Categories
Chillin Interconnectivity

Finding Purpose and Meaning through Hopelessness and Suffering

Here is another quote from Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.” The author was a researcher who survived the Nazi concentration camps. In this book he writes about these experiences, and how it impacted his awareness of how people find meaning:

“Another time we were at work in a trench. The dawn was grey around us; grey was the sky above; grey the snow in the pale light of dawn; grey the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and grey their faces. I was again conversing silently with my wife, or perhaps I was struggling to find the reason for my sufferings, my slow dying. In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious “Yes” in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable grey of a dawning morning in Bavaria. ‘Et lux in tenebris lucet’–and the light shineth in the darkness. For hours I stood hacking at the icy ground. The guard passed by, insulting me, and once again I communed with my beloved. More and more I felt that she was present, that she was with me; I had the feeling that I was able to touch her, able to stretch out my hand and grasp hers. The feeling was very strong: she was there. Then, at that very moment, a bird flew down silently and perched just in front of me, on the heap of soil which I had dug up from the ditch, and looked steadily at me.”

This quote struck me. I find it beautiful in many ways.

Right now, regardless of what we think about the bird in this excerpt, it is obvious it was profoundly meaningful for the author, for the bird to land in front of him and look steadily at him. I gather that this meant there was connection there: connection between him and his wife (who was deceased at this time), and connection with this bird. And I think the meaningfulness stems from and has something to do with this sense of connection.

Categories
Chillin Relationships

The Eyes Have It

Ever looked into someone’s eyes and seen complete understanding? A short talk on the experience of the eyes:

Categories
Chillin Life Is Yours

More on Meaning in Life

I love what Emily Esfahani Smith says. She is someone I can always count on, much like Brené Brown, to speak very authentically, with a powerful, conscious heart. Emily Esfahani Smith is a researcher and author. The findings that she speaks about are much of what I have noticed in my own explorations and trials and tribulations of experiencing meaning in life. I am grateful also for the interviewer who goes in rapid pace to ensure that Emily covers a lot of ground in useful depth of her knowledge in this area. I truly hope you enjoy this amazing interview.

Categories
Reality Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame – Long Podcast 28 – Spontaneous Meaning from Authentic Connection

Categories
Chillin Quotes

Every Human Life is a Parable

“Every person is sacred. Every human life is a parable, a story which has spiritual value.”

-Anthony T. Padovano

Categories
Chillin Interconnectivity Spark the Flame - Short Vlog

Spark the Flame Vlog 8 – Human Need for Connection

Categories
Chillin Quotes

The Universe Experiencing Us

Jim Carrey has been going through an “existential discovery” for some years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbLsOF4avIs

“I used to be a guy who was experiencing the world, and now I feel like the world and the universe experiencing a guy.”

-Jim Carrey

Categories
Life Is Yours Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 26

Categories
Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 21

Categories
Interconnectivity Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 19

Was having issues with the audio, so couldnt include an intro and outro this time. But will try to have it working for next time. Enjoy!

Categories
Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 18

Categories
Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 14

Categories
Spark the Flame - Long Podcast

Spark the Flame Podcast 10