The Last of the Mohicans. The Godfather. Forrest Gump.
These films are cultural touchstones. Even if you haven’t seen them, you likely know the stories, iconic lines, and the influence they’ve had on popular culture.
I’ve never watched any of them. I will. Someday. Probably.
Many people have a similar list when it comes to books — works frequently cited, widely praised, yet somehow unread. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl was on my to-be-read list for years. Authors I respect reference it all the time, but I had never actually read it until last year. And I’m grateful I finally did. I’ve now read it twice, and this one may be an annual read for me.
Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist who founded logotherapy, a school of psychology based on the premise humanity’s primary drive is not pleasure (as Freud argued) or power (as Adler suggested) but meaning. Frankl devoted his life to studying how people cultivate meaning, how it sustains them, and why it matters.
It wasn’t just theory for him. Frankl was a Holocaust survivor. He endured the horrors of Auschwitz, an experience giving Man’s Search for Meaning a weight few other books on psychology or philosophy can claim. His reflections on suffering, resilience, and the human spirit are not abstract. They were forged and tested in the crucible of one of history’s darkest moments. And yet, his message is consistently one of hope.
Man’s Search for Meaning is far more than an account of survival — it’s an exploration of what makes life worth living. As I read, I found myself taking notes, pausing to reflect, and reconsidering my own assumptions about purpose. Below are a dozen key insights I took away from Frankl’s work:
12 Lessons from Man’s Search for Meaning
- Beauty brings surprising meaning, especially in difficult circumstances. A violin playing during unimaginable suffering can reconnect us to hope, to memory, to love. In darkness, beauty has power. Beauty reminds us we are not alone.
- A future vision gives life significance. When we lose sight of tomorrow, life becomes unbearable. Meaning requires us to think forward. The ability to endure hardship is intrinsic to a future hope.
- We find purpose in being needed. Whether we are needed by a person or by a cause, our sense of meaning is often tethered to our usefulness. People around us, need us. There’s meaning in the position we are right now.
- Love is the deepest anchor of meaning. As Frankl wrote, “The salvation of man is through love and in love.” Even in a concentration camp, he found strength in the thought of his wife. “And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13)
- Struggle is essential for growth. We need a challenge to press against, a problem to solve, a task that stretches us. A life without struggle can become a life without purpose. Meaning is forged in adversity.
- Meaning is deeply personal. There is no universal purpose in life—only your purpose in your life. Instead of asking, “What can I get from life?”, Frankl suggests we ask, “What does life ask of me?” Purpose is uniquely molded within each of us.
- Meaning is found in service to others. Generosity is not just an ethical virtue; it is at the core of self-actualization. The paradox of a meaningful life is that it is not found in seeking our own fulfillment, but in giving ourselves away. (Matthew 10:43)
- There are three primary ways we find meaning:
- Creativity – through work, action, or making something.
- Love – through deep relationships with people, nature, or beauty.
- Suffering well – by transcending hardship and refusing to be defined by it.
- A powerful filter for decision-making: Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.
- Nostalgia is different from reflection. Living in past dreams robs us of the present. But remembering past realities—our fulfilled meaning, our actualized potential—gives us something that cannot be taken away.
- Meaning can be found in suffering—but suffering is not required for meaning. Hardship can shape us, but we do not need to seek suffering to lead a meaningful life.
- Helping others find their purpose is one of the most important things we can do. Purpose is contagious; when we help others find it, we create ripples of meaning far beyond ourselves.
I spend much of my time working with business owners, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders, and I see the power of this firsthand. One of the first exercises in my consulting process is helping leaders clarify their purpose. Not a purpose. Not the ultimate purpose. But their purpose.
And it’s revolutionary. Probably not for the whole world. Maybe not even to their entire organization (although leaders who know their purpose tend to build purposeful organizations — and that changes everything).
But to them.
According to Frankl — and to point 12 above — helping others find meaning may be the most important work any of us can do. In a world where people are desperate for purpose, guiding them toward it is a profound act of service.
Frankl is explicitly clear why meaning matters: “Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.”
I commend this book to you. Now, maybe I should finally make time for The Godfather.
