A void in the soul

Introducing the word “soul” in any Psychology article poses a danger: it can cause its content not to be taken seriously.

But let us not forget that the very word “Psychology” means “Talk about the soul” or “The meaning of the soul”, if we force a little the meaning of the word “logos”.

However, curiously, everyone knows what is meant when speaking of "emptiness in the soul" or "soul pain".

In fact, it is a recurring expression in consultation when some people say that "I don't want to die, but I want it to stop hurting inside." Unfortunately, the topic we are going to deal with today is not personal, but social.

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a void in the soul

The problem is that we have forgotten things that our ancestors knew very well, things that they had learned over the centuries.

Did you know life needs a meaning, a reason, a "why". Today, as I already warned Victor Frankl Decades ago, we faced a crisis of meaning, in which people find that their lives are empty. They need something that satisfies their sense of the transcendent, something that makes them feel like more than just consumers of the products that society offers us.

In fact, consultation work is often listen to what is said and what is not said. If you listen carefully and offer small guidelines, in the end the same person finds the meaning for everything what has been lived, the reason for our experiences in life and the direction in which our life is headed in a way natural.

Everything is a matter of silence, of making space so that the life of our client occupies the first place.

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Overshadowed Needs

Our ancestors knew that in life you need more than objects to consume: you need direction.

And they also need meaningful relationships. And enjoy the moments of well-being that life offers us.

We also need heroes, who are nothing but people in whom we see ourselves reflected. People like us, but with a great moral fiber, with willingness to do what they have to do without shrinking from obstacles. Deep down we know that TV celebrities and soccer players are not enough. We need moments of peace, if possible lived in nature.

We need quality time, in which we can think about our things and order what life has been messing up over the years.

Respect is also very important, understood in the style of Adler: we all feel the deep desire that someone listens to us without judging us, that he does not want to change us or that we are different from what we already are. Someone who knows us and is delighted to meet us.

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The search for a meaning

And we long for the feeling that we are in this world for something. That our life has a meaning. Maybe it does or maybe we have to create it, but the truth is that we need it.

It is not enough to complain and say that society is empty: people feel empty, but they are not. In fact, they are full of talents and abilities, longings and desires, vitality and hope.

Often a look inside ourselves is enough for us to see all this.

A good first step would be to start recovering the knowledge of our ancestors. I invite everyone reading this article to (re)discover the works of James Hillman, a free soul who touched on issues that today are politically incorrect, but which bring a deep wisdom.

Because a good path, paraphrasing Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings", is the one you start to walk and you don't know where it will take you.

A look towards the future

They say that in the near future, the great epidemics that our society will suffer are Stress, Loneliness and Depression.

But all of them have much to do with what we have already discussed: the emptiness of the soul. Because when a person feels empty and thinks that nothing makes sense, he experiences one of the most terrible and ancient pains of humanity.

Perhaps it is time to rethink the issue of the meaning of life, of the transcendence of life beyond limiting beliefs.

It is about, neither more nor less, than filling our days with life.