“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears towards a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work will never be able to throw away life. He knows the “why” for his existence and will be able to bear almost any “how.” (Frankl,87-88).
Man’s Search for Meaning of 2 parts. One: a recall of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. Two: his form of therapy called “logotherapy” and all of its general components. Logotherepay is from the Greek work logos, which can mean study, word, spirit, God, or Meaning. Throughout the book Dr. Frankl imposes the word “meaning” and elaborates to support its influence.
The start of this novel is the story of Frankl’s experiences in the Nazi concentration camps. It maps out his journey, and all of the horrors and injustices done. What is unique about the prose in this book is that, if one were to picture Dr. Frankl writing his book, it is possible to envision him being quite emotional and striving to bring all of the wrong that was done into the light for all to see. However, the truth is closer to an old man sitting in a rocking chair, with his hands lightly clasped, wise as ever. He tells the events with the horrid details exempt from this. Instead of telling how badly one was beaten, and the gory contents, he focused purposely on the psychological effects. The brutality comes from the sheer simplicity of what he says. The point Dr. Frankl attempts (quite successfully) to convey is that under such harsh circumstances, through the most torturous of scenarios, man is capable of survival. Throughout the novel, Dr. Frankl discusses scenarios in which fellow prisoners were beaten down physically and emotionally to no avail, and subsequently were able to survive through clinging onto one remaining thing: that they had found meaning in their lives. Others, who would give up and die, like a flower withers in the winter, could not find this meaning. The point stressed throughout is that without finding any meaning to their lives, the prisoners would almost inevitably die.
The Essay on Meaning to Human Life
Is there any meaning to human life? After listening to the first two lectures I gathered what I felt to be Professor Amrbosio’s definitions of the hero and the saint. I took notes and after going back through and reading them it helped me to put a few things together. He asks the question about whether or not human existence is meaningful or absurd. We live in a hostile and deadly environment so ...
Frankl also discusses how to find meaning in ones life. How, in the suffering, the daily torturous conditions, the beatings, the injustice, the humiliation, the carnage, the exhaustion, how could one possibly find any meaning whatsoever? What, could one cling onto for dear life, to pull them through, to have the weak man quivering, dirty and cold and hungry in the bottom of an evil hateful pit, to look up into the light and survive? This was called finding meaning through suffering. Frankl’s personal answer was love and to help others find meaning. One may notice through the book how he is not carried away by speaking of injustices and torture, but how he stays predominantly analytical in terms of relative meaning. In every instance he found something quite relevant to finding this meaning, or a lack thereof. It helped his own survival.
Another topic discussed in this book was behavior of prisoners and guards in concentration camps. After the first period in camps, exposed to the horrible gas chambers, the cruel labor, the lack of food, or anything worthy of hope, how the standards of living dropped, but how the behavior was affected also. At the sight of brutality, one became unaffected. It is a powerful message, one that perhaps through more graphic details attached to it, would have added to its effect. In saying that, this is perhaps the only part of the book that could be improved. As powerful and deep as his messages are, if he had in fact spoke graphically of the torture it would have added incredulously to the impact. The more impact, the more effective it would be. However one must note that he is a psychiatrist, not a novelist.
The Essay on What Would You Say Is The Meaning Of Life
What Would You Say is the Meaning of Life It has been noticed that Stoicism, as philosophical doctrine, and Logotherapy, as psychotherapeutic method, share many metaphysical premises, which also define the essence of both, Stoicism and Logotherapy. We can say that it the notion of responsiblesness that both philosophical approaches to ones existence are firmly based upon. According to Stoic ...
The second portion of the novel was about logotherapy. In the concentration camps Frankl had learned that people who found meaning to their lives, found that living was worthwhile, would survive, and those who did not merely gave up and died. Thus, upon his liberation, he was able to derive logotherapy: A therapy in which the problems are solved (happiness is re-established) by finding meaning in one’s life. The techniques are passively discussed, in the form of case studies, and are best explained by Dr. Frankl in his book. The outcome of his explanation is this: all psychotherapy is a form of logotherapy.
“We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) by suffering.” (115).
So How dose one find meaning? Frankl discussed three broad approaches: The first means of discovering meaning is through creative values, by “doing a deed.” This is the traditional idea of providing oneself with meaning by becoming involved in one’s projects or better in the projects of one’s own life. Second is through experiential values, that is, by experiencing something, or someone, we value. This can include esthetic experiences such as viewing great are or natural wonders, but our most important example in in experiencing the value of another person, i.e. through love. Through ones love, one can enable their self to develop meaning, and by doing so develop meaning. The third means of finding meaning is one few people besides Frankl ever talk about: attitudinal values. Frankl believes one can achive meaning by way of suffering. He gives an example concerning one of his clients: A doctor whose wife had died mourned her terribly. Frankl asked him “if you had died first, what would it have been like for her?” the doctor answered that it would have been incredinly difficult for her. Frankl then pointed out that, by her dying first she had been spared that suffering, but that now he had to pay the price by surviving and mourning her. In other words, grief is the price one pays for love. For this doctor, that gave her death and his pain meaning, which in turn allowed him to deal with it. His suffering becomes something more: With meaning, suffering can be endured with dignity. (117)
The Essay on Philosophy: Meaning of Life and Worthwhile Life
In this paper I will be discussing Tolstoy and Sartre views on the meaning of life by comparing and contrasting Tolstoy’s objectivism and transcendentalism and Sartre’s subjectivism and existentialism. I will later conclude why it is that Sartre’s view resonates more within myself. Tolstoy’s view on transcendentalism states that the only way for you to live a worthwhile life is if you follow God’s ...
After Frankl’s liberation he took it upon himself to share his views and knowledge with all people through his many books and lectures. His words have had a great impact of those searching for meaning in their lives. To sum up what Dr. Frankl wanted to tell the world, in one sentence, “To find meaning in one’s life, is to have lived a contented life.”
