surface. In its simmering there is an occasional reminder that can in turn bring up all one's existential dilemmas sometimes resulting in major psychological pains and disturbances. To avoid the challenge of life by ignoring our existential situations and all of our ultimate concerns including death, isolation, meaninglessness and responsibility to put oneself at risk for great anguish once we realize what we have lost.

The human being pays a dear price for safety and comfort and usually one does not realize this until the damage to has been done. To accept the challenge is to certainly risk pain. However, along with the pain there is growth, vitality, love, joy, deep and passionate union with other human beings. There is learning and creating, giving and receiving. There certainly are tears, times of melancholy, and even despair but the tears and despair will most often come as the other side of what is most joyous and hopeful. To accept the challenge is to live dynamically, experience growth and ultimately achieve a sense of self that is strong enough to withstand anything that life could throw at you.

When people were asked to describe their experiences with meaning, just about everyone described a marked feeling of clarity and the feelings of joy and hope. Most people experienced these moments in the face of something natural, as in a dog sniffing a flower, or the birth of a child. There were also feelings of connectedness with all things and a transcendence of the everyday trials and suffering.

This connection, for some had even been to their memories of earlier times in their lives. One of the most striking things that observed was that those who had been interviewed have experienced much pain and sadness in regards to other existential issues such as death and isolation. Yet, the memories of experiences of meaning allowed them to transcend their current pain. I watched as those who barely moments before described the pain of the loss of a family member, or the feelings of loneliness, or the fear of one's mortality, brightened up when sharing an experience of meaning. Even the memory and retelling of a meaningful experience can be so powerful as to allow the person to transcend, even if momentarily, current sufferings of existential pains. "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." --Albert Camus (1954)


Conclusion
The area of Existential Psychology needs to be incorporated within the other areas of psychology. As we approach the beginning of a new millennium we should look back over the past and reflect on the progress that psychology has made over the past few hundred years. We should offer our respect to and be thankful for those from all `schools of thought' who have worked throughout their lives to develop the field of psychology and who have paved the way and took their chances while establishing the most fundamentally human venture into understanding.

Unfortunately, rather than becoming a solid healthy family of related ideologies, psychology, for many, has become dysfunctional just as a typical divided family; complete with authoritarian parents, greedy uncles, sacrificial children forgotten in the shadows of the star athlete and perfect student siblings. There are black-sheep and victims of causticity on all sides. We laugh with a sense of annoyance at the political leaders running for office with their pomp and self-righteousness. Meanwhile, psychology is falling into the same familiar trappings. Everybody has their feet firmly planted in the soil of a particular ideology or theory. The trouble with that is that no one goes anywhere.

We should not be afraid to risk the loss of some of the beliefs that can no longer help us to achieve all we can as a species. We should not allow our pride to prevent us from breaking the molds of outdated ideologies. We should not allow our fears and anxieties to decide the fate of future generations of psychologists and clients. Our humanity is composed of biological processes, environmental pushes, spirituality, patterns of thinking and learning, memories and unconscious drives, and existential realities such as those described in this paper. It is our humanity that connects us all to one another and the strength of our connection is dependent upon the strength of our commitment to all aspects of our humanity. As Abraham Maslow said some time ago, "If all you have is a hammer, you will treat everything as if it were a nail".

I would like to leave you with a final quote that ended Miguel De Unamuno's work, Tragic Sense of Life, because the words are, to this work, gracefully meaningful:

I hope, reader that sometime while our tragedy is still playing, in some interval between the acts, we shall meet again. And we shall recognize one another. And forgive me if I have troubled you more than was needful and
inevitable, more than I intended to do when I took up my pen proposing to distract you for a while from your distractions. And may God deny you peace, but give you glory!