On the day the Large Hadron Collider is turned on to try to discover the basic 'how' of the universe, thoughts turn to the obvious follow-up - the 'why'.  But as Ed discovered in The Buddha, Geoff and Me, according to  psychiatrist Viktor Frankl that's the wrong question.

I started reading [Man's Search For Meaning] on the bus home.  What a book.  What a bloke!  A man who could find meaning even in a concentration camp!  I literally could not put it down.  I almost chose to stay on the bus past my stop just so I could go on reading.  But reluctantly I marked the page and jumped off, then hurried, ran almost, back to my flat so I could start reading again.  Dora was right – Frankl deals with the meaning of life in a single page.  And what a page!

The Meaning of Life

I doubt whether a doctor [he was a psychiatrist] can answer this question in general terms.  For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour.  What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.  To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: ‘Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?’  There is simply no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one’s opponent.  The same holds for human existence.  One should not search for an abstract meaning to life.  Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfilment.  Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.  Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed.  Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognise that it is he who is asked.  In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life…

My jaw dropped at the utter simplicity, the profound wisdom of this.  Of course!  There is no Meaning ‘out there’ waiting to be discovered, like a distant land on the other side of the world.  It’s here, in us and our circumstances, waiting to be realised - or created, perhaps.

Extract from The Buddha, Geoff and Me by Edward Canfor-Dumas, published by Rider, 2005.