There’s a pithy saying: ‘If in doubt, don’t!’ That is the safer way to play it, especially if it comes to working with electricity as you may have discovered. Rewiring a house is a job for a trained electrician and not for a willing amateur! The opposite approach is taken by some with likely dire consequences: ‘If in doubt, do!’ If you look at the bigger picture of ‘do’ and ‘don’t’, everyone needs something to do. Whilst it will not suit everyone to become an electrician there is something for which we are all suited with our inclinations, specific aptitudes and general abilities. Quite often it takes a person a long time to discover what that is. Sometimes it is never discovered. What about you? Without it, fulfilment and personal growth is missing. Do you find meaning in doing or in being?
- ‘Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfilment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it’ – Viktor E Frankl
Frankl’s life was beset with tragedy that came to many Jews – his father, mother, brother and first wife Tilly died in three different Concentration Camps but Viktor survived. He trained to become a psychiatrist wanting to help address the needs of depressed and suicidal people. His best-selling book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ was translated into English and published in 1959. Frankl saw the success of the book as a symptom of the ‘mass neurosis of modern times’ since the title promised to deal with the question of life’s meaningfulness. He called his approach ‘Logotherapy’ and concluded that there are three main ways of realising meaning in life: by making a difference in the world, by having particular experiences and by adopting particular attitudes. Although rather ‘woolly’, there’s little doubt that his chosen career led to him helping many people overcome anxieties, change attitudes and look for meaning.
- ‘Empathy is choosing to see ourselves in another despite our differences. It’s recognizing that the same humanity – the same desire for meaning, fulfilment and security – exists in each of us, even if it’s expressed uniquely’ – Vivek Murthy
Born to immigrants from India in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Murthy rose to become a Vice Admiral and Surgeon General in the United States. Ten of his relatives died from COVID-19 with his own nuclear family all contracting it in February 2022. His immediate family survived but Vivek’s observations on life reveal deep empathy and an understanding of the need for personal identity, value and purpose. Both Frankl and Murthy sought to make a difference for the good of others in harnessing their own abilities as they searched for meaning.
Not everyone can be a psychiatrist, a surgeon or an electrician but we can all be and do something as we work out the meaning of our lives. The fact is that it is best when our ‘doing’ flows out from our ‘being’, for when we know who we are then we know what we should do. The trouble is that most of the time, people go about it the wrong way round in that they put ‘doing’ before ‘being’ – we are after all ‘Human Beings’ not ‘Human Doings’! When life becomes all about doing it’s then that life can unravel. Although Jesus was a carpenter by trade, that was not what defined him. It was when he revealed that he came as the Son of God to save us from condemnation that you can see his ‘doing’ flowed from his ‘being’ and this is how he wants it to be for all who follow him, those he has saved.
- ‘The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world’ – John 12:45-47
- ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him’ – 1 John 3:1
- ‘But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself’ – Matthew 6:33-34
- ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ – Ephesians 2:10
Walt Disney’s film ‘The Lion King’ has some heart-warming themes. The theme tune composed by Elton John is ‘The Circle of Life’ and has this line written by Tim Rice: ‘It’s the circle of life and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ‘til we find our place’. So a question: have you found your place in being rather than in doing? This is what Jesus came for, that, no matter what your past is, you might find yourself through his work. As a child of God, you can then enjoy life to the full, using all your gifts and abilities to do those things that he has prepared for you. This is what will bring you fulfilment and also joy to your heavenly Father as he sees you flourish in the person he’s calling you to be. Perhaps this is a light bulb moment – you know what to do!
One Life, Live It! (connect4life.org.uk)
TAGS – talents, goals, accomplishment, motivation, actualisation