Man's Search for Meaning

On an unseasonably chilly night in March, 5 of us gathered in Greta's warm living room for a lively discussion of the classic, thought-provoking, must-read book Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.  Poor Jackie missed out on the fabulous meal and discussion because she had surgery that morning to repair her torn ACL.  Her husband claims she was really out of it after her day of major surgery, pain meds, and nausea, but I don't know...

She looks fine to me.  Chipper, even.  Well, except for being hooked up to some strange pump-looking contraption.  Okay, I guess she had a good excuse for missing book club.  Feel better soon, girl!

Meanwhile, at Greta's we feasted on fruit with vanilla honey infused Greek yogurt and creamy Italian soup with bow-tie pasta and hearty bread.  Then we retired to the living room for what I think was one of the most thorough, passionate, authentic book discussions we have ever had (which is saying a lot because we always tend toward those three things.)

• Many felt the book was inspiring, uplifting, fascinating...those are just a few of the adjectives of praise I heard.
  
• Unavoidable vs. avoidable suffering and the role suffering plays in the discovery of meaning and growth in our lives.
  
• Disequilibrium and its role in mental health (what one is and what one will become)
  
• The meaning of life is not a broad general statement or the same for everyone.  It is changing moment to moment and unique to each person.
  
• The appreciation of old people, how they have actualized realities that cannot be taken from them.
• Freedom vs. Responsibility
• Logotherapy and its role in seeking the meaning of life instead of avoiding pain or seeking pleasure
• Depression, Aggression, and Addiction (in the absence of meaning)
• 3 ways for finding meaning: create a work or do a deed, experience something or someone, persevere in suffering.
• Live as if you were living for the second time and that you are about to make the same mistake you made the first time, realizing you can change it right now as if you were altering the past.  How that thought can add to our decision making.  
• It is not what we expect from life, but what life expects from us.
• Americans are commanded to be happy, but happiness is not pursued, it must ensue.

Fun Facts:

Nancy and Jessica received a lesson in decanting and general wine-aeration and have hopefully added aerators to their list of ideas for Mother's Day gifts

Jessica's liberal use of awkward fractions had most of us speechless.

We gabbed about past trips to Africa and future (as in the very next day) trips to Denmark and London.

Becky forgot to hand out the Rwandan condoms she and Jackie picked up at their hotel in Gisenyi...next time girls!

 using an African bottle opener on the wine!