Man’s Search for Meaning is a non-fiction novel written by Victor Frankl. This book details Frankl’s experience surviving in multiple concentration camps during the Holocaust. It also delves into Frankl’s revelations while enduring these events. The events that take place in this book are the origin of Logotherapy. Logotherapy is the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find the meaning of life. After Frankl discusses his memory of the events that occurred he defines them and addresses their importance in the latter half of the novel.
Man’s Search for Meaning isn’t a book that you review. It is for all intents and purposes literature that you study, analyze, and hope to truly grasp. Therefore, this blog post won’t be a review. This article will be about what I derived from this literary classic.
“When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.”
Being able to create meaning in suffering is powerful. Even amid the Holocaust Frankl was able to find purpose. Not just one singular purpose but many.
“According to Logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
- Frankl loved his psychiatric work. He had a manuscript that he took with him to the camps. His purpose was to keep his words alive.
- The love of his life went with him to the camps. They were separated immediately. The days that he felt most alive were ones that he spent thinking of memories he had with his wife. His subconscious had created a form of his wife that lived in his mind and heart.
- Unavoidable suffering was something that he faced to an extreme measure. His attitude was to suffer for those who were spared. He suffered so that others didn’t have to, his wife and parents in particular
“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who 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 with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back.”
Even after all that Frankl has gone through, he still urges patients and readers to be optimists. A better existence is spent relishing in what life gives you each day. Being able to write down and reflect on past and present activities allows us to cherish life.
Hopefully, everyone can find meaning in Frankl’s words.
Go check out the book!
Subscribe to my newsletter!