In accordance with Viktor Frankl, the founder of the third Vienna school of Psychoanalysis, there are three way of achieving the meaning in the life:

1.      By loving someone
2.      By creative work
3.      By meaningful abiding


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy

Logotherapy was developed by neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. It is considered the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy"[1] after Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology. It is a type of existentialist analysis that focuses on a will to meaning as opposed to Adler's Nietzschean doctrine of will to power or Freud's will to pleasure. Rather than power or pleasure, logotherapy is founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one's life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans. A short introduction to this system is given in Frankl's most famous book, Man's Search for Meaning, in which he outlines how his theories helped him to survive his Holocaust experience and how that experience further developed and reinforced his theories.

The notion of Logotherapy was created with the Greek word logos  ("meaning"). Frankl’s concept is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. The following list of tenets represents the basic principles of logotherapy:

   * Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
   * Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
   * We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.

The human spirit is referred to in several of the assumptions of logotherapy, but the use of the term spirit is not "spiritual" or "religious". In Frankl's view, the spirit is the will of the human being. The emphasis, therefore, is on the search for meaning, which is not necessarily the search for God or any other supernaturalbeing.
Frankl also noted the barriers to humanity's quest for meaning in life. He warns against

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude"
Victor Frankl

The meaning of life:

1. the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.
2. the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, esp. metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.
3. the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual: to risk one's life; a short life and a merry one.
4. a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: eternal life.
5. the general or universal condition of human existence: Too bad, but life is like that.

6. 42 (according to Douglas Adams)

I'm sure it's 42...

mozzaok wrote on Aug 16^th, 2010 at 7:48am:


I guess you are right. It’s difficult to find meaning in going thousand kilometers away from your country to kill innocent people who you’ve newer seen in your life.
Some of Vietnam war veterans from USA and Australia are involved in charity work in Vietnam that will help them to heal their post traumatic disorders.
http://www.vietnamfriendship.org/fmn.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/24/us/veterans-returning-to-vietnam-to-end-a-haun...

Gosh .. just read through this topic .. very impressive stuff!

Why does Human Life have a meaning to be discovered and not all life? What makes the human 'special' in this regard?

Soren wrote on Sep 29^th, 2010 at 7:44pm:


Oh... I understand... the meaning of life has nothing to do with life and everything to do with thinking.

So um... what's the meaning of thinking then? Why is human thinking and its articulation more 'special' in this regard?