Letter to My Parents

Dear Mom and Dad,

I can't even imagine what my life will be like this time next year. I'm actually really scared for college and  failing doesn't seem so far fetched. Obviously I'm going to do my best to ensure that doesn't happen, but even so, I don't know how hard classes or tests will be, and you know how much I procrastinate so I don't know how well that's going to work out.

I have been pretty indecisive during this process and I wished I hadn't been. I didn't have a top school (and I still don't) and I don't know what major I want to pursue. Unfortunately, it's only the beginning of all the major decisions I will have to make--and you know with these things, I tend to push them out of mind until I absolutely need to face them. Yeah, I don't want to choose the major and end up having to study a subject I'm not interested in, and I don't want to choose the wrong school and then have to transfer the next year.

I've gotten into schools that I didn't think I would get into, and you both were definitely angry that I applied to so many, but I wanted to make sure I would get into somewhere. I realize that you guys believed in me when I didn't, and I hope you still will for these next four years.

On another note, you guys definitely worry too much about my safety and what not, so I'll be glad to get away from that.

Thanks for everything and I'll miss you.

                                                                                                                            Love,
                                                                                                                            Nambi

Frankl-y Speaking

It took me a while to read Man's Search for Meaning, and I considered it as hard to read. Overall, I didn't really like the book because of the constant connections of a life event to a meaning. I think after some years from now, I'll revisit the book to see if my perspective changed.

In the book, Frankl talked about how the concentrations camps changed people psychologically, and  through that, he explains logo therapy and how he survived the Nazi camps. From previous books that I  have read about the Holocaust, it was mostly said that survivors were lucky. Here, Frankl says that it was luck but also more of the prisoner's attitude. The quote that I like that relates to this idea is, "…it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us." (pg. 77)

This quote was used to explain how someone should view the meaning of their life, but instead I interpreted it as the mindset someone should have while going through life. Frankl suggests for people to be proactive about decisions they can make rather than feeling helpless. Even though optimism isn't regarded as a practical, Frankl's idea is optimistic while still reasonable. He explains that although we may not have control over our circumstances, we do control our attitudes towards them. It's a positive way to view life, and I think it brings hope.

Also, this quote reminded me of the whole mind over matter "phenomenon". In the book, Frankl explains it as the will to live. Specifically on pages 74-76, he talks about prisoners who had died because they had lost hope and essentially their will to live. He also gave examples of how "fear brings about that which one is afraid of..." (pg. 124) Even though most mind over matter instances usually demonstrate positive outcomes, I still think the book provides examples showing how important our dispositions are. Yeah...I don't know if it's generally realized how much one own's mind can manifest.

Life Quote

“Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.” 
― Henry Miller

I find this quote humors just because everyone seems to have their own theory on the meaning of life and how to find it and well, life may not have a meaning at all.

Aside from looking at life's basic general function (growing, procreating, and dying), all other ideas become subjective. There are two main ideas that I assume most people agree with to some extent or to  a similar variation. The first idea is brought by religion in the most basic and general way: the purpose of life is to do this or that to obtain some positive outcome after you die. The second idea I consider to brought upon by society which is to [find and] follow your passion and to contribute to society how you like.

Of course I would like to think there is more to life than just having kids, pursuing a passion, or being a good person. I think that most people want life to have greater significance than just pure existence no matter what faith (or lack of faith) they have. This is definitely what Henry Miller is saying. I guess to get through life and to feel as if we have some importance, we need to give our lives some type of meaning that it probably doesn't have.

I definitely do not know what the purpose of life is and even on my deathbed I still may not know. However, I don't think I agree that separate purposes exists to each individual. I think that saying my life's purpose is different from your life's purpose just proves that perhaps we give meaning to where there really is none.