Life is, as Buddhists say, 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows.

As much as we might wish, none of us can avoid suffering. That’s why it’s important to learn to suffer well.

"Tragic optimism"  (coined by Viktor Frank in Man's Search for Meaning) is the ability to maintain hope and find meaning in life despite its inescapable pain, loss and suffering.

To, as  Frankl said, “Say yes to life in spite of everything.”

Frankl says that it is easy, in the face of inevitable tragedy, to fall in to nihilism or to chase after things like happiness instead of seeking meaning.  However, he is clear that the quest for meaning is the only one which he considers worthwhile. He suggests that seeking happiness is a form of ‘hyperintention’: Like trying to get to sleep,  it is one of those things that if we try too hard to make it happen we will be even less likely to achieve it. For Frankl the only true way to happiness is through finding meaning.

And research shows that adopting the spirit of tragic optimism enables people to actually grow through adversity.

This certainly won’t be remembered as a happy period in the history of the world, but it may be remembered as a time of redemptive meaning and hope.

We can use the fleetingness of life, the awareness that we’ll all be dust soon enough, to spur ourselves to take responsibility for our lives, to find meaning, and to take meaningful action.

First breakout group:

prompts:

Overall, how are you? What are you doing that is helping you?

What is your reaction to "tragic optimism"? How are you finding/making meaning during this time?

(groups of 3, 7 minutes)

Excerpted from: On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for Meaning, Not Happiness

By Emily Esfahani Smith


haggadah Section: Introduction