|
Find something to live for
Friday, 19 May 2006
I've just finished reading Viktor Frankl's “Man’s Search for Meaning”, which I think is a very interesting book. Frankl is a neurologist and psychiatrist who has developed a theory called Logotherapy.
The three core ideas of his theory are that life has meaning even under the worst imaginable circumstances; our core drive as humans is our search for meaning; and that we all have the freedom to discover what has meaning for us.
Frankl is a Jew who survived a number of years in a Nazi concentration camp. He provides graphic descriptions of the horrors of being a prisoner in these camps. Most people have a pretty good idea of what occurred during the Holocaust, so I’m not going to go into details of these descriptions. I will say, however, