The revolution of meaning - the important questions of human existence • A conversation with Dr. Shimon Azoulai

It seems that in an age where money and publicity are cornerstones and the pursuit of happiness has become the central theme, there is not much space left to discern the deep meaning of existence. When the leadership - parents, teachers, commanders, political leaders and others - is busy with private happiness and does not care about instilling values ​​and meaning into human existence, the disintegration of society, of the community, of the state begins. It seems that meaning gives a sense of direction, purpose and purpose, helps a person understand his role in the world and feel valuable, which in the long run can also lead to happiness.

According to Dr. Shimon Azoulay, meaning is the cornerstone of a healthy community, a healthy family and healthy leadership on all levels, and it should be the compass of our lives to face life's challenges. The conversation with him is fascinating. He is a sharp-tongued Eshkolot man, with a rich language and a deep vision of the essence of existence.

The generation that understood deeply without definitions

on the official level Dr. Shimon Azoulai He is a philosopher, educator and senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish Studies in the Kiryat Ono academic community. When I ask him to introduce himself, he says: "I am the son of the late Mary Azoulai from Shikon Par in Hadera. why? The reason is related to the fact that the book begins with a text in which I write about my mother's memory of the blessing. My mother immigrated from Algeria, could not read or write, but deeply understood human existence.

I say in academic or modern words what my mother in her wisdom knew without those words. Why do I start with my mother? The one thing is a tribute to a generation that understood the depth of their action, the three concepts that interest me: leadership, community, and meaning. They understood them without words and knew how to build, create and apply them in the way they conducted themselves in the world. This is a generation that was not counted. Not only the Mizrahim, but also the Ashkenazim. A generation that was much deeper than what was attributed to it.

We are in a crisis of loneliness, a crisis of leadership, all leadership: parenting, command, teaching, state - and a crisis of meaning, because of philosophical, social, educational concepts and ideas from the Western culture of which we are a part. Western culture has done a lot of good but also a lot of nonsense, and I ask myself where I will get the correction that is required for those claims about the 'supremacy of the subject and the supremacy of the individual'.

The leadership crisis is not political but parents, teachers, commanders, managers who refuse to be leaders even though it is essential to their existence. Where will I get corrective thoughts, practical processes that can correct the mistakes that led to these crises. I find most of them with my mother. No words and no definitions. in her entire generation. That's why when I introduce myself, I'm torn between a formal definition and 'the son of Miriam Azulai remembered the blessing', from which a lot comes. She didn't know the great philosophers, but she deeply understood the human concepts of recovery and prosperity in the chaotic times we live in."

Meaning is the difference between stability and collapse

In his first bookthe end of happiness", Dr. Azoulai invited the reader to examine concepts such as meaning and happiness. According to him, modern man has nothing left to believe in and nothing to lean on. Science has alienated the universe, traditional communities have fallen apart, and capitalism has attached a price tag to man. In his second book "The revolution of meaning, man, community and leadership in a chaotic era", which came out recently, Dr. Azoulai claims that life is often wasted on the idea of ​​happiness and the pursuit of it, while the question of meaning is supreme over all other concepts and questions, it is the engine of the possibility of prosperity for human life. The existence of the foundation of meaning in our lives, claims Dr. Azoulai , is the difference between stability and collapse.

Ideas around the meaning in life deal with the question of whether life has an objective meaning, or whether each person creates the meaning of his life himself. Philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus argued that although there is no predetermined meaning to life, people can create meaning themselves through their choices and actions. Psychologist Viktor Frankl, a Jew who survived the holocaust, wrote 'Man Searches for Meaning' and claimed that the search for meaning is the central drive of man, and that meaning is the key to dealing with pain and difficulty.

Dr. Azoulay: "I started my story in my first book "The End of Happiness", where I presented the model of meaning. But the significant thing is the following. Because if I take Viktor Frankl, the great guru of meaning, then in a deep sense he failed. Meaning has not become the basic category in our lives as individuals, as communities, in education, in the family, or as a nation. Meaning has not become the compass of our lives.

