Several months ago I wrote on my meaningtherapy blog an “elevator statement” to explain logotherapy. I present here the exchange of comments.
Batya (my post): The basis of logotherapy is that everything has a reason, and whether or not we know what the reason is, everything can be used for a good purpose.
We grow by getting in touch with what makes us human – our conscience, our love, our choice, our responsibility and our values.
Pan: My elevator statement would be much the same: “Everything has a reason and that’s why it’s so important to trust in the goodness of “life”… becoming more aware of what’s going on around me… how things start to fit together… the potential each new life event is promising… the good that always exists… the possibilities that are available… TRUST-TRUST-TRUST! All life is a GIFT if viewed through the Logotherapeutic lens and embraced for the existential truths and values that exist in any given situation.
Anonymous: I refuse to believe that everything happens for a reason. Everything does have a cause, or many causes. Things fall to the ground because of gravity; that is a cause. But to say that children are abused, that wars happen, that centuries of unanswered suffering is because it’s in someone’s grand tapestry? That is a cruel universe I refuse to believe. Life is not a gift, it simply IS. You would not say life is a gift if you’d died minutes after birth from terrible disfigurements, or lived the life of an insect with no awareness save instinct. I do believe we can find a subjective purpose from our circumstances, but that does not mean our circumstances occurred because of some larger reason.
Batya (responding to “anonymous”): Your argument makes a lot of sense. Lately I have come to what I believe is a more accurate definition of meaning. The meaning of any occurrence or condition is the opportunity it gives you to do something valuable in the world. It’s not up to us to try and figure out why something happens but rather what for. What good purpose can this serve? I still believe that everything happens for a reason even though we can’t possibly know what that reason is. And sometimes the reason is just because this is an imperfect world or because this is what happens when human beings have free will and can make all kinds of mistakes and do all kinds of horrible things. Once there is gravity, something dropped from a skyscraper will fall and break. Yet even with all the inevitable natural consequences of things, I believe there is a Creator who not only created but continues to run, guide and direct the world towards a positive goal. And I also believe that as human beings we have been endowed with the ability to find something good and purposeful to do in response to suffering. I’m interested in hearing if this makes sense to you.
After writing this response I continued to ponder anonymous’s point. We can certainly conclude from Frankl’s writings that everything happens for a reason, although we may never know what that reason is.
There are at least two problems with this. First of all, examined in the light of my religious faith (although there are different opinions there as well) there are different degrees of divine providence. Something can happen as a consequence of something we’ve done or something can happen simply because we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we may never know which it is.
For example: Is an illness a consequence of poor eating habits, stressful lifestyle, spiritual problems or just one of the effects of nature not being perfect? In other words, it’s not only that we don’t know God’s reasons for making something happen. We also don’t know whether God deliberately thought to cause this to happen or whether it happened simply because this is the nature of how nature is set up and the processes that are set in motion. Secondly it’s a problem is when people make presumptions about the causes of other people’s troubles.
But does not knowing the reason force me back into a position of disconnection from the Creator of the universe? Does this “not knowing the reason” imply that the world is a chaotic place and that there is no divine providence? That is, if we don’t know why something is happening and therefore, practically speaking what matters is only what we make out of it, then does this mean that there is no practical difference between whether you believe in a “tyrant in the sky,” believe in a benevolent Creator or believe that it’s all subjective and we create meaning? After all, in the end the question is not “Why?” but “What for?” No. Belief in a benevolent Creator, an involved Creator makes a difference.
I imagine my Creator “looking down” and being sad when I’ve made a mistake and caused myself or others distress. I imagine my Creator looking for other ways to get me to pay attention when I’ve been ignoring His messages. God does not do everything for us, yet neither are we all on our own. We forget that we are partners in creation. What’s meant to be will be if we put the work into it.