Life doesn’t make sense. This is the main belief of those who experience the painful feeling of “living to live,” the weight of injustice, and a kind of disconnection from everything around them. This is what we call an existential void.
They are often thoughtful people who explore topics of great significance, such as death or lack of freedom; however, they fail to get rid of a deep existential vacuum that increasingly envelops them, a vacuum that society feeds through messages related to individual values. immediate satisfaction.
- Often.
- They are also the ones who sail in search of pleasure for the sole purpose of anesthetating their suffering.
- The difference is that they do not perceive the vacuum they are experiencing.
For both there is no response to the meaning of life, nothing fills them, nothing satisfies them and ends up imprisoning them in a psychological state of great suffering, which in most cases leads to deep depression or self-destructive behaviors.
Existential emptiness is the spiral of absurdity and the result of self-awareness as someone who sees the world from another angle by detected inconsistencies, or as someone who?For the pursuit of pleasure to avoid suffering. A widespread phenomenon today, let’s go further.
The development of a sense of life can be thwarted when goals and goals are not achieved or are not achieved; when the clash between expectations and reality is so strong that only disappointment appears, or when crisis situations threaten the sense of security and certainty and the person does not have the right tools to deal with them.
All of this leads to a deep state of existential frustration that empties the person from within and sometimes leads to a painful abyss. It is as if inside there is a dense desert, in which the illogical dominates existence and almost all the ability to connect and feel others is lost.
For psychologist Benjamin Wolan, this condition was called existential neurosis. He defined it as “the inability to find meaning in life, the feeling that there is no reason to live, to fight, to wait. “purpose or pattern in life, the feeling that even if people work their work, they don’t really have any aspiration.
Some authors, such as psychotherapist Tony Anatrella, point to the constant pursuit of self satisfaction as the cause of this loss of meaning, as they are selfish actions that hinder the capacity for personal transcendence.
Other authors argue that loss of meaning is associated with the disappearance of the other, the supremacy of individualistic values and the attainment of pleasure as the wrong mechanism to be happy, in this way the person clings to his individual desires and the sense of happiness. Social references, such as coexistence, solidarity or mutual respect, among others, are diluted.
Thus, when reality is confused and the means to achieve happiness become ends in themselves, there is a risk of falling into existential emptiness, pleasant short-term emotions, such as pleasure or joy, provide satisfaction, but not self-realization, and like any pleasure, it entails the danger of creating slavery or dependence.
One way or another, man must do something with his life, which is not only good, but he does it himself, so the meaning of life is related to the destiny he desires and needs, through this desire man seeks to offer freedom to his own development, for when he lives fully, his freedom transcends the limits of his immanence and understands that the meaning of his life does not come down to something material and finite, but transcends, goes further.
The problem is when it doesn’t go as planned, when circumstances don’t meet your life project’s expectations and “lack of meaning” takes you into the abyss of existential emptiness.
According to Swiss psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, man has three main dimensions:
Thus, when a person experiences a deep state of boredom, discouragement and is lost in the labyrinth of his existence, he has conflicts in his spiritual dimension, is unable to integrate or identify his wounds, so he does not find a reason for his wounds. existence, so he drowns in suffering and experiences a lack of meaning, coherence and purpose.
Frankl says that this gap is at the root of many mental disorders, that is, the rupture in the notic or spiritual dimension, that feeling that existence does not make sense, is expressed in the psychological dimension through three large groups of symptoms:
In this way, people trapped in existential emptiness feel that something covers their eyes and feelings with an unconscious veil, which prevents them from finding the meaning of their lives and leads them to chronic dissatisfaction and despair. Sense?
“Live like you’re already living the second time and as if the first time you’ve acted as bad as you’re about to act now. “Viktor Frankl?
According to swiss psychologist Carl Jung, man needs to find meaning to continue his journey around the world, therefore, without this meaning, he is lost in no man’s land and wandering the labyrinth of existence.
Frankl points out that the path towards the meaning of life is mediated by values and that social conscience is the instrument that reveals it; Although values come from personal intimacy, they eventually lead to universal values, coinciding with cultural, religious, or philosophical systems.
Therefore, the connection with the other is important so as not to lose the meaning of life, as well as the maintenance of emotional bonds. However, you should not give them full responsibility to be happy. In a way, a meaningful life is a life rooted in the social.
French sociologist and philosopher Durkheim explains very well the problem of social displacement and the consequences that it entails: “When a person is individualized beyond a certain point, when he radically separates himself from other beings, men or things, he closes to them, sources from which you should normally feed and have nothing to get involved in. By creating a void around you, you also create a void within yourself and have nothing more to think about than your own misery. Is there no thought other than nothing and sadness that is a consequence of it?
It is no longer a question of seeking culprits or saviors, but of adopting a thoughtful and responsible attitude that allows us to search internally, find a purpose and get out of that existential vacuum, because in reality there is no question more complicated than the meaning of life for us.
It should be said that there are many ways to define the meaning of life and even each of us can change our vital goal throughout life, so what matters, as Viktor Frankl said, is not the meaning of life in general. level, but the meaning we give him at some point.
On the other hand, Frankl says that we should not investigate the meaning of life, but understand that it is we who give it a purpose, that is, we can challenge life by responding with our own lives, this means that responsibility is the very essence. of our existence.
Although we have invested time, energy, effort and heart, life is sometimes not just, at the moment we are discouraged and that is quite understandable, however we have two options: to accept that we cannot change what happened, that there is nothing. and that we are victims of circumstance, or we accept that we cannot change what happened, but that we can change our attitude to it.
Therefore, we are responsible for our actions, emotions, thoughts and decisions, and that is why we have the opportunity to decide why, given what or to whom we should be held accountable.
Therefore, the meaning of life constantly changes, never ceases, every day and at any time we have the opportunity to make decisions that will determine whether we are subject to our own circumstances or if we act with dignity, listening to our true self. responsiblely and free from the traps of pleasure and immediate satisfaction.
“Human beings are not one more thing among many; things are settled. But man, ultimately, is his own determining factor. What happens within the limits of your faculties and your environment, do you have to do it yourself?Viktor Frankl