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One of the most thought-provoking conversations between the philosopher and youth is about the meaning of life. The philosopher shared with the youth that during Adler's time when people asked him about the meaning of life and what are people living for, his answer was “Life in general has no meaning.”
😲😱
Shocking, right?
But wait, before you pre-judge or conclude anything, here is the philosopher's explanation on why in the Adlerian perspective, life is meaningless:
PHILOSOPHER: The world in which we live is constantly beset by all manner of horrendous events, and we exist with the ravages of war and natural disasters all around us. When confronted by the fact of children dying in the turmoil of war, there is no way one can go on about the meaning of life. In other words, there is no meaning in using generalizations to talk about life.
But being confronted by such incomprehensible tragedies without taking any action is tantamount to affirming them. Regardless of the circumstances, we must take some form of action. We must stand up to Kant’s “inclination.” (I quickly googled what is Kant's inclination and it pertains to moral worth.)
YOUTH: Yes!
PHILOSOPHER: Now, suppose one experiences a major natural disaster, and one’s response is to look back at the past in an etiological manner and say, “What could have caused such a thing to happen?” How meaningful would that be? An experience of hardship should be an opportunity to look ahead and think, What can I do from now on?
And Adler, having stated that “life in general has no meaning,” then continues, “Whatever meaning life has must be assigned to it by the individual.”
As an example, the philosopher shared the story of his grandfather who was firebombed during the war. His grandfather's face was severely burned. In every way, he said it was a horrendous and inhumane event. The Philosopher continued -
It would certainly have been within the realm of possibility for him to choose a lifestyle with the perspective of “the world is a horrible place” or “people are my enemies.” However, when my grandfather rode the train on visits to the hospital, there were always other passengers who would give up their seats for him. This is something I heard about through my mother, so I do not know how he actually felt. But this is what I believe: My grandfather chose a lifestyle with the perspective of “People are my comrades, and the world is a wonderful place.” That is exactly what Adler is pointing to when he says whatever meaning life has must be assigned to it by the individual. So life in general has no meaning whatsoever. But you can assign meaning to that life. And you are the only one who can assign meaning to your life.
This is so true coz come to think of it, we have a lot of inspiring stories of people who embraced their conditions and achieved amazing things like -
Stevie Wonder - who was born blind
Helen Keller - who became deaf and blind at age 2
Frida Kahlo - who contracted polio at age 6 and had an accident when she was a teenager and never fully healed
Stephen Hawking - who was diagnosed with ALS at age 21
Beethoven - who became deaf at age 30
President Franklin Roosevelt - who contracted polio and became paralyzed from waist down at age 39
...and a lot of athletes who have physical disabilities and yet still won in competitions, races and bagged world titles. 👏👏👏
The key takeaway from the Philosopher from this conversation is: If "you" can change, the world will change. Or simply put - the world can be changed by only you and no one else will change it for you.
I hope the wisdom from this book will rub off on me. 😅
But wait, before you pre-judge or conclude anything, here is the philosopher's explanation on why in the Adlerian perspective, life is meaningless:
PHILOSOPHER: The world in which we live is constantly beset by all manner of horrendous events, and we exist with the ravages of war and natural disasters all around us. When confronted by the fact of children dying in the turmoil of war, there is no way one can go on about the meaning of life. In other words, there is no meaning in using generalizations to talk about life.
But being confronted by such incomprehensible tragedies without taking any action is tantamount to affirming them. Regardless of the circumstances, we must take some form of action. We must stand up to Kant’s “inclination.” (I quickly googled what is Kant's inclination and it pertains to moral worth.)
YOUTH: Yes!
PHILOSOPHER: Now, suppose one experiences a major natural disaster, and one’s response is to look back at the past in an etiological manner and say, “What could have caused such a thing to happen?” How meaningful would that be? An experience of hardship should be an opportunity to look ahead and think, What can I do from now on?
And Adler, having stated that “life in general has no meaning,” then continues, “Whatever meaning life has must be assigned to it by the individual.”
As an example, the philosopher shared the story of his grandfather who was firebombed during the war. His grandfather's face was severely burned. In every way, he said it was a horrendous and inhumane event. The Philosopher continued -
It would certainly have been within the realm of possibility for him to choose a lifestyle with the perspective of “the world is a horrible place” or “people are my enemies.” However, when my grandfather rode the train on visits to the hospital, there were always other passengers who would give up their seats for him. This is something I heard about through my mother, so I do not know how he actually felt. But this is what I believe: My grandfather chose a lifestyle with the perspective of “People are my comrades, and the world is a wonderful place.” That is exactly what Adler is pointing to when he says whatever meaning life has must be assigned to it by the individual. So life in general has no meaning whatsoever. But you can assign meaning to that life. And you are the only one who can assign meaning to your life.
This is so true coz come to think of it, we have a lot of inspiring stories of people who embraced their conditions and achieved amazing things like -
Stevie Wonder - who was born blind
Helen Keller - who became deaf and blind at age 2
Frida Kahlo - who contracted polio at age 6 and had an accident when she was a teenager and never fully healed
Stephen Hawking - who was diagnosed with ALS at age 21
Beethoven - who became deaf at age 30
President Franklin Roosevelt - who contracted polio and became paralyzed from waist down at age 39
...and a lot of athletes who have physical disabilities and yet still won in competitions, races and bagged world titles. 👏👏👏
The key takeaway from the Philosopher from this conversation is: If "you" can change, the world will change. Or simply put - the world can be changed by only you and no one else will change it for you.
I hope the wisdom from this book will rub off on me. 😅
