The Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl (1905–1997) authored a book in 1946, called Man’s Search for Meaning. Many authors over the years have written books with similar titles. During more than three hundred years of the printing press, billions of books have been published in different languages and if a common title were to be given to all these books, it would, without doubt, be: In Search of Meaning.
Everyone is in search of God. It is God who gives meaning to all phenomena, because, after finding God, everything falls into place.
A human being, by nature, is a seeker of meaning. Everyone is born with an enquiring mind. Everyone tries to find the answer to his quest; and, it is this quest which has resulted in the publication of many books, both fiction and non-fiction. All are directly or indirectly related to the subject of the quest for truth.
When a person reaches the age of maturity, his first concern is earning his livelihood. He opts for various kinds of jobs or engages in different types of economic activity. When he becomes engaged in some work, he goes through the period of satisfaction. Then, gradually, a time comes when he realises that his job is not giving him what he had been in search of. Certainly, he gets his “bread”, but, as Jesus Christ rightly said: “Man does not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4: 4).
To earn one’s “bread” is everyone’s first need. But, bread can satisfy only one’s physical requirements; it fails to give any intellectual satisfaction. This is the main cause of frustration and despair experienced by almost everyone today.
According to the Big Bang theory, the universe came into existence about 13 billion years ago. Everyone thinks on these lines: ‘Billions of years ago, I was a non-existent entity in this vast Universe. Then, I was born and nature made me a part of the population of the world.’ Every person, consciously or unconsciously, yearns to know how he came into existence and tries to find the meaning of his life in this world.
There are few who have not frequently reflected on existence. When a person is born, he immediately finds himself in a world with a life support system which he did not bring into existence. He then thinks that nature potentially had an entire technology hidden in it. Man later discovered and developed this technology to create the civilization we see around us. Thus, man questions himself: Who is behind this living drama? What is the relationship between me and that super-artist? Then, there is the question of death: Why does man die and what lies in the post-death period?
It is only the self-discovered God that can give you conviction. It is your own study and contemplation that can give you your God.
If you try to explain this phenomenon, you will find a single title for it, which in religious terms may be called “God”. If we accept this term, we can say that, in fact, everyone is in search of God. It is God who gives meaning to all phenomena, because, after finding God, everything falls into place. Separated from his mother in a crowd, a little boy was running around anxiously. He was crying and continually saying: “Where is my mother?” When he found his mother, she took him in her arms. Instantly the boy stopped crying and became calm and satisfied. This incident illustrates the case of man. Everyone, knowingly or unknowingly, is in search of God. During this search he runs towards various things, but when they come within his reach, he very soon realises that he has not found the answer to his search. This has been true of every human being throughout the history of mankind.
‘God’ is not something which one finds from external sources: it is a matter of self-discovery. God can only be discovered by an individual himself. It is only the self-discovered God that can give you conviction. If you want to make your life meaningful, you have to take up this question on a priority basis. It is your own study and contemplation that can give you your God. The criterion of finding God is that when you find Him, you should become completely satisfied, like the little boy in the incident related above.
The process of search has only one condition to it, and that is, sincerity. Jesus Christ has said: “He that seeketh findeth” (Matthew 7: 8). This is not a religious saying; rather it describes a law of nature. One who is truly sincere in his search will certainly reach his goal.
