Existential Emptiness And Search For Meaning: What Can Psychology Do?
Have you ever had to choose between two or more situations and don’t know if the choice you made was the right one? Have you ever wondered what is the point of living if we are going to die sooner or later? Have you ever experienced: anguish, guilt or deep suffering? If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, continue reading because this article was created for you.
The title of the article outlines more than just theoretical concepts, as it exemplifies an anthropological and existential definition: “Man as an indeterminate being and in constant search for meaning”; However, **is it possible to find this meaning through psychotherapy? **
Women and men are always oriented towards something that we ourselves are not, for example, being intentional towards something or someone; For this reason, meaning is spoken of as an anthropological characteristic, since the very fact of being considered a human being is to go beyond ourselves and this possibility of transcendence is what constitutes its existence.
Now, from a historical and social point of view, it is considered that the human being’s ultimate goal is to be happy, right? However, it has been discovered that What human beings really want is not happiness in itself, but a reason to be happy. , since, as soon as it finds this motive, happiness and pleasure arise of themselves; happiness is a consequence.
Thus, what motivates women and men is neither the will for pleasure nor the will for power, but the will for meaning, and it is this that drives humanity to pursue and try to reveal its meaning; that is, leaving oneself to meet an “other”, as acts of realization and encounter that found happiness in the human being.
However, this aspiration usually dissolves into the direct search for pleasure, instead of it occurring as a consequence of a significant act, Pleasure then becomes the goal itself, leading people to fall into a compulsive and worrying cycle. We know that the more she cares about pleasure, the more she distances herself from it.
Thus, at present, it is more evident that the population lives immersed in an existential frustration, not because there is a greater amount of “emptiness”, but because the abrupt changes of the times force us to adapt to the “newness”, to which many times we are not prepared or we do not even know that we must adapt.
Viktor Frankl, founder of logotherapy, explains that in these post-modern times we live in a growing existential frustration , which can manifest itself through boredom, apathy or despair, these being the first symptoms of the expression of emptiness and lack of meaning. Thus, some causes of existential emptiness are usually the loss of instincts (what to do) and traditions (how to do it).
This aspect is essential to allow us to reflect, therefore, Unlike animals, human beings are not limited to our instincts. , but also, currently we lack traditions and customs that tell us how to do things. So, in the absence of what tells us how we should be and what tells us how to do things, it seems that deep down we no longer know what we really want, which is why we end up doing what others do or doing what What others tell us what we should do.
Furthermore, a third point about existential emptiness or frustration must be considered, and this is anguish. If we are in a time of emptiness, Does our life have meaning? Here an interesting dichotomy arises: life has meaning, but this meaning cannot be given, but must be discovered, because if the meaning were given or invented, a subjective meaning would be produced, an absurdity.
Human beings, when they do not show the ability to reveal or create meaning in their lives, flee from the sensation of meaninglessness: they believe that it is something absurd or that it is something subjective. However, meaning must not only be found, but fortunately it is possible to discover it. But how?
Well, consciousness is a key piece, since it will be what gives direction to the search for meaning. But let’s be cautious, because it can deceive human beings about what its own meaning is, since we will not know with absolute certainty if we have really found it or not: we are condemned to uncertainty.
What can psychotherapy do to help you find meaning?
As I have pointed out throughout this article, meaning cannot be provided by anyone and this includes, of course, the psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor or psychotherapist , since it is a personal task. However, the consultant can be made to note that life has meaning under any circumstance, since the fact of not having certainties is what allows us to act with genuine freedom.
Regarding psychology, the themes of meaning are based on phenomenology, because there cannot be an issuance of judgments or false morality in any situation; On the contrary, it focuses much more on the experience and value that each person assigns to the circumstances in which they live, since Human beings have the ability to find meaning in their experiences, “a meaning.”.
Psychology, like medicine, knows that it is necessary to “make use of” philosophy, since in the face of the lack of meaning and the radical changes in our days, the lack of objectives, boredom, lack of meaning and purpose require more than interpretation and technical instructions and the purpose is focused on cultivating a “personal philosophizing” as the ability to look at oneself and enable reflective thinking that invites the consultant from their own perspective to know themselves capable and free of responding to the questions that life asks them.
Now, why does life have meaning despite everything? From this perspective, life has meaning under any circumstance and even with limitations of any kind, because Human beings are supported by two anthropological and existential pillars, freedom and responsibility. , which make it possible to face every obstacle in life. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s how it is, we are free beings because we are limited beings, we are finite, we are wandering beings, and it is in the face of such a possibility that we must know ourselves to be in permanent capacity for choice.
Finally, it is not about giving answers to each consultant, but rather enabling their ability to respond to themselves, to shape their destiny.
Thus, the psychologist specializing in these areas of care will accompany you not only as a witness of your ability to respond, but also as a support and solid support on which you can hold yourself while you experience the anguish of the choice, the renunciation, and of course , before the freedom to which, as a person, you are condemned; And it is thanks to this accompaniment, to staying in the how of the experience, that one can know and understand where the person “chooses and transforms” allowing themselves to identify that perspective that could limit their horizon of meaning, for example , based on what they have learned, their beliefs, their judgments, their deepest fears or those habits that have shaped them.
The human being You can overcome these limitations and thus, from that freedom and ability to respond, you can shape your destiny. Psychotherapy, therefore, can be considered as a possibility of meaning, since it shows the client how to transform despair into a triumph (V. Frankl, 2003).
If after what you have just read more or new questions and questions have arisen, how wonderful: the goal has been achieved, because this is a reflective and philosophical invitation, questions being the first step of the journey. If you consider that the current situations in your life raise more questions to which you do not know what or how to respond and you want to face this challenge, you can contact me so that we can try to reveal this experience together for the sake of a Meaning.
