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What is a good life? By Emily Esfahani Smith

People pursue happiness, says Emily Esfahani Smith, but it's always temporary. Pursue meaning instead.

IN SEPTE^^BER 1942, Viktor Frankl, a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neu-rologist in Vienna, was arrested and transported to a N a z i concentration camp w i t h his wife and parents. Three years later, when his camp was liberated, most of his family, including his pregnant wife, had perished—but he, prisoner number 119104, had lived. I n his best-selling 1946 book, Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl

( concluded that the difference between those w h o had lived and those w h o had died came d o w n to one thing: meaning.

As he saw in the camps, those w h o found meaning even i n the most horrendous cir- cumstances were far more resiUent to suf- fering than those w h o d i d not. "Everything

tcan be taken f r o m a man but one t h i n g , " Frankl wrote i n the book, "the last of the human freedoms—^to choose one's attitude i n any given set of circumstances, to choose one's o w n way."

I n his book, Frankl gives the example of t w o suicidal inmates he encountered i n the camps. Like many others there, these t w o men were hopeless and thought there was nothing more to expect f r o m life, nothing to live for. " I n both cases," Frankl writes, " i t was a question of getting them to real- ize that life was still expecting something f r o m t h e m . " For one man, it was his young

3child, w h o was then living i n a foreign country. For the other, a scientist, it was a series of books that he needed to finish. Frankl writes: "This uniqueness and single- ness which distinguishes each individual and gives a meaning to his existence has a bearing on creative w o r k as much as it does on human love.... A man w h o becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being w h o affectionately waits for h i m , or to an unfinished w o r k , w i l l never be able to t h r o w away his life. He knows the ' w h y ' for his existence, and w i l l be able to bear almost any ' h o w . ' "

I n 1991, the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club listed Man's Search for Meaning as one of the 10 most influential books i n the United States. Today, the book's ethos—its emphasis on meaning, the value of suffering, and responsibility t o something greater than the self—seems to be at odds w i t h our culture, which is more interested i n the pursuit of individual happiness. "To the European," Frankl wrote, " i t is a characteristic of the

frankl circa 1947: 'Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.

American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; i t must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.'"

According t o Gallup, the happiness levels of Americans are at a four-year high. O n the other hand, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about four out of 10 Americans have not discovered a

ysatisfying life purpose. Forty percent either

meaningful and/or happy. Examining their self-reported attitudes toward meaning, hap- piness, and many other variables—like stress levels, spending patterns, and having chil- dren—^the researchers found that a meaning- f u l life and a happy life overlap i n certain ways, but are ultimately very different.

do not think their lives have a clear sense of jurpose or are neutral about whether their ives have purpose. Research has shown « ;

that having purpose and meaning i n life ^ t h e y need and want. While not having

iw DO T H E happy life and the meaningful life differ? Happiness, .they found, is about feeling good.

Specifically, the researchers found that people w h o are happy tend to think that life is easy, they are i n good physical health, and they are able to buy the things that

increases overall well-being and life satisfac- t i o n , improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression.

This is why some researchers are caution- ing against the pursuit of mere happiness,

t I n a new study, psychological scientists ^asked nearly 400 Americans aged 18 to

78 whether they thought their lives were

enough money decreases how happy and meaningful you consider your life to be, it has a much greater impact on happiness. The happy life is also defined by a lack of stress or worry.

M o s t importantly f r o m a social perspective, the pursuit of happiness is associated w i t h

A selfish behavior—being a " t a k e r " rather * than a "giver." The psychologists give an

T H E WEEK February 22, 2013

The last word 4 1 evolutionary explanation for this: happiness is about drive reduction. I f you have a need or a desire—like hunger—you satisfy i t , and that makes you happy. People become happy, i n other words, when they get what

^ they want. Humans are not the only ones w h o can feel happy. Animals have needs and drives, too, and when those drives are satisfied, animals also feel happy.

" H a p p y people get a lot of joy f r o m receiv- ing benefits f r o m others, while people lead- ing meaningful lives get a lot of joy f r o m giving to others," says Kathleen Vohs, one of the study authors. I n other words, mean-

10 ''̂ S transcends the self while happiness is all about giving the self what i t wants. People w h o have high meaning i n their lives are more likely to help others i n need. " I f any- thing, pure happiness is linked to not help- ing others i n need," the researchers write.

Meaning flows from concern for others.

good o r bad correlates w i t h happiness but not at all w i t h meaning.

What sets human beings apart f r o m ani- mals is not the pursuit of happiness, which occurs all across the natural w o r l d , but the pursuit of meanbg, which is unique to humans, according to Roy Baumeistei; the lead researcher of the study.

