“If you have a why to live, you can bear almost any how.”
– FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor E. Frankl
Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, writer, and Holocaust survivor. In 1942, just nine months after his marriage, Frankl and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. His father died there of starvation and pneumonia. In 1944, Frankl and the surviving members of his family were transported to Auschwitz, where his mother and brother were murdered in the gas chambers. His wife died later of typhus in Bergen-Belsen. Frankl spent three years in four concentration camps.
The author loses everything that he has when they bring him to the camp. Soldiers separate him from his wife, brother, sister and parents. For a long time, he didn’t even know if they were alive or not. Soldiers confiscated the scientific works he had been working on all his life and destroyed them.
After losing everything including his purpose of life, how can a man continue to live without losing hope?
Meaning of Life
“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”
Viktor Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life’s meaning as the central human motivational force.
Meaning in life according to Frankl ; can be of three kinds.
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The first being a higher purpose or calling, something you feel you have been put on this earth to achieve.
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The second is love, love for your partner, spouse, children, family, friends, and all those who matter.
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The last is suffering. Suffering is an unavoidable part of human existence and it is upto man to find meaning in his own suffering.
These are the three ‘roots of meaning.’ that can bring hope and guide anyone through a difficult period in life.
1. Pursue a Life Task
“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.”
There would be a task that you and only you can complete. A piece of work that required your unique experiences, knowledge, and skills.
2. Love
“The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.”
According to Frankl ‘Love’ has little to do with just the feeling of being in love and more about doing things to help others succeed. “Love” is the act of recognizing the potential in those who matter you you and supporting them actualize that potential. When you lack meaning, find someone you can elevate.
3. Suffer Bravely
“(By) accepting the challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this meaning literally to the end.”
You can use your imagination to overcome suffering. Take this incident (from Frankl’s experience)-
While walking in the cold while being beaten by a Nazi guard, he recalls a man whispering to him, “If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us.” Instead of worrying about the man’s comment, this prompted Frankl to retreat into his imagination. He pictured his wife and her smile.
“Life is Now – The Meaning of Life is in this Moment.” – Jayesh Tekchandaney
Life is made up of many stories which are scripted in the Now. Life is like a movie; it’s ultimate meaning can only be known in its conclusion. But each still in the movie has an inherent meaning of its own. It is up to us to make each frame and still meaningful to the best of our ability.
Logotherapy
“When we are unable to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Logotherapy guides one to find their purpose and meaning in their lives. This meaning differs by individual and can change from hour to hour.
Meaning can be found in even the smallest of details. So, don’t spend all your waking hours searching for an all-encompassing meaning of life. Instead, search for meaning in everyday tasks and in the relationships you have with your friends and family.