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The Existential Moment: The Paradox of Meaning

According to NASA, the image above covers an area of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length.  That’s a crazy thought.  That speck reveals thousands of galaxies.  Thousands.  And that’s galaxies, not stars!  The estimated average size of a galaxy is 100 million stars.  You get it.  The number of stars in the universe is mind-bending.  It’s simply incomprehensible.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provides breathtaking images.  Similarly, looking into the night sky can evoke a profound sense of awe and wonder.  However, contemplating the vastness and sheer number of stars in the universe opens another door of contemplation:  our place in the universe.  That thought threatens a profound sense of insignificance, making human life, let alone individual lives, seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.  This sense risks a slide to “What’s the point”?

Even so, at the same time, JWST is a testament to humanity’s insatiable curiosity.  The accomplishment of creating such a powerful eye into the universe and its past is amazing in itself.  It reflects a powerful search for understanding.  Many find a profound sense of purpose in that type of search and fulfillment in each success or achievement.

JWST represents the paradox of meaning:  we desire purpose and significance but live in a world devoid of overt meaning.  Navigating this paradox is a challenge in life. 

Many patients enter therapy struggling with boredom, emptiness, despair, etc.  They struggle with a lack of meaning, for instance, from the loss of a job (“the meaning of my life”) or the loss of faith and a transcending purpose (“the meaning of life”).  Sometimes the problem is in plain view, while at other times, it’s lost, like a star in the sky, among numerous other issues.  Watch for it.  Talk about it.  And support removing obstacles to finding meaning.  And consider for a moment the work is likely part of the meaning of your life.  

Links to Related Blog Posts:

Read more posts about meaning making in E-H therapy on EHI’s blog.

Read more posts about the existential givens in E-H therapy on EHI’s blog.

Read all the Existential Moment series posts on EHI’s blog.

Author Existential Moment Series: Scott Gibbs, LMFT, EHI Board Member-at-Large | Website: www.mscottgibbs.com | Twitter: @Novum_Organum

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The Existential Moment: New Year’s Resolutions

“Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky…” Tennyson’s words from In Memoriam call us to a reckoning with the old year and the birth of the new. His poem pulses with the longing to discard what weighs us down personally and socially—detachment, pride, regret, etc. — and to embrace a brighter beginning. But the transformation he invokes is not simply a celebration; it is a call to action, a challenge to confront ourselves honestly toward living differently.

What do we leave behind as the bells ring out, and what new commitments do we make as they ring in? 

This moment of transition mirrors a deeper, ongoing question central to Existential-Humanistic therapy: “How am I presently living?” and “How am I willing to live?” These questions, like Tennyson’s appeal, invite us to envision change and engage with it courageously.

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