The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice over his own actions — this is the main idea of the book by Viktor E. Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived five years in concentration camps. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl explores what it truly means to take responsibility for one’s own life.
He was 33 years old back then. With Austria under Nazi control, he faced a decision that would determine not only his fate but also that of his loved ones. He could have picked up his visa from the Consulate and fled to the United States, or he could have stayed in Vienna with his elderly parents and tried to save them from the threat of exile to a concentration camp. Staying with them, however, meant risking such a fate himself. How does one make such an impossible choice?
“I weighed every argument, yet I still couldn’t decide. The dilemma I faced was practically calling for some kind of ‘divine intervention’, as people say”, Frankl recalls in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. His parents were thrilled that he had the opportunity to escape, but he remained hesitant.
One day he noticed a piece of marble on the table. As it turned out, his father had found it at the site of a Viennese synagogue that was burned down by the Nazis. It was a fragment of the Decalogue tablet, with a Hebrew letter engraved, symbolizing one of the commandments. “Honor thy father and thy mother”. That was the moment he decided to stay.
That decision wasn’t supposed to be an act of heroism or sacrifice. As he would later come to understand, it was a reflection of something deeper — the discovery of his purpose and the responsibility that came with it.
PSYCHIATRIST ON THE MEANING OF LIFE AND RESPONSIBILITY
Dr. Frankl is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who survived five years in concentration camps, including Auschwitz. His book, however, is not about presenting harrowing memories. As he admits himself, the choice of described experiences was dictated by the desire to show that the advice included in the reading is applicable even in the most difficult, extreme conditions. In his profound lecture, Dr. Frankl takes the reader through a number of strategies for coping with difficult situations and, above all, presents the essence of searching for one’s meaning and then taking responsibility for it.
What’s important, the reader can use these insights not only in the most difficult circumstances but also in everyday situations. This is the reason why the book has become one of the most influential reads in psychotherapeutic literature.
THE MEANING OF LIFE IN EXTREME CONDITIONS
In his book, Frankl describes camp life as a “provisional existence planned indefinitely”. Indeed, the most depressing thing for the prisoners was the uncertainty of how long such an existence would continue — or if it would ever end. In the camp, the old life took on the flavor of a daydream, and for some, it irrevocably lost its meaning, as they felt that life had nothing left to offer them. Frankl, however, points out that it didn’t have to be that way at all.
“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature”, Frankl explains. In concentration camps, however, prisoners were deprived of both of these values. After that, there was the only last one left. It was the man’s attitude toward his own existence. Some prisoners no longer had the strength to fight, while others managed to turn everyday experiences into mental triumphs. In order to survive, some changed their perspective from “what life still has to offer me” to “what I can still offer in my life”.
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation”, says Frankl.
In the camp, the primary choice was whether a person would allow their inner freedom to be taken away. And while this is a huge test, Frankl says that this choice always exists.
THE MEANING OF LIFE IS THE “WHY”
“Only a few prisoners of the Nazis have managed to preserve their inner freedom, but even one such example is sufficient proof that man’s inner strength may raise him above his outward fate”, Frankl points out.
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’”, repeats Frankl after Nietzsche in the pages of the reading. Therefore, at every opportunity the prisoners had to be reminded of their own ,,why”. When a person realizes that one person cannot be replaced by another, he also notices the responsibility that comes with this.
After regaining his freedom, Frankl used this method in the psychotherapy of his patients. He called it “logotherapy”.
FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
“The Latin word finis has two meanings: the end or the finish, and a goal to reach. A man who could not see the end of his “provisional existence” was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life”, Frankl notes.
Experiencing a “provisional existence”, however, is not only typical of concentration camp inmates. Frankl points out for example that the sick, or the unemployed, are in a similar position. A study of unemployed miners showed that they suffer from a disturbance in their internal perception of time due to lack of occupation. To explain this phenomenon, such disorders in the case of prisoners manifested themselves in the impression that a day went on forever, while a week passed in the blink of an eye. In a sense, unemployed people are also unable to think about the future or pursue any goal.
Another example is the situation of tuberculosis patients in a sanatorium, described in the novel “The Magic Mountain” written by Thomas Mann. These patients also did not know the date of their release, while at the same time persisting in their mental plight. They also experienced similar problems of their existence, detached from the future and devoid of goals they were unable to pursue.
Such inmates, as well as the sick or unemployed, sink into retrospective reflections. Their attention is directed to the past instead of the unpleasant present. Meanwhile, the peculiarity of human nature is based on the fact that we are only able to live when we look to the future. Although detachment from reality helps to forget current nightmares, at the same time it makes you lose something more valuable. By wallowing in the past, it can be easy to overlook the chance to do something positive with life in the present — and there are many of these opportunities, as Frankl guarantees. When we miss them by directing our attention to the past, their place is taken by contempt for the present life and resignation.
Frankl cites an example from his own camp experience, when he limped for several kilometers to his work site. Thinking about the problems of surviving another day made him feel increasingly disgusted with his life. So he tried to concentrate on something else for a change. He imagined himself standing in a huge lecture hall filled with young, curious students. He was giving a lecture on psychology in the context of a concentration camp, based on his experiences. The grim reality suddenly became an object of interesting psychological analysis, and he looked at the whole situation objectively, with interest and detachment.
“Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it”, repeats Frankl after Spinoza.
MAN IN SEARCH OF MEANING
A person must have a purpose to live. Find your meaning, and then take responsibility for it. Regardless of the circumstances, you are always free to choose your own attitude. In the most difficult moments, use willpower to look ahead instead of looking back. These are the main thoughts coming from Viktor Frankl’s book.
It’s worth reaching for the entire reading, as the conclusions discussed in this text represent just a fraction of the valuable insights Frankl shares in the book. In addition to the chapter on camp experiences and the insights based on them, which was discussed in the review, the book has a second part — entirely devoted to logotherapy and its assumptions. Frankl addresses there such issues as the meaning of love, existential frustration, and the transitory nature of life. The two parts of the book intermingle, derive from each other and form a coherent whole.
