Frankl, Viktor E., Man’s Search For Meaning, Rider, 2004 (136 pages)
Victor Frankl’s little book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is one of those popular and exceptional books that everyone should read at least once in their lives. Before Frankl died in 1997 it had sold over 9 million copies. The author was a Jewish Austrian psychiatrist who was interned in various Nazi concentration camps during World War ll. Indeed, the book could be described as a tribute to ‘hope’ from the depths of the horrors of the Holocaust. It has two parts: the author’s observations of the behavior of his fellow prisoners in various camps, and a discussion on his theory, logotherapy.
Viktor Frankl was born in Vienna on March 26, 1906 and in September 1942 he, his wife, his father, mother, and brother were arrested and sent to various concentration camps of which he was the only surviving family member. While a prisoner, Frankl began to wonder why some of his fellow prisoners were able not only to survive the horrifying conditions but to grow as human beings in the process. His conclusion was that they sought and found a meaning to all their suffering, while others did not. In other words, he reaffirmed Nietzsche’s comment, “He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how’”. One passage from his book describes a forced march imposed on the prisoners and his observations on it.
“…We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor’s arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us.” It was during such experience that Frankl began to think of his own wife and imagining her and hearing her voice.
This became a moment of bliss for him. It was here that he and his fellow prisoners suffered, and through these extreme hardships that they found a meaning.
Frankl began to see that no matter what the circumstances are, life does have meaning. “He (Frankl) concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death.” The author used this observation as the basis of his theory of logotherapy.
“What matters”, he wrote in his book, “is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.” To know this meaning, we must search for the answer inside ourselves.
Finally, he not only makes each of us responsible for finding our purpose or meaning but also for fulfilling it. He wrote, “Ultimately, man is not asked what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.” We as individuals are asked to answer this question about our own lives, which we are responsible for. This responsibility, for Frankl, is the essence of human existence.
Video 1 : Mans Search for Meaning
Video 2 : General
