Not so long ago one person asked me what is the meaning of life for me. Questions like that always give you an opportunity to connect to your highest ideas which you might often forget in the course of your days - this is why I treat them seriously. Here is the answer I gave:

"The meaning of life for me is striving for deeper knowledge of myself and for unfoldment at all levels of my personality, for creative self expression through which I make my unique contribution into the universal evolution. At the same time, meaningful life for me involves non-attachment to particular forms of my inner and outer expression at any given moment".

Of course, it is a generalization and not all-inclusive or final formula, but it was a good starting point for further discussion. I am aware that many other people have totally different ideas concerning the meaning of life. But no matter what is our understanding, we are to find this meaning.

Victor Frankl, the professor of psychiatry and a Holocaust survivor emphasized this urgent need in his well-known book "Man's Search for Meaning". According to him, "Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life and not a "secondary rationalization" of instinctual drives. The meaning is unique and specific and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance that will satisfy his own will to meaning... There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is meaning in one's life". He traced a connection between meaningless of one's existence and such problems as psychosomatic health disorders, relationship difficulties, and even suicides. The opposite is true as well: people who live meaningfully live longer, enjoy better health and greater success.

According to Frankl, "the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour". That's why I am convinced that every person have to search for meaning on his/her own.

Quite often others tell us what the meaning of life is. Their words might sound convincing, but what do we think ourselves? Does our heart agree? If opinions of others don't satisfy us, let us find our own answers and see whether they will be more suitable for us. But we need to begin this search with an assumption that life is meaningful, even if we don't fully realize it yet.

The search for meaning, essentially, is a path or ascension. As we grow in wisdom and awareness, we may ascend from a lower meaning to a greater meaning. Whatever we accept as our meaning, let us stick to it - until the course of events will disclose to us something more appealing.

Sometimes we hear that God gives the ultimate meaning to human existence. But this statement frequently brings confusion rather than clarity. And the biggest question is, what is God?

Believers are ready to explain that God is this, or God is that. Atheists and skeptics insist that it cannot be true. These arguments could be insightful, or at least entertaining, but as I observe them I often have a feeling that both sides don't hear each other. Often I have a feeling that both sides have something valuable to say. Often I have a feeling that both sides are wrong.

My approach is different, and it helps to avoid endless and fruitless discussions abut the nature of God. In our search for better life, let us begin not with God, but with meaning. Let us accept that our life and the world in general are meaningful. Let us accept that our relationships with the world are meaningful. As we ponder upon an idea of meaning, it will become gradually revealed to us. It will be confirmed our experiences. Our understanding will grow even further, and it would be possible for us to recognize the universal order - and to identify it with God.

(to be continued)