I’m writing this post in Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal, where I continue to share the meaning-centered message described in my book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts.
Legend has it that the City of Lisboa was discovered by the Greek, Ulysses, and the ancient Castelo de São Jorge, which sits at the very top of the highest hill in Lisboa has a tower named after him. The “Tower of Ulysses” houses the Periscope, an optical system invented by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 16th Century and the only one in Portugal, giving a 360 degree view of the City. The oldest remains found here date back to the 6th Century BC, where evidence of the Phoenicians, Romans, and Moslems abound.
Taken from the Moors and absorbed into Portuguese territory in 1147, Lisboa was proclaimed capitol of the kingdom in 1252. It became the first European trading port for importing merchandise from the newly-discovered Atlantic islands, the shores of Africa, the Americas and Asia, and became a site for the converging of these respective cultures and faith-based traditions.
As you can imagine, being here--in an environment where there is so much evidence of the rich history and convergence of diverse cultures and faiths--is truly enlightening and, yes, meaningful. Such an experience, however, also serves to bring other aspects of the human condition into sharper focus, including shedding light on the “existential divide” that still casts its long shadow on life in the postmodern era. It is as if one is able to look at life through Da Vinci’s Periscope from high atop the Tower of Ulysses!
In this regard, I was struck in a very profound way by an article that I read in the Times Digest (a publication service of The New York Times that is distributed to business travelers here), entitled “Palestinians Fear a Generation of Nihilists.” The worried parents call them the lost generation of Palestine and “its most radical, most accepting of violence and most despairing.” These are the children of the second intifada that began in 2000. The article underscores that this generation is growing up in a territory riven by infighting, seared by violence, occupied by Israel, largely cut off from the world and segmented by barriers and checkpoints. They are young people who have no hope in either the present or the future. “We never see anything good in our lives,” exclaims one of the youth interviewed in the article.
Like my mentor, Dr. Viktor Frankl, I firmly believe that the primary intrinsic motivation of all human beings is the search for meaning. Yet, by allowing societal conditions to exist (and persist) that result in a "generation of nihilists," we are creating much more than a manifestation of collateral damage or other contemporary political-speak. By robbing people (in this case an entire generation of human beings) of their very human-ness, that is, their inherent capacity to search for meaning, civilized society is effectively plotting its own demise whether it "knows" it or not. In my view, nihilism on such a broad scale is a lost cause, no matter what the original intent. And insofar as the lost generation of Palestine is concerned, we all should pay heed to Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and seek a peaceful, authentic resolution that will help to restore hope to the youth who's cry for meaning can be heard loud and clear in Lisboa and around the world. And from my elevated perch on the Tower of Ulysses, I can see that we will only be able to find common ground by going to a higher ground.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts and feelings on this matter. Besides the current situation in Palestine...
What do you think about my argument that we can not afford to produce a "generation of nihilists?" Do you agree?
All the best,
Alex
Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.
author, Prisoners of Our Thoughts
founder, Center for Meaning
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Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work
by Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.
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