I have read Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, severalseveral times, but returned to it last week because I was feeling unsettled. Not unhappy, not low, not anxious, just an uncomfortable sense of edginess. It is a book that often can help me through more difficult times so on that basis I returned to it.
I’m not going to ‘review’ the book, there are enough reviews around for me not to be able to add anything, but more a reflection on some of the thoughts I had when I was reading it.
If you haven’t read the book (and do, it’s quite short!), it is divided into two very distinct sections. The first section is one in which Frankl speaks directly of his experiences in concentration camps, particularly in Auschwitz. He reflects on, well, exactly what the title of the book says, how men (in the general, non-gender specific way), can live through what he has lived through.
The second part of the book is his reflection on logotherapy — a psychological approach, developed and refined on the basis of his thinking prior to his incarceration and his experiences as a victim of Nazi evil.
Frankl’s premise is, fundamentally, that we all need to have some kind of meaning in our lives, which is what can push the human within us to keep going and no matter how hopeless our situation may be, and he really experienced this himself, as he details, there is a striving within the human soul for meaning, even meaning through suffering. We cannot define someone’s meaning for them, it is unique to each person.
Frankl, although this is not the point, has survived the depths of the evil of humanity, and come through it. It is by looking forward and believing there is a future for him. I was struck by his attitudes and reflections on the need for love and what love can create, as indicated in the first quotation in this piece. He talks about his love for his wife, and how that keeps him going — it might not be a person who is alive (and although he didn’t know it, she had been killed — and he does reflect on this), it might be a prayer, or love for an animal or a thing, or a place. It might be a religious spirituality, as he reflects that often that kept people going.
It reminded me of what and how we use ‘prayer’ as humans and he does mention this, so it is not an original idea of mine! Prayer is a conversation with another being. It might be a Gd, however one interprets that, but it might be a conversation with a love who is no longer present, whether by distance, time or even, death, something that matters to you, as a person. Prayer isn’t asking for the future to be different and expecting it to change, so much as an inner reflection on hopes, dreams, and direction. This was what made me think that the time I have spent in places of prayer, are not entreaties to a divine being to change my life, but more a reflection on what I have, what I need to potentially change, or perhaps, just spending time with my own thoughts in a way I do not often have during the week.
Frankl emphasises the importance of purpose in bringing hope, and this also made me think about some of the work I have done within the field of social work. We meet people who are often at the very limits of what can be mentally sustained, or so we think, and we can’t always bring hope, but we can bring dignity, the ability to listen and to acknowledge the humanity and the aspirations of each of the people we interact with. I think this is a useful text, not just for me as an individual, but for me as a professional in a ‘helping’ professional that often exists in those moments of despair.
Always a book to turn back to.