All human prosperity begins with meaning and all human collapse begins with the absence of meaning. This is not a privilege of people who travel to India, but an existential need that starts from the age of birth and never ends. The collapse of adults' lives begins when they are thrown out of the world of meaning. This is one of the most terrible sins we have committed as a modern society. The concept of pension is a crazy concept to me. Why do I stop playing at a certain age? Because I reached number 62 or 67? The elderly were thrown out of the community space, and this changed the position of their meaning towards themselves, towards the family and in society. The revolution is that I ask them to think, to talk, to organize communities where there is value and meaning. That people will look at their children through meaning and their self-management as meaning, and not through other elements.'

I would like to stay Where I feel meaningful

"There is always something that seeks meaning. For example, in education. According to me, there are no disciplinary problems, nor are there any problems of meaning. Alienation in the family, in relationships, at work, results from the collapse or lack of meaning. We need to mobilize values, and establish the army of meaning. I ask that people speak meaning and save themselves and Their children through this speech. When a person thinks like this, something fundamental changes in the face of life's challenges, in your ability to cope.

If I am addressing managers who want organizational prosperity and employees who invest in the organization, a work space should be designed that will be a community of meaning. In the end what motivates us to stay in a given place is mainly the meaning. You can get more money and better conditions elsewhere, but because the space I work in gives me a sense of community meaning, and meaning in terms of the product I create, I will stay there.

For many years there has been a struggle between ideals competing for meaning, one of which stands out is the ideal of happiness. There is a moment in the life of a person, parent, commander, manager, to ask himself what I want to promote in myself, in my child, in my employee or in my subordinate. This question, this decision is a commanding, managerial and personal educational drama. The second I decide that my big story is to advance the meaning of my child, worker, subordinate, my decision-making system will be completely different from the one that would lead me if I put happiness first.

Maslow's need thinking is also wrong. The pyramid is upside down. First we have meaning and then needs. Meaning first and then ability to cope. We crash nonsense. There is a failure of meaning today. Why is meaning at odds with happiness? Because the two concepts are different and opposite. Happiness is centered on how I feel and how I experience reality. Meaning is centered in what I do and how I affect reality. When you judge the action by how you feel, you don't always do what needs to be done. When the main thing is to be happy, all consideration fades away and turns into laziness and passivity. But if a person concentrates on the mark he creates on the world, on the improvement of human life and community life, then the story is completely different. It's already a story of much greater significance."

Israel is a country of significance

When a person has no meaning, he may feel alienated, an experience of living without a goal or purpose. This leads to a feeling of inner emptiness that is accompanied by dissatisfaction with existence. People When things have no meaning people feel there is no point in continuing to act, lose motivation and abandon their dreams. A sense of meaninglessness in life is a common cause of depression and anxiety out of a feeling that life has no value, there is no hope for a better future.  

Life seems directionless, there is no planning and no sharing, and in philosophical terms man is in an existential crisis, beginning to ask questions about his role in the world and whether there is a point to life. People may try to fill this emptiness in extreme ways - consumerism, excessive entertainment, dependent relationships, or various addictions - but these only create temporary satisfaction and do not solve the underlying problem. Re-finding meaning through connecting to values, beliefs, creating community goals and personal goals, can help a person regain confidence in his value on earth.'

Dr. Azoulai: "There is a tyranny of happiness and it causes depression, according to Viktor Frankl, happiness is a derivative of meaning. It cannot be pursued. If I create a life of meaning, the result will be happiness. If I provide happiness without meaning, it will be unstable And I won't be able to provide it all the time. One of the things that causes happiness is the pursuit of happiness. The right to meaning for everyone, to live with meaning, gives the result over time, and not the opposite There is a need to respond to the prevention of loneliness, the prevention of communal disintegration, the breaking of the concept of leadership, and I would like to respond to this in a meaningful way.

