On my drives to/from Tahoe, I usually listen to an audiobook or a course of some kind. Most recently, it was "Man's Search for Meaning," by Viktor Frankl. Dr. Frankl was a psychiatrist and a survivor of Auschwitz, who, based on his experiences, postulated that "meaning"(purpose?) was at the core of a mental attitude that could survive almost any hardship and that this attitude could be willed into existence (at least that's my interpretation.)
I'm embedding a video from a TED talk(a favorite source) which embodies Dr. Frankl's tenets in a more easily understood and more current context. Note that it is 22 minutes long.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. What should be our basic purpose in life? What kind of society should we live in? Prof. Layard argues that the objective for our society should not be to become richer and richer. Wealth, he claims, is related to happiness only up to a point - and where the two diverge, we should not forget that the promised happiness was the only reason we attempted to become richer in the first place.
RICHARD LAYARD is best known for his contributions to happiness economics. You are likely to know him as the author of “Happiness: Lessons from a New Science” (2005) – a book which redefined the simplistic economic link between income and happiness. He is also the
co-founder of the Action for Happiness movement, now counting over 30,000 members. In both 2012 and 2013 Professor Layard co-edited the World Happiness Reports. Professor Layard’s studies have over the years considered unemployment and inequality. Moreover his recent work on the importance of non-income variables contributing to aggregate happiness has focused on mental health.
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