Man’s Search for Meaning
By Victor E. Frankl
Overview:
Two-part book, with the first being an autobiographical account of life in Nazi death camps and the second being the author’s theory of logotherapy, the belief that the primary drive in life is the discovery and pursuit of what you personally find meaningful.
Summary/Key Takeaways:
“Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary.”
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.”
Part 1: Experiences in a Concentration Camp
Everything can be taken from a man except one thing—choosing one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.
The way a man accepts his fate and all of the suffering it entails gives him ample opportunity to add a deeper meaning to his life.
In the most difficult of situations, you can live by looking into the future.
Life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer its answers and tp fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for us.
Part II: Logotherapy:
According to logotherapy (logos = meaning in greek), striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force of man.
“Existential frustration” - when your will to meaning is frustrated by 1) existence itself; 2) the meaning of existence; and 3) striving to find a concrete meaning of existence.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”—Nietzsche
Mental health is based on a certain tension between what you’ve already achieved and what you still ought to accomplish.
What matters is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. The meaning of life always changes, but it never ceases to be.
“Live as if you were living already for the second timed as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.” — Imagine first that the present is the past and, second, the past may yet be changed.
You can discover the meaning of life:
By creating a work or doing a deed (ie. achievement or accomplishment);
by experiencing something or encountering someone (ie. experiencing nature or loving someone); and
by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it fins a meaning. (ie. sacrifice)
A basic tenet of logotherapy is that a man’s main concern is not pleasure (Freud) or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.
Suffering is unavoidable in life, but by suffering bravely life has meaning to the end. Finding life’s meanings unconditional because it includes finding meaning in unavoidable suffering.
The ultimate meaning of human suffering exceeds the finite intellectual capabilities of man, a concept referred to as “super-meaning” in logotherapy. Man is not required to endure his meaningless in life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms. (Logos > logic.)
The transitoriness of life does not make it meaningless. Rather, it does constitute our responsibleness, for everything hinges upon realizing the transitory possibilities. It is our choice as to which of the possibilities become actualized into our past.
“Paradoxical intention” - Based on the twofold fact that 1) fear brings about what you are afraid of; and 2) hyper-intention, or forced intention, makes impossible what one wishes. Reverse your attitude by replacing fear with a paradoxical wish. (Example: To overcome sleeplessness, try to stay awake as long as possible.)
Man is ultimately self determining: Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.
Postscript (1984):
“Tragic optimism” - Remaining optimistic in spite of the “tragic triad” (pain, guilt, death).
Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. A human being is not in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy.
Forward (by Harold Kushner):
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you feel and what you do about what happens to you.”