Significance of being

A perusal of You Tube yields a 1977 interview with psychiatrist and author Victor Frankl. Widely known for his book, Man’s Search for Meaning (forged from the crucible of Auschwitz), Dr. Frankl speaks about meaning in the midst of suffering.

Participating in the interview is a young dancer who shares her concept that (1) psychology deals with reality; and (2) spirituality leads to possibility.

She likens Dr. Frankl’s ‘logo-therapy’ to a ‘technology’ for moving from psychological reality to spiritual possibility. 

Her observation echoes what I notice of my own inner journey. I tell myself, “how I be, with what happens, matters.”

To say it differently, how I hold my psychological self with what is happening can (1) devolve a situation; or (2) evolve a situation toward more generative possibilities.

On the job, a woman dresses me down like an impudent subordinate. I’d like to give her a ‘what for’ but respond with courtesy and patience. The matter moves to the office of my manager and no further consequence flows to me. 

Understanding and taking responsibility for my psychological state–what is present in myself and what it does to others—has qualities of a living spirituality.

To ‘be’ in a way that generates fewer obstacles and opens to greater possibility brings significance to my life.

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