How does one find meaning in life in even the most intolerable, painful experiences? Psychotherapist Viktor E. Frankl survived a concentration camp and told his story (and theory) within this engaging, life-changing book.
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
This extraordinary book details Frankl's experiences inside a concentration camp and how he developed "logotherapy," which describes how pain and suffering can become tolerable when matched with a sense of meaning.
The first half, which focused solely on the mindset and the psychological impacts of being a prisoner in a concentration camp, was both moving and matter-of-fact. It didn't describe the specifics of the torture faced but rather the daily challenges within the camp and how the different mentalities of the prisoners varied.
This book allows one to question the very meaning of "freedom," mainly when this is restricted (for instance, inside a concentration camp, where nearly all human freedoms are taken away). How does one experiencing something as painful and inherently unfair as that still manage to find a will to live?
Frankl suggests we undertake"tragic optimism." When faced with loss, tragedy, and suffering, we should instead find meaning within the pain. This belief system allowed many of his fellow prisoners to stay motivated and keep their will to live, even within the confines of a camp that challenged their ability to withstand torture and misery. Frankl learned what differentiated the prisoners that commit suicide versus the ones that chose to stay alive: the ones that chose to remain alive believed they had some greater, singular, unique purpose that no other person could fulfill. For some, this was their need to stay alive for their son or wife; for others, it was the knowledge they contained in their field of study that only they could write about. For Frankl, it was his book, which he had begun writing before entering the concentration camp (and had it confiscated and destroyed upon entering). Piecing it together within his head, he could stay motivated and hopeful, simply knowing his purpose was to write this book.
What further intrigued me was that Frankl identified "meaning" as something very individual. For some, the meaning of their life could be to experience goodness or beauty or to love others. For others, it may be a singular purpose - a career choice or a creative work. For others, the meaning could be found simply in their attitude toward unavoidable suffering - viewing pain and turmoil as essential and meaningful, something that one can bear nobly.
Another moving concept Frankl outlined was that we mustn't envy the young or pity older people. Instead, he suggested the young should envy those who are old - "It is true that the old have no opportunities, no possibilities in the future. But they have more than that: instead of possibilites in the future, they have realities in the past - the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the values they have realized - and nothing and nobody can ever remove these assests from the past." WOW.
Some of the concepts he outlined in his section on logotherapy, including paradoxical intention, were also intriguing to me. One of the anecdotes surrounded a man with anticipatory anxiety surrounding social events, as he feared sweating as much as he did. Frankl challenged him to enter the next social event, trying to sweat as much as possible and "show everyone what an amazing sweater he is." By reversing his intention this way, the man removed much of his anxiety surrounding the event. Frankl explained many other situations where this technique of paradoxical intention can be used: insomnia, other anxiety-inducing events, obsessive-compulsion disorders, and stuttering.
Overall this book is exceptionally fascinating and spiritually moving. Frankl's poignant retelling of his experiences and psychotherapy expertise creates a vivid novel showcasing how one can find meaning in even the most extreme circumstances - and how we mustn't fear suffering but instead learn to find meaning within it.
"I never tire of saying that the only really transitory aspects of life are the potentialities; but as soon as they are actualized, they are rendered realities at that very moment; they are saved and delivered into the past, wherein they are rescued and preserved from transitoriness. For, in the past, nothing is irretrievably lost but everything is irrevocably stored."
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