The great novelist Dostoyevsky clearly saw that “If there is no God, everything is permitted.” He saw, too, that this proposition led directly to the hell of nihilism: anarchy, rage, destruction, despair, and not only suicidebut mass murder and genocide.
If Moses invented the Ten Commandments, they are, as the joke goes, simply ten suggestions. If there is no Supreme Being to control us, the rules of behavior have no authority beyond what they may suggest. wisdom, or imposed by force. There is no heaven to strive for, no eternal flames to avoid, and no Absolute Goodness to be our guide.
Life under these conditions can seem like the slightest achoo in an incomprehensible void. In such a meaningless world, and from which we are doomed to emerge painfully, motivation may well be scarce.
Neurologist, psychiatrist, and philosopher Viktor Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning after surviving four Nazi death camps, noting that prisoners who found purpose and meaning in their lives were more likely to survive than those who did not. Yet where is the meaning to be found, if our lives are merely pain-filled flashes in infinite space-time?
To anyone who finds an answer that works for them, bravo. However, there is an answer so simple that it is easy to miss. The physical sensation of being alive, the feeling evoked by the free flow of what has been called the “vital force”, is, I am convinced, what we humans know as happiness. Friedrich Schiller, author of “Ode to Joy,” was one of many poets who have felt this to be true. The more powerfully the life force flows, the greater the joy. When that life force is hampered by psychopathology, illness, villainy, or just plain bad luck, we feel sadness, suffering, pain.
If the literal meaning of life, its physical essence, is joy, it follows that the purpose of life is to strive for that joy, not so different from heaven, though more limited in time. “Follow your happiness”, as the mythologist Joseph Campbell said. Joy is inherently meaningful. If joy is a product of life force, then life must also have meaning. It is, in effect, its own meaning.
This “secret”, discovered and rediscovered over many millennia, cannot be unraveled by reason alone. It must be experienced by the whole being, body and mind together. The increase in life force overrides logic. More than one person has felt, in the midst of great sexthat he or she could never die.
notice what i say happinessNo Pleasure either fun. Those can contribute to joy; they can also be way stations on the road to suffering. Think about injecting yourself with fentanyl, street racing in Los Angeles, or having sex with an infectious stranger. Joy transcends pleasure or fun. It is an experience of what would once have been called “the divine.”
Laughter, creativity, friendship, love, sports, music, work that springs from the spirit and feeds it – these and a host of other activities that bring joy, also bring meaning. It is also important to note that seeking joy does not mean ignoring others. For most people, good interpersonal relationships are necessary to maximize the flow of life force and joy.
That our lives lack cosmic meaning does not deprive them of meaning. Even the universe will end. Given the inexplicable and miraculous gift of life, it’s foolish not to savor it when and while we can.
As part of that savoring, that experience of joy, it is good to thank the universe, however indifferent it may be, for giving us, against all odds, the gift of life. Gratitude opens channels for the life force, as well as chronically unresolved anger and resentment constricts those channels and restricts the flow.
If joy is the meaning of life, and life is the source of joy, then other living things must also feel joy. Forget the “mistake” of anthropomorphizing. Watch dolphins frolicking in the waves, horses galloping across a field, kittens rolling around your living room, and try to believe that you don’t experience joy. Watch a falcon stoop down to catch a dove in the air and tell yourself there is no joy in it as it kills and eats and feeds its demanding and happy young. Joy is not sentimental. Life is not kind. However, for humans, with our capacity for empathy, kindness can lead to joy.
The objectives for which psychotherapists work:authenticitycreative flow, mind-body congruence, extinguishing bad and destructive habits talk to yourselfmaking the unconscious conscious, self-realization: all are forms of un-fold life force and let joy flow. Watch Mike Trout track down a ball in center field. Listen to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, inspired by Schiller’s poem, and think of Beethoven composing it without being able to hear. Remember the times when his own life force felt inexhaustible and the meaning of his life seemed self-evident.
I write these words as Covid tries to shut down my life force. By writing, I access one of my sources of joy and affirm that, at least for now, I will prevail.
My son just texted, “Dad, I hope your immune system kicks covid.”
I remember coming home after a long day of teaching and a maddening stride through Los Angeles traffic, to find my then 3-year-old son waiting for me. He didn’t say, “Hi Dad, how was your day?” or offer to carry my backpack to my office. He didn’t put a big meal in front of me, like my wife did. She was so happy to see me that she yelled, “Daddy!” and just like I did seeing my father, he was literally jumping up and down with joy.
