Bear with me as I try a new type of possibly-cheesy semi-regular posting, which I'm calling Monday Muse. Since I believe in the wisdom of books (ok sometimes it's just food for thought), but even I don't want to read the lengthy book review blog posts I've tried in the past, I'm going to share my favorite quotes from these books. So for my first installment of Monday Muse I present Dr. Viktor E. Frankl: Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and celebrated author of Man's Search for Meaning.
For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment....One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it. As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presented a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.