The study participants reported deriving meaning f r o m giving a part of themselves away to others and making a sacrifice on behalf of the overall group. Having more meaning i n one's life was associated w i t h doing activities like buying presents for others, taking care of kids, and arguing. People whose lives have high levels of meaning often actively seek meaning Out

Uneven when they k n o w i t w i l l come at the 'expense of happiness. Because they have invested themselves i n something bigger than themselves, they also w o r r y more and have higher levels of stress and anxiety i n their hves than happy people. Having chil-

Meaning, on the other hand, is endur- ing. I t connects the past to the present to the future. " T h i n k i n g beyond the present moment, into the past or future, was a sign of the relatively meaningful but unhappy l i f e , " the researchers w r i t e . "Happiness is not generally found i n contemplating the past or future." That is, people w h o thought more about the present were hap-

I - pier, but people w h o spent more time think- l ^ i n g about the future or about past struggles

and sufferings felt more meaning i n their lives, though they were less happy.

Having negative events happen to you, the study found, decreases your happiness but increases the amount of meaning you have i n hfe. " I f there is meaning i n life at a l l , " Frankl wrote, "then there must be meaning i n suffering."

r m c H BRINGS us back to Frankl's life and, specifically, a decisive experience he had before he was

sent to the concentration camps. I n his early adulthood, Frankl had estabUshed himself as one of the leading psychiatrists

dren, for example, is associated w i t h the |* i n Vienna and the w o r l d . As a 16-year-old meaningful life and requires self-sacrifice, l O b o y , for example, he struck up a corre- but i t has been famously associated w i t h l o w happiness among parents, including the ones i n this study.

"Partly what we do as human beings is to take care of others and contribute to oth- ers. This makes Ufe meaningful, but it does

" n o t necessarily make us happy," Baumeister t o l d me i n an interview.

Meaning is not only about transcending the

spondence w i t h Sigmund Freud and one day sent Freud a two-page paper he had w r i t t e n . Freud, impressed by Frankl's tal- ent, sent the paper to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis for publication.

While he was i n medical school, Frankl distinguished himself even further. N o t only did he establish suicide-prevention centers for teenagers—a precursor to his w o r k i n the camps—but he was also developing his

self, but also about transcending the pres- .^signature contribution to the field of clinical eia moment—^which is perhaps the most * important finding of the study, according to the researchers. While happiness is an emo- t i o n felt i n the here and now, it ultimately

•jlfades away, just as all emotions do; positive H f f e c t and feelings of pleasure are fleeting.

3 The amount of time people report feeling

•psychology: logotherapy, which is meant to help people overcome depression and achieve well-being by finding their unique meaning i n life. By 1941, he was w o r k - mg as the chief of neurology at Vierma's Rothschild Hospital, where he risked his life and career by making false diagnoses of

mentally i l l patients so that they w o u l d not, per Nazi orders, be euthanized.

That same year, he had a decision to make that w o u l d change his life. W i t h his career on the rise and the threat of the Nazis looming, Frankl had applied for a visa to America, which he was granted i n 1941. By then, the Nazis had started roundmg up the Jews and taking them away to concentra- tion camps, focusing on the elderly first, jji Frankl knew that i t w o u l d only be time before the Nazis came to take his parents away. He also knew that once they d i d , he had a responsibility to be there w i t h his par- ents. O n the otlier hand, as a newly married man w i t h his visa i n hand, he was tempted to leave for America and flee to safety.

As Anna S. Redsand recounts i n her biogra- phy of Frankl, he was at a loss for what to do, so he set out for St. Stephan's Cathedral to clear his head. Listening to the organ music, he repeatedly asked himself, "Should ^ I leave my parents behind?... Should I say M goodbye and leave them to their fate?" He was looking for a " h i n t f r o m heaven."

When he returned home, he found i t . A piece of marble was lying on the table. His father explained that i t was rubble of a nearby synagogue that the Nazis had destroyed. I t contained a fragment of one of the Ten Commandments—the one about honoring your father and your mother. W i t h that, Frankl decided to stay i n Vienna and forgo whatever opportunities for safety and career advancement awaited h i m i n the United States. He put aside his individual pursuits to serve his family and, later, other inmates i n the camps.

The wisdom Frankl derived f r o m his expe- riences there, i n the middle of unimaginable human suffering, is just as relevant now as i t was then: "Being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, ^ | other than oneself—be i t a meaning to f u l - f i l l or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another per- son to love—^the more human he is."

By putting aside our selfish interests and serving someone or something larger than ourselves—by devoting our lives to "giv- i n g " rather than " t a k i n g " — w e are not only expressing our fundamental humanity, but are also acknowledging that there is more to the good life than the pursuit of simple happiness.

T H E WEEK Februar)' 22, 2013