Virginia Press Journal Entry 2

We spoke in class today about what gives life meaning in the absence of culturally constructed meaning. Or, at the very least, it was hinted at in discussion and gracefully ignored. However, I feel very strongly on the subject and feel obligated to address it. 

In the only useful reading presented to me thus far by the Leadership curriculum, Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" directly addresses how people find meaning in life. It is his conclusion that meaning, though the ultimate motivator in how we lead our lives, is entirely self prescribed. It is something we discover in response to the social world and culture (including religion) around us. Therefore, within the framework of this course, wherein a strict dichotomy exists between primordial inherent existence and our culturally built context, there cannot be inherent meaning to life. If, as Frankl asserts, life-meaning is a cultural construct, there fundamentally cannot be some grand overarching meaning of life for us primordial beings. Instead, we search for personal meaning for the same reason Prof. Redick described; we need to have control over a self-centered idea of our own existence. 

Frankly, this is bleak. 

But, strangely, Fight Club makes a good point on this. Once you have confronted this existential dread, you haven't suddenly left your cultural context. You're simply more aware of it than ever. Now, with this realization we are given the opportunity to choose meaning for ourselves. Repeatedly I have said and I will continue to say, get weirder. Do whatever you want in the world. There is nothing stopping you. 

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