“Today, individuals are adept at making their demands on life and getting what they want, carelessly overlooking their human kinship and the bond that ties them together in needing one another and being needed.”

“They slide from self-confidence via self-actualization into self-love, and with all this self-concern they lose sight of human fellowship and its meaning.” – Dr. Elisabeth Lukas, The Therapist and the Soul.

This was written over 25 years ago as an assessment of European culture by one of Viktor Frankl’s leading students.

How do you think our current culture in the U.S. measures up to this statement?  Some days, it seems like we have falling into the existential vacuum of focusing only on our selves and getting our needs met, while missing out on those around us.

Fear not, Dr. Lukas also prescribed three simple rules to reconnect and renew our family connect.

“Rule 1.  The endurability of life is related to the perception of meaning.”

Application for the family: “The perception of meaning within the family is the acknowledgement of needing one another and being needed by one another.  Without this knowledge, the family become meaningless and thus unbearable.

“Rule 2.  The perception of meaning is not related to favorable external living conditions.”

Application for the family: “Happiness within the family is independent of favorable living conditions.  Only the meaning orientation of an inner attitude towards external living conditions determines contentment within the family.”

“Rule 3.  The perception of meaning is not related to a harmonious life history.”

Application for the family:  “The development of a family is not predetermined by its history.  The meaning orientation of the family members’ present actions alone decides the future of the family.”

How will you take these rules and apply them to your family today?