Israel is a country of significance. The foundation is meaning and it worries me that it might be gnawed away, destroyed. The meaning led people to do heroic deeds. The question is how to preserve it on a daily basis over time. In moments of crisis, as a nation, as a community, we are meaningful. But in routine it is very easy to forget. The meaning is the foundations that shape Israeli society and Zionism. The model of meaning is intended to be a response to a situation of community disintegration, crisis, depression, a situation of meaninglessness."

Meaning enables post-traumatic growth

The information revolution, especially with the development of the internet and digital communication, has changed the way we communicate, learn and understand the world. However, this rapid change has also created a sense of alienation in many people, especially in the face of information overload and the transition from personal to digital communication. The alienation created as a result of these processes affects the way people communicate with their environment and with themselves, and can lead to feelings of loneliness, meaninglessness and even anxiety.

On the one hand, people can access a lot of information, communicate in real time with people from all over the world, and on the other hand, people spend more and more time in front of the screen, reducing human contact and disconnecting from society. The excess of information and fake news makes it difficult to have a sense of trust and lowers confidence in information, and along with this, a dependence on technological means develops.

Dr. Azulai: "The chaotic reality is the challenge of the information revolution. We must respond to the increasingly fragmented reality. What we see around us is only part of it. On the one hand, we need to create communities of meaning, and on the other hand, we must adopt qualities and values ​​so that we become a player of meaning in life. If we do not adopt It will be difficult for us to deal with the fragile and anxious world we live in, and it is getting stronger day by day.

Meaning enables post-traumatic growth. This means that even if a disaster, a drama, a terrible thing happened to a person, he has several options to respond to it. One is post-trauma, the thing that happened becomes a shadow that accompanies the person, disables, shakes and makes it difficult to function. It doesn't have to be a big deal. There are kinds of post-traumas that happened and accompany like a shadow in professional life, in relationships, in love, at work.

Of course, in war it is much deeper, and can become like a millstone around the neck, preventing prosperity and stopping a person from being at his best. There is another way, which is post-traumatic growth. This means that not only does the suffering and trauma he went through not disable him, but forces him to be the best version of himself. to find new strength within him. It becomes part of his powers and his development. When we look at what makes the difference, we find that there is a supportive community there and there is meaning."

Talk about feelings in a supportive space

In trauma situations, the community has an important and decisive role in recovery, overcoming the difficulties and dealing with the events. The strength of a community in a trauma situation lies in the social ties, the emotional and physical support it provides, and the sense of belonging it provides. Community provides a safe environment where people can share their feelings, process pain and feel understood.

Being able to share with others who are experiencing or have experienced the same trauma can ease the feeling of loneliness. During trauma, a sense of disconnection or loss prevails. A community can restore the feeling of belonging and connection, when its members know how to support each other and remind the feeling of "we". Participation in the community can strengthen the victims' sense of personal ability and give them tools to move on. The power of a community in a trauma situation is great, and it serves as a significant basis for the rehabilitation and recovery process.

Dr. Azulai: "Once there is a strong supportive community that allows one to reveal feelings, and the community sees the individual's plight and allows them to talk about it, it becomes a strength. One of the mistakes of Western culture is the experience that you can do it alone. You fail, you get hurt, you hurt, talk about it. Talk about your pain and what you have learned from it. When a person does not express his pain, it becomes a burden. A supportive community allows to talk, without it harming the value of the person.

It's part of a big story, that I have a purpose, that I have a vocation. A person goes through a difficulty and then tells about it to inspire others to overcome and grow. Things have meaning. Literature is full of it but we forget to build it around ourselves and around others. This is the story of leadership that knows how to build a space that enables this transition. We saw it in the war. Today we are encouraged to talk. Understand how much the unit can be a supportive space. Woe to us if we do not give meaning to the mental sacrifice of these warriors. So it will really be a breakup.

