Viktor Frankl
One of the points I made in my essay which I think could be expanded on more is the use of narrative in Viktor Frankl. As a psychology major, I love Frankl's writings. He brings a human touch to a (sometimes) otherwise lifeless discipline. Frankl's main thrust in all his writings is that life has meaing. This meaning is individual to each person, and "life asks us the question of the meaning of life" Whether he knew it or not, Frankl was using narrative, personifying life asking each person a question, in order to bring meaning to a person's life.
Frankl is more individualistic than I would want, though I do agree with him in part that meaning has individual ramifications. Meaning and purpose are tricky things to define because of how much dispute there is over terminology. One of the sad truths in the modern educational system is that meaning and purpose, which have moral ramifications, have been sidelined behind information. We are getting an informational education, but rarely a moral education. Even ethics classes are mostly about how we can't know morals, instead of giving students tools in order to follow moral decisions. Fixing this requires more religious and moral education, allowing students to interact more about these topics, and less emphasis on cookie cutter education and more emphasis on teaching people how to think.
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