"A Gap to Fill"

What is a gap? 

In plain terminology, a gap is an interval between two things, a separation of one point from another. In geography, a gap exists where two continents are disjoined by some natural or artificial structure. The division between Australia and Asia, for example, shows the oceanic gap of two massive mainlands. In history, a gap means an interval between one timeframe and the next. In socio-economics, a gap displays a dramatic difference between two variables of a desisting relationship. In the field of statistics, mathematicians consider it a gap where a deviation occurs in an analysis due to the absence of facts between two available data. In human relations, a gap could be an emotional discontinuity—a break, a sudden cessation. Two lovers, for instance, may find themselves in an awkward situation which calls for a decision whether or not to continue a long distance relationship; here communication failure may be causing a rift that disconnects them from each other. The inadequacy to share one's emotions or ideas with one’s partner is normally referred to as a “communication gap.”

In the existential parlance, a gap is an empty space in life—a “hole” in which something important is missing. It is a vacuity which results in some incompletion and deficiency in life.  Dr. Viktor Emil Frankl  calls this an “existential vacuum” or life's lack of meaning. 

[…]I turn to the detrimental influence of that feeling of which so many patients complain today, namely the feeling of the total and ultimate meaninglessness of their lives. They lack the awareness of a meaning worth living for. They are haunted by the experience of their inner emptiness, a void within themselves; they are caught in a situation which I have called the “existential vacuum.” 

Such empty space is “allegorically a hole in life that impedes man from understanding his desperate setting. It sucks the soul out of him; it is somewhat like a “gapping abyss”, an outlet that vacuums everything down to nothingness.”  As a result, instead of moving forward, man remains motionless and static. His future is of no value to him anymore. He gradually loses himself. He tires of living and becomes restless. Boredom then sets in. Frankl notes:

No instinct tells [man] what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism)…[This] existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in the state of boredom… In actual fact, boredom is now causing, and certainly bringing to psychiatrists, more problems to solve than distress. And these problems are growing increasingly crucial… The pity of it is that many of these will not know what to do [.] 

True enough, a life without purpose and direction is a life of dormancy. But what does this idea got to do with death?

This state—of not being able to do something in the “now”—is a threat to existence. Such sedentariness will eventually compromise his future.  Since man’s life involves not only the “then and now” but also the morrow, then something must be done in its regard. Death as a future event—an occurrence that necessitates significance in life— must be viewed positively.   For he who does not see any reason to move forward, who does not foresee death and envision something worth doing before it occurs, loses himself in an existential void and becomes a slave of his own indolence.

So how does one fill a gap?

One must learn to create a pathway; a bridge that will connect something or someone (a person, an idea, or an event) to a transformative value. This bridge is what Frankl calls “logotherapy.” By logos he means “meaning”, while therapy remains a curative approach irrespective of its application or effect. In simple terms, logotherapy means man’s search for meaning.  What makes this approach distinct as a therapy is that it amounts to a re-confrontation of the human state. This personal reevaluation makes one accept the constant face-off between a dismal life and one's own struggle to find resolution within this existence.  He then explores himself again and redefines his life. “Live as if you are already living for the second time [around],”  Frankl asserts.  The method of logotherapy allows one to focus “on the meaning to be fulfilled” in anticipation of one's future,  one's forthcoming death.

Filling the gap, in this perspective, is of 3 folds: (a) finding meaning in experience, (b) finding meaning through artistic vision or creativity, and (c) finding meaning through a change of attitude. In the experiential stage, man is encouraged to appreciate himself, the people around him and the environment where he lives in. Such appreciation within him and outside of him is not given, but rather found.  This is the reason why there must be a constant search of meaning in every aspect of life where man is totally involved in. Further, this “found meaning” is coupled by a desire to actively participate in each other’s emotional needs: to devote time with one another, to enjoy each other’s company, to form a bond that will last a lifetime, and, above all, to love and be loved.  It is “through love and in love” that the lovers find themselves in keeping.   Frankl adds,

Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true. 

Secondly, in the creative stage, man is seen as a painter whose masterpiece is yet to be made. He continuously shapes the future by his artistic disposition. By this, he makes a unique mark of his very own existence by revealing his personal values and sense of responsibility.  It is in this level that he is asked to give something to his future—his contribution, his legacy.

Lastly, since everything in life is mutable then there must be a constant change of attitude in all given situations. This makes it necessary for man to adjust to and at the same time prepare for what lies hereafter; despite the difficulties of life, he should find meaning in the direst of conditions. “[I]f there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in [death] and suffering,”  says Frankl.  And this search for meaning must be always anchored on a right attitude— to find value even in every dreadful scenario. Frankl cites an example:

Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now, how could I help him? What should I tell him? Well, I refrained from telling him anything but instead confronted him with the question, “what would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?” “Oh,” he said, “for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!” whereupon I replied, “You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared from her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering—to be sure, at the price that now you have to survive and mourn her.” He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left my office. In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of sacrifice… in that moment I did succeed in changing his attitude toward his unalterable fate inasmuch as from that time on he could at least see a meaning in his suffering. 

Irrefutably, life in this context, regardless of the persistent search for meaning, is not reduced to a state of apathy and idleness but rather intensifies the need to do something enduring and worth-noting.  This is what the meaning triangle  is all about. To Frankl, man should at all times engage himself in something—may it be a meaning to accomplish or a bond to be ardently encountered.  So, as man prepares for death, each day, as he is given the opportunity to live life anew, he must always make himself ready to move forward. Likewise, to create an enduring legacy, there must be something to look forward to, something to know, something to learn, something to be done, and someone and something to love. 

Lot Tabilid,Jr. Chapter 8: "Mindfulness of Death," Thinking Human: A Comprehensive Worktext in Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person for Senior High School (USC Press, 2016), 95-108.