We need not only to remember the victim but to give him meaning in the growth of the nation, in the defense of the nation, in the establishment of this country. You didn't just lose a boy or girl. We have a deep obligation to give it meaning. The people have matured in this section. Massive commemorative works are part of the meaning revolution."

A community of meaning enables prosperity

In spiritual terms, meaning in life is related to connection to the inner worlds, to high energy or a higher power. Many people find meaning through religious or spiritual belief, which is an anchor for seeing life as a complete process of soul development, spiritual growth, and self-fulfillment. Meaning gives a sense of direction, purpose and purpose. It helps a person understand his role in the world, overcome difficulties and walk according to his values, which ultimately leads to a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, a feeling of happiness as a result of meaning.

Dr. Azoulai: "Most of the book deals with the concept of a community of meaning. We must remember that a person is a communal production. Western culture told people that they could be alone, promised a happy life in a private space. This is complete nonsense. We need a community shell to thrive within it, we need anchors, language, To the stories that the community has to tell. The wrong attitude of the individual in the center has created a crisis of communities and we must build the communities. Someone once told me that in order to fly, we also need wings When you build a community, like when you build a family or a relationship, when you educate children, manage employees, you want them to be for each other and not just for themselves.

"There is no community without leadership. A commander, a teacher, a manager, a father, a mother. Someone has to organize a community, give tools and components on how to do it. I'm not just saying a community, I'm saying a community of meaning. The fact that you belong to a community does not mean that it is a community of meaning for you. A synagogue, a residential building, a job, a neighborhood, a community does not always give you a place to be significant in its space. The abandonment, the alienation, the violence, everything starts with this. The exciting challenge is to build the families, the workplaces, the environment, as a community of meaning How do you do that?

In the book I point to five elements, five attributes for a meaning actor and five elements for a meaning community. When a child tells me he wants to be a 'network influencer' and I ask him what makes you special, what is your uniqueness, he has no idea. One of the features is authenticity. contemporaneity. Without understanding my uniqueness I will not be able to influence anything. Think about what your unique big thing is that you know how to do.

This thing has meaning, so we will talk about meaning. Let's look together for what is meaningful to you. Be an influencer, a player of significance, but you should find your own unique music. Search, find and play it. Everyone has something special, a special melody, and the question is if they discovered it and if they agreed to hear it."

to build a space with reinforcements for desire

"One of the five elements is called will. What does this mean? The popular stupid belief is that willpower is worth something. They say that whoever wants can, there is nothing that stands in the way of the will. After all, they say: I offered and he didn't want, or he did want. Here the leadership of the meaning, builds Scaffolding for desire, because desire is very weak and without a system of scaffolding to help realize the desire, it is impossible to succeed.

In the end I will blame someone because of which I didn't succeed, and I will feel like a loser and a failure, while what was missing was not the will or for that someone to move, but support for the will. People don't diet or exercise not because they don't want to, but because they don't have anchors and scaffolding against the millions of natural failures that prevent them from realizing your desire. To say that anyone who wants to can is debilitating, because a person wants very much but without support he cannot. When we look at a person who has succeeded, we find the one who held his will. It can be one person or a community. There is always someone there even if you don't see them. No one really made themselves alone.

You see the successful and you don't see all those who didn't succeed. Desire is not the difference between them. The desire is not stronger in one than in the other. The difference is the anchors and scaffolding. Every person needs reinforcements, because the will will be broken a hundred and one times by many factors. A community builds anchors and scaffolding to give meaning to the process and support the desire.

"In the professional literature, this is called senior architecture. I like to call it designing a decision-making space. There are two options as leaders or partners. One: I offered him, there are clean options in front of him, to choose what he wants. This is a stupid way. Another option is to design a space Making decisions so that the person in front of me chooses the right one. One way to ask him is to say no The decisions and I'll ask him: hot or cold? I took responsibility for the decision-making space and it turns out that in this situation most people choose one of them and don't say no.'

