In a tribute to Victor Frankl's and referring to his book "The search for meaning" the reviewer shares this:

THE EXISTENTIAL VACUUM: The existential vacuum is a widespread phenomenon of the twentieth century. This is due to a twofold loss that man has undergone since he became truly a human being. At the beginning of human history, man lost some basic animal instincts in which an animal's behavior is embedded and by which it is secured. Such security is closed for man as he has to make choices. Beyond this, man has suffered another loss in his more recent development: the traditions that had fortified his behavior are now rapidly diminishing. No instinct tells man what he has to do and no tradition tells him what he ought to do and often he does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead he wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism) or he refuses to follow anyone directions or guidance (rebellionism)
The existential vacuum is often experienced as a state of boredom. Frankl refers to this let down due to leisure time as the "Sunday Neurosis." This kind of depression affects people who become aware of the lack of content and meaning in their lives when the rush of the busy week is over and the void within themselves becomes manifest.

COMMENT
I totally concur.. whether our wanna-be forum philosophers like to admit it or not..and no matter how much they claim to have 'happy fulfilled meaningful lives'.... the evidence is, that this is 'bluster' aimed at deflecting 'Bible Bashers'... from intruding into aimless lives.
Frankel understands the Death Camps of Nazism as the ultimate expression of a Nihilistic foundation of life.

Life without God.. when pushed to its logical end.. is Nihilism.

I know that vacuum BOAZ_David especially before I became a christian. I'd throw anything into the hole but only succeeded in getting further away from God.
Now I'm born again (John 3:3) I recognised the vacuum as man being away from fellowship with God (the daily walking with Him as fallen men and women experience)...man being away from the pristine of the garden at Eden (cast out because of original sin) and outside of the original love and respect for the animal world (Creation).
When we genuinely turn back to the Father through Jesus the Son, things begin to change. The Holy Spirit now gets to work on that great hole most, if not all, feel at sometime or other. This is one of the joys of being born again.
*Deviating slightly. For you non-believers... here's a mystery that points to the loss of Eden due to the fall of mankind (as the Holy Bible speaks of it in Genesis chapter 3). Think about nostalgia? Where is it from? Not what it is described as, but what the feeling is. Why do we feel this longing for another time and place, this homesickness for something, this great loss without reasonable explanation? If the Holy Bible describes a perfect Creation, God and Adam and Eve in perfect harmony, with all the animals and birds etc in close loving fellowship...then the sudden loss of it all due to rebellion...wouldnt this create in us a great longing for what had once been...for a paradise lost? Nostalgia points to the clear truth of what the Bible says, was the way it was in Eden.

Dear brother Gibo
your thoughts echo the great words of Paul in Ephesians.... May God grant us all.. to experience them daily.. may all forum readers come to know Him...as Lord and Christ.

Eph 2:1

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth

12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

THE GREATEST "BUT" IN THE WORLD....

13 But now..... in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

From far... to near... in Christ...and the emptiness...is gone.
Amen :)

Enjoy your chat, you two.

I promise I won't butt in until you start slagging off other religions.

What you do and think in the privacy of your own mind is entirely up to you, of course, and I'm happy that it works for you. Just don't try to pretend that it is of any importance to anyone apart from yourselves.

I would however like to - politely, of course - correct you on one small issue.

>>whether our wanna-be forum philosophers like to admit it or not..and no matter how much they claim to have 'happy fulfilled meaningful lives'.... the evidence is, that this is 'bluster' aimed at deflecting 'Bible Bashers'... from intruding into aimless lives.<<

On one level, that is a straight-out insult. I most certainly do have a "happy, fulfilled, meaningful life", and I resent your suggestion that I don't.

On another level, it is as arrogant as it gets - I have absolutely no need to deflect "Bible Bashers" - they have not the slightest relevance to me personally or to my life. Suggestion to the contrary simply tells me that these bible-bashers are so hungry for recognition that they need to invent the idea of being "deflected", as opposed to being ignored.

As I said before, you wouldn't hear a word from me on this topic until and unless you use those voices inside your head to criticize people who suffer a similar affliction, but worship differently to yourselves.

Yeah Pericles but what about the subject. I think its highly interesting.

The point is, Gibo, that religious fanatics like you and Boazy could have your conversation about the supposed 'existential vacuum' that you have populated with your fantasies in a religious forum, rather than here.

That Boazy chooses to characterise those of members of this forum who are not obsessed with the supernatural in these terms:

"no matter how much they claim to have 'happy fulfilled meaningful lives'.... the evidence is, that this is 'bluster' aimed at deflecting 'Bible Bashers'... from intruding into aimless lives."

is invitation - to those of us who find this an offensive comment from a persistent and often hateful god-botherer - to respond.

It's an ongoing conversation that some of us have here, which provides some kinds of amusement to me and many others, and seems to afford masochistic jollies to Boazy and a couple of other Christian fundies who seem to enjoy being ridiculed.

So far, Gibo's been tolerated in much the same way as the village idiot is in less complex societies, but I suspect that may be a temporary thing if his religious babbling continues as prolifically as it has been lately.