Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Widely recognized as an enduring and influential piece of literature, Dr. Viktor E. Frankl first began Man’s Search for Meaning as an anonymous essay or treatise on Logotherapy, his physiological brain child, and the experiences that led to its creation. Convinced by colleagues, Dr. Frankl put his name on and in his work to give us the gem we have today. And it is a gem, brimming with quotable thoughts and sometimes life improving and others life changing ideas. Dr. Frankl’s book is divided into two sections. The first explores his first hand experiences in Nazi concentration camps, the second part builds upon the first as he lays forth logotherapy.

Dr. Frankl made the odds of 1 in 28 persons to survive a Nazi concentration camp despite his small physical frame. Instead of focusing on the atrocities committed in a concentration camp that we are traditionally acquainted with, the first half of his book focuses instead on the effect of camp life on prisoners’ psyches which he experienced first hand as a psychologist. I will spare details and stories, but neither the reader nor Dr. Frankl can deny the small miracles and acts of providence that he surely experienced.

Dr. Frankl builds on these experiences in a concentration camp to present logotherapy to the reader in the second half of his book. While he uses an entire book to lay forth logotherapy, I cannot here, in a smaller space, spell it forth but I can use words such as “no nonsense” but also “common sense” and yet still “empathy” to describe it.

As I said before, this book is brimming with quotes and ideas, and they will most likely speak differently to different people. But there are three ideas that particularly spoke to me. First, he dispels the idea that life owes each of us something. He says that as a prisoner one had to change his attitude toward life:
“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the task which it constantly sets for each individual.”

Second, a correction to the idea that happiness is the only productive state a human should experience. First, Dr. Frankl says, “Happiness must not be pursued; it must ensue.” And while there is obviously value in having happiness, saying life should only and always be happy, which is what our culture certainly promotes with enticements to be consistently entertained, is saying that life has no meaning otherwise. He quotes a colleague, “our current mental-hygiene philosophy stresses the idea that people ought to be happy, that unhappiness is a symptom of maladjustment. Such a value system might be responsible for the fact that the burden of unavoidable unhappiness is increased by unhappiness about being unhappy.” Dr. Frankl believes there is meaning to suffering (unavoidable suffering, not masochistic suffering) at least because it is part of life, everyone’s life. He states, “But not only creativeness and enjoyment [in life] are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.” It would surely be self destructive to imagine that suffering, which arguably we experience at least half of our lives, makes at least half of our lives worthless! He also laments that since current society doesn’t see any value in suffering they do not allow a sufferer to be proud and dignified in his suffering nor see value in what can be learned from it. (Can anyone say “bailout?”) And he goes on:
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at is best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement.”

The third idea that impacted me was a correction to the idea that we should find tension and guilt free equilibrium. Current philosophy may have you feeling pressure to feel no guilt or tension in your life and consequently you may feel there is something “wrong” with you because you do feel tension, guilt or suffering. So you feel tension to achieve or become? Dr. Frankl says it is not only natural but desirable. He says,
“Thus it can be seen that mental health is based on a certain degree of tension, the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish, or the gap between what one is and what one should become. Such a tension is inherent in the human being and therefore is indispensable to mental well-being. We should not then, be hesitant about challenging a man with a potential meaning for him to fulfill.”
Dr. Frankl also says guilt is an opportunity to change oneself for the better. So in essence, don’t cause additional tension or guilt about feeling tension or guilt, just move ahead and answer what life asks of you the best you can. But be sure it is your very best.

While Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl certainly helps one with their search for meaning, it also helps the reader take life in stride with hope of ending as a better person than we began.