“It did
not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected
from us.”__Dr. Viktor E. Frankl (Man’s
Search for Meaning)
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
In Man’s Search For Meaning Dr. Viktor E.
Frankl introduces his psychotherapeutic idea ‘Logotherapy’ and the events and
revelations that led him into the practical realization of his hypotheses. The
book has three parts: Part One: Experiences in a concentration camp; Part Two:
Logotheraphy in a nutshell; and Postscript: The case for a tragic optimism. The
book is graced by a wonderful preface by Harold S. Kushner, in which he contextualizes
the book for general readers.
As
Dr. Frankl himself asserts repeatedly, this book is limited in its space and possibility
to include the complete scholarship of Logotherapy. Instead, one should look at
Man’s Search for Meaning as an
attempt to elucidate what is concisely expressed in the subheading: “The
classic tribute to hope from the holocaust”. Part One of the book is dedicated
completely to this purpose. Part One also analyses three mental stages the
prisoners undergo, from the time of their incarceration to release. This analysis
gets poignant and disturbing, because it is taken from the first hand
experiences of Dr. Frankle himself from Auschwitz, Dachau and the Bavarian camps
during the Nazi reign. Although the book does not follow a chronological order
of events, the narrative is a gripping tale of how uniquely unveiled is the “human
potential…to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s
predicament into a human achievement.” (116)
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| Image Courtesy: Dr. Viktor Frankl |
Man’s Search For Meaning helps
its readers ask two significant questions: One-is there a meaning to my life?
Two-do I believe in the existence of such a purpose or meaning in life in the
first place? The second question should be asked first, but most of us randomly
settle for the first one in negation and take the second one in affirmation, as
a consolation. This in turn ruins the very roots of life and imprisons the
person within vacuum. Every reader is sure to find something unique and
personal in Dr. Viktor E. Frankl’s small but affective book.
There
are people who even survived the “provisional existence” of death chambers
during the Nazi era. The element that separated most of them with the rest, the
ones, who, in the middle of their suffering gave up the hope for existence, is
the responsibleness to attach meaning to their lives. Viktor E. Frankl also
suggests that the cause of the present day deterioration in mental health is
due to an “existential vacuum”-the absence of any meaning to one’s existence. He
sidelines many philosophies and ideologies, including Freud’s and Sartre’s and
suggests “Man is not fully
conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to
conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately
self-detemining.” (133)
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
The “tragic
triads” of life, namely pain, guilt, and death cause definite suffering, but in
Dr. Frankl’s point of view, this suffering can be overcome if one deems it as part
of finding or achieving the ultimate meaning of life. Viktor Frankl puts
meaning at the altar of highest human achievement. He uses meaning as a cure to
many of our problems due to suffering. Only an individual, who found some
purpose or meaning in his or her life, can accept the inevitable suffering and
make the right choices. “The emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the
categorical imperative of logotherapy, which is:“Live as if you were living
already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly
as you are about to act now.” (114)
Learn more about Logotherapy here: http://www.viktorfrankl.org/e/logotherapy.html
This
is an MSP Book Review: Procure a copy of Man’s Search For Meaning for yourself, here
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