"It sounds like a small thing, but it has big consequences. I create a space where I don't dictate your will but actually help you with your will. You want to do something. Live well, and there are failures that prevent it. I build scaffolding for you to help you realize it A person will put himself on a diet and not succeed. If he builds scaffolding to overcome the failures and temptations, he will succeed. He who wants to go to the gym will build a habit for himself which helps to realize an existing desire.

People want to be seen, to be heard, in society, in the family, and they want more things, but they have no scaffolding, no inclusive space, so they sometimes remain silent and do not say what they wanted to say. Children want to be partners in the lesson. If you don't build a system that allows them the chance to be a part, you will be left with three active students in the class."

Meaningful leadership also knows how to contain sadness

The race for happiness is a subject that provokes a wide philosophical, spiritual and psychological discussion. Many experience social pressure to achieve happiness through material goals, professional achievements or special experiences with the thrill threshold rising each time. In different cultures there are diverse concepts about happiness. Some of them believe that happiness comes from the ability to live in the present, appreciate what we have, and create meaningful human relationships.

Others see happiness as something that is achieved through internal processes of personal growth and coping with challenges. On a spiritual level, happiness is seen as a state of inner balance and connection to higher energies. Modern approaches in psychology and philosophy emphasize the importance of searching for meaning and the role of self-esteem and self-compassion in achieving lasting happiness.

Containing sadness is an important and central part of the path to happiness. While many try to avoid negative feelings such as sadness, pain and disappointment, dealing with these feelings may actually lead to deeper and more meaningful happiness. Dealing with pain and sadness can be a ground for personal growth and development, changing perspectives and discovering inner strengths that we were not aware of. Containing sadness does not contradict the pursuit of happiness, but rather contributes to a deeper happiness that is based on accepting reality as it is, with all its difficulties and challenges.

Dr. Azulai: "For me, one of the central axes of leadership consciousness is to practice the ability to bear the sadness of your child, of your partner's son or daughter. If I don't have the ability as a father, as a teacher, as a commander, to bear the sadness, the difficulty, the The failure of my customs, I will destroy them. I will not allow them the same support that will be allowed to shape and hardship. If I pad the world for them, I will destroy them.

It's hard to be a meaningful leader. It's hard because as a couple, as people, sometimes we will have to say "no" to something. About a vacation that is not possible now, about going somewhere that is not possible now, buying something when it is not possible now. The real problem is not the fear that we will fight because of this but that the boy, girl, husband or partner will be sad. She's sad and I feel like I've failed because I wrongly think she's supposed to be happy all the time.'

"Relationships of meaning have the ability to contain this moment. To create meaning, development and growth, sometimes you need the ability to bear the sadness of those close to you. This is not an easy ability, but it is critical. This does not mean being indifferent or cold, it means being able to bear the It's over time. A parent of a child may find themselves acting against the child's best interest just so the child won't be sad. The child will say I want an electric bike.

The parent will say no, and the child is sad. At that moment the parent feels that he has failed, and buys the electric bike. But he didn't want to buy them, he knows it puts his child at risk but he couldn't stand that the child is sad. His parentage does not create meaning. His leadership does not create meaning. It is important for me to say to a parent who wants parenting with meaning - don't worry, sadness and difficulty will be an engine of change and growth. Be there, don't be afraid of it.

Even commanders fail at this. There are commanders who are afraid of their soldiers, afraid of disappointing them, afraid that the corps will struggle, be sad and frustrated. In order for your leadership, your command, to be meaningful, even though you don't want it to be difficult, you know that sometimes there is no choice, you have to face challenges. The idea of ​​being able to bear the sadness of those close to you is a critical ability in creating meaningful leadership. And meaningful leadership makes the difference between rise and fall.''