In imparting advice on how to find one’s meaning in life in Man’s Search For Meaning Viktor Frankl shares a lot of other gems of wisdom. I came across the following passage when reviewing the book this weekend. Having recently discussed the cathartic nature of witnessing one might want to consider the need for balance in that regard.
Frankl:
By declaring that man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this constitutive characteristic “the self-transcendence of human existence.” It denotes the fact that being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself — be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transendence.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 