Man’s Search For Meaning
BY: Vitktor Frankl
Foreword
Frankl was a survivor of the concentration camp
life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning
Frankl saw 3 possible sources:
In work (doing something significant)
In love (caring for another person)
In courage during difficult times
forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you respond to the situation — what you feel
Experiences in a Concentration Camp
all documents had been taken away and they started fresh with a number
only one thought in their minds is to keep themselves alive to see their family again at home
3 phases of an inmate’s mental reactions to camp life: period following admission, period when he is well entrenched in camp routine and period following his release and liberation
example of his admission reaction: on the train packed and not knowing where he’ll be but saw a sign of Auschwitz
as the trains stops, he sees other prisoners in strips uniform and bald head, they were smiling
‘delusion of reprieve’ = illusion that he might be reprieved at the last minute before execution
women and men line up, first decision where the officers would either send you to the left or right: left means death, right means work
once he got into the camp, he had to give all his belongings away and go naked, as they started to shave all hairs on body
then curiosity came into mind as he wondered if he will come out alive
he realized how much he could endure, the lack of sleep, lack of hygiene, lack of vitamins, and was still able to survive
‘yes a man can get used to anything, but to not ask how’
one of his friends come into the hut and tells the new arrivals about the camp, he told them to make sure to shave often to look young, don’t look injured, and have energy or else the officers will see if and will be gassed the next day
after weeks of the camp, emotions started to become still and did not move him at all
apathy, blunting of the emotions and the feeling that one could not care any more — rising into the second stage of the psychological reactions of the prisoners
he started to treat one of the capo nicely and somewhat became friends and now the man able to get some small things during day to day
apathy was necessary mechanism for self-defence — only one task, preserve one’s life
the hunger was the worst as the portion was little to nothing as a piece of bread is all they got for the day
some ate it right away to satisfy their hunger and not risk the chance of losing it and some would take one small piece and do that for the day
this ration was not enough as their manual work was in the cold with not enough layers and lack of sleep, people in the camp can tell who was going to die next, based on their body
there was a ‘cultural hibernation’ in the camp except for politics and religion
winter and spring of 1945, outbreak of typhus that killed many prisoners
throughout the time at the camp, he thought of his wife. Realized that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire
the salvation of man us through love and in love
love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved
he can feel his wife if he reached out his hand and in that moment a bird flew and landed on the soil where he dug
humour was another way they got through days where they would tell each other stories to get a laugh
‘freedom from suffering’
when the man got sick we would not have to work but food rations were decreased but he was still happy for this
he was called on to help with others that were sick as he is a doctor himself — made sure to take care of him or else he might die too
can’t be conspicuous as he worked with the delirious patients, able to take rest breaks here are there that made the difference
then they started departing the prisoners into groups by age and skills
he got to a transport group to a rest camp and left the others behind
when he got there he was talking to another friend from the old camp that was a policeman that found a piece of human flesh missing from a pile of corpse — cannibalism had broken out after he left
there was once a time where he could have escaped as he was taking care of his patients
his friend was able to escape to another hut that was not being used and could make the run
but he looked at his patients that weren’t doing so well and decides to stay
then one day as the battle front came closer to the camp they had to evacuate, that was when him and his friend decided to escape
just as they had planned to make a run in the woods after they had to bury 3 people on the third they would do it
just as that was about to happen a Red Cross truck comes in full of medicine
they help the prisoners to evacuate but him and his friend was the last one — the battle front reached their hut as they were waiting for the last truck — woke up to gunshots
they saw a white flag go up that day
Viktor explains his experience in the camp, human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by surroundings — but do we have no choice of action in the face of escaping influences of surroundings?
we do have a choice of action — spiritual freedom
“to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision
“there is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings”
suffering is an incredible part of life — without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete
Viktor called the time being in camp a ‘provisional existence’ where people saw their life as meaningless and everything outside of the barbed wires was pointless
most men in the camp believed that their opportunities of life had passed, yet in reality there was an opportunity and a challenge. One can make victory over those experiences
for Viktor he remembers all those times where he hated the marches and his feet had many sores and frost bite. Then now he is giving a lecture in a lecture room — this difference
“emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we firm a clear and precise picture of it”
if a prisoner lost faith in their future— their future was doomed, they would lose their spiritual hold
“he who has a why to live for, can bear with almost any how”
it does not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us
meaning of life differs from person to person and moment to moments — Impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way
there is no need tinge ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer
either a decent man or a indecent man — Viktor referring to some guards
Viktor reflects on when he and the other prisoners were released — ‘I called to the lord from my narrow prison and he answered me in the freedom of space
no earthly happiness which could compensate for all we had suffered
Logotherapy In a Nutshell
logotherapy focuses on the future, the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient in the future
logos = meaning, meaning of human existence and mans search for meaning
The Will to Meaning
man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual drives
it’s unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning
Noo-Dynamics
mans search for meaning May arouse inner tension rather than inner equilibrium
“he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how”
mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between that one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish
don’t need a tensionless state, but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task
‘existential vacuum’ is described as inner emptiness — a void within themselves. Lack of awareness of a meaning worth living for
The Existential Vacuum
no instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do
either he wishes to do what other people do = conformism, or he does that other people wish him to do = totalitarianism
ex. Is Sunday neurosis where people have free time and wanted it so badly from the work week but when It comes they don’t know what, why and how to do things — frustration leads to will for things such as money, pleasure, power
The Meaning of Life
it will differ from person to person, from day to day, from hour to hour. What matters is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a persons life at a given moment
everyone has their own specific mission in life — everyone’s task is unique
should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it us he who is asked — can only respond by being responsible
The Essence of Existence
‘live as if you were living already for the second time age as if you had acted the first time wrongly as you are about to act now’
ex. Painter vs eye specialist— a painter tries to convey a message or a picture of the world that they see. An ophthalmologist tries to enable us to see the world as it really is to you
being human always points and directed to something or someone other than oneself
the more he forgets himself — by giving himself go a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself
creating work or doing a deed
Experiencing something or encountering someone
The attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering
The Meaning of Love
love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of their personality
The Meaning of Suffering
turn personal tragedy into triumph, turn one’s predicament into a human achievement
suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning such as meaning of sacrifice
suffering is not necessary to find meaning
life’s meaning is an unconditional one, for it even includes the potential meaning of unavoidable suffering
‘will we survive the camp’ vs ‘has all this suffering, this dying around us, a meaning?’ If not, then ultimately there is no meaning to survival — for a life whose meaning depends upon such a happenstance as whether one escapes or not — ultimately would not be worth living at all
Life’s Transitoriness
pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day
on the other hand, the person that attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away — can reflect with pride and joy
‘paradoxical intention’ = when you do the opposite of the anticipatory anxiety, ex. The fear of sleeplessness results in hyper-intention to fall asleep which incapacitates the patient to do so — to overcome this fear, would try to do the opposite of trying to sleep, to stay awake as long as possible
without paradoxical intention, the fear will lead to symptoms and those symptoms are reinforced with the fear and it becomes are vicious circle
anticipatory anxiety has to be counteracted by paradoxical intention, hyper-intention and hyper reflection have to be counteracted by de-reflection — through the person’s orientation of their life
Critique of Pan-Determinism
disregard of capacity to take a stand toward any conditions whatsoever — not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them
self-determining — man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the the next moment
Postscript 1984
The Case For a Tragic Optimism
one that remains optimistic in spite of the tragic triad = pain, guilt, and death
what matters is making the best out of any given situation
turning suffering into human achievement and accomplishment
Deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better
Deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsible action
happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue
one must have a reason to be happy — in search for a reason
people have enough to live by but nothing to live for —they have the means but no meaning
3 main avenues on which ones arrives at meaning in life
By creating a work or by doing a deed
By experiencing something or encountering someone
Turn a personal tragedy into a triumph
seeing the suffering times as a growth experience — you always have a choice with your attitude
dying, that moment will never recur — this is a reminder that challenges us to make the best possible use of each moment of our lives
“live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now”
older people don’t necessarily have possibilities in the further but they have realities in the past — the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled — they values they have realized
don’t need to be the best to do your best
“it is we ourselves who must answer the questions that life asks of us, and to these questions we can respond only by being responsible for our existence”
“the meaning of your life is to help others find the meaning of thiers”