It’s one of those books you’ve heard a lot about, but I thought a book about concentration camps would be just too awful. So, when I began reading I was relieved that it was less a detailed account of all the atrocities of life in a camp, and more about the inner psychological experiences of prisoners as they endure the unendurable.
The title of the book says it all really – man’s search for meaning. Frankl writes about the will for meaning, and how we are all compelled to find meaning in our lives. His isn’t a case for religion or dogma, but a call for everyone to find meaning in the living out of our day to day lives – the washing dishes part of life, and also during the most stressful and arduous times of our lives. One of the quotes he uses throughout the book is from Nietzche (yes, he’s on the list somewhere): He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how. Part of surviving the horrors of Auschwitz, for him, was the capacity to know himself, and know that despite all the deprivations, he was always free in how he approached the suffering. About this he said, “everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” It is the meaning of one’s life that sustains a life.
He believes that we find meaning in our lives when we look deeper within ourselves and connect our own values and beliefs – our own truth really. He writes about connecting to something bigger than ourselves in these moments, (and throughout our lives) such as our work, our creativity, or our relationships, but ultimately he decides that underlying all of the individual meaning we find in our lives we will find one thing - love. So he presents a lovely paradox, that in times of terrible suffering we oughtn’t forget that we are worthy of suffering.
Finally, once we connect with the meaning of our lives, then there is a responsibility to live congruently, and in fact that is what makes any suffering bearable. He says, “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 fulfil the tasks which is constantly sets for each individual.” Oh dear. I got to thinking whether I could accurately identify my own life meaning and values. It’s a great challenge, but even greater is the responsibility which then comes from knowing them.
