In 1946, Viktor Frankl wrote a book called Man’s Search for Meaning, about life in the death camps of Germany.

He was an Austrian psychologist who ended up in Auschwitz. At one stage he was part of a crew that collected prisoners from rail trucks as they arrived. He tells how it was impossible to predict who would survive long, just by looking at them. The big guys didn’t always, and the little weak sickly guys were not always the first to go. Or vice versa. Later, as he interviewed many of them, he concluded it was the ones who had a purpose, who lasted longer than the ones who didn’t.

A previous post talks about how everyone has a purpose on a sinking lifeboat – to survive.

Frankl realised his own life had a purpose in he was driven to rewrite a textbook which was taken away from him when he arrived at camp. So important did he think the information was, he was rewriting the book from memory on any slips of paper he could find.

But  the interesting part about his conclusion was – it didn’t matter what the purpose was. It didn’t have to be noble, like save the planet, or like Frankl’s intellectual purpose. If it was to see your spouse again, your dog or just to have one more hearty meal…if there was a reason to get up, you had a chance.

Friedrich Nietzsche,  the German philosopher said: “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear almost any ‘how’.”

And …

“Everything can be taken from a man, but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

What is a purpose? It is what gets you out of bed. It is a programme on TV of your interests you will stay up until 3.00 in the morning to watch. It is something you will travel to see – no matter how out of the way. Or it could be just to take care of your fabulous new puppy.

It is anything that gets you going, despite obstacles. Your purpose doesn’t have to be noble…it’s preferable if it’s moral, but it is what makes the world a better place for you, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS!  It is your reason for living another day. It can be life-long, or it can be short lived.

It must have the power to move you – in every sense of the word.  And it must be yours.

You can’t have a purpose because other people think it is good for you. Sportsmen who pursue their parent’s goals; people who study subjects their mate’s think are cool, or take jobs to look good to their peers, don’t have a purpose.