Follow Your Bliss

“…if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.” - Joesph Campbell

As a life-long student of personal mythology and the human spirit, Joseph Campbell believed that individuals who identified pursuits about which they were truly passionate, would find their fullest potential in life - and serve their community to the greatest possible extent.

However, following one's bliss, as Campbell saw it, isn't merely a matter of doing whatever you like or seeking pleasure. It is more about finding what is deeply meaningful to you in life.

Campbell concluded: “Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.”

Celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl, who wrote the outstanding classic Man’s Search for Meaning, came to realise that it was the quest for meaning which sustained him and others during their time imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp.

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize 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; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” - Viktor E. Frankl

So what typically gives our life meaning?

For Frankl, meaning came from several sources, but especially from the power of love, from beauty, art, humour and from having a worthy purpose or calling in life.

Frankl believed that happiness was not to be pursued for its own end, but was derived as a by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. He writes that:

“Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.” - Viktor E. Frankl

Thomas Merton said: “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.”

Frankl writes that love reaches “very far beyond the physical person of the beloved”. Love is therefore transpersonal and can transcend physical separation or loss. Bonds of love cannot be quantified or measured, and yet they are as real a phenomenon as any physical tie. Love endures - even when matter perishes - and for this reason, it is a powerful, and more permanent source of meaning.

“I understood how a man who had nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in contemplation of his beloved.” - Viktor E. Frankl

Frankl illustrates the transcendental power of love with a moving example of how his feelings for his wife — who was eventually killed in the camps — gave him a sense of meaning:

“We were at work in a trench. The dawn was grey around us; grey was the sky above; grey the snow in the pale light of dawn; grey the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and grey their faces. I was again conversing silently with my wife, or perhaps I was struggling to find the reason for my sufferings, my slow dying. In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious “Yes” in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable grey of a dawning morning in Bavaria. “Et lux in tenebris lucet” — and the light shineth in the darkness. For hours I stood hacking at the icy ground. The guard passed by, insulting me, and once again I communed with my beloved. More and more I felt that she was present, that she was with me; I had the feeling that I was able to touch her, able to stretch out my hand and grasp hers. The feeling was very strong: she was there. Then, at that very moment, a bird flew down silently and perched just in front of me, on the heap of soil which I had dug up from the ditch, and looked steadily at me.” -Viktor E. Frankl

Frankl found that another important factor that allowed men to endure the horrors of Auschwitz, was to hold in one’s mind’s grip some future mission or cause greater than oneself. He cites Nietzsche, who wrote that “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how”:

“Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. The typical reply with which such a man rejected all encouraging arguments was, “I have nothing to expect from life any more.” What sort of answer can one give to that?” - Viktor E. Frankl

Frankl termed his overall therapeutic doctrine for overcoming adversity “logotherapy” — a method of healing the soul by cultivating the capacity to find a meaningful life:

“Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence. This emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the categorical imperative of logotherapy, which is: “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!” - Viktor E. Frankl

A sense of meaning is ultimately about what we value - what matters to us and what we care deeply about. Gordon W. Allport who wrote the preface to Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning summarises:

“Hunger, humiliation, fear and deep anger at injustice are rendered tolerable by closely guarded images of beloved persons, by religion, by a grim sense of humour, and even by glimpses of the healing beauties of nature - a tree or a sunset.” - Gordon W. Allport

Hayes, Ciarrochi and Bailey group values into several headings such as connecting with others, relationships with family & friends, belonging to a social group, caring for others, caring for oneself, enjoying every moment, being creative, being active, learning new things, challenging oneself, and political or spiritual pursuits.

As Frankl suggested, holding our values in mind can strengthen our capacity for resilience when encountering difficult emotional experiences.

Hayes, Ciarrochi and Bailey advise that emotions are valuable signals, but we need to hear them in the context of our values.

For example, when we are angry, we may want to lash out at someone who we feel has caused us harm. Instead, they advise listening to the anger and then weighing that information with what we care about. We may care about having genuine connections and close relationships. Lashing out probably doesn’t help with that value - so we may choose a different, values-based action.

Resilience is about being able to maintain this kind of integrity in relation to our core values, even in the face of stressful external circumstances.

This level of psychological flexibility is not always possible for trauma survivors, who may experience debilitating emotional flashbacks that trigger intense feelings - but it is best thought of as a spiritual practice, from which we can learn and grow towards greater wholeness.

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.” - Gordon W. Allport

Other renowned authors such as the Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung have also recognised the power of finding meaning within and through suffering. As Carl Jung wrote in his seminal text, Man and his Symbols,

“We can stand the most incredible hardships when we are convinced they make sense.” - C. G. Jung

Meaning can give us strength and meaning can give us courage.

South African President Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring modern day examples of meaning triumphing over adversity. He emerged from 27 years of imprisonment with grace and dignity because the dream of equality, that he never lost sight of, meant more to him than any personal feelings of anger or animosity.

“Turn your face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.” ― Maori Proverb

Turning towards our values and letting our fears fall behind us, can keep us on Campbell’s ‘track’…and make sure we stay there - even when we experience setbacks and challenges.

“Ultimately values represents the kind of person you want to be in life. You can think of values like a lighthouse that guides you through a storm.” - Hayes, Ciarrochi & Bailey

Values give us a sense of meaning, purpose, and energy, and help us to grow. And Frankl’s tremendous story tells us that, “life holds a potential for meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones.”

For me personally, being in a loving relationship, caring for children, spending time in nature, travelling, maintaining a spiritual practice, and reading or writing are some of my most valued pursuits that help me to find meaning in suffering. As the American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote:

“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.” - Emily Dickinson

So this summer, when the sun in shining and you feel the call to adventure, follow your bliss not by seeking sensation…but by seeking meaning:

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” - Jean Shinoda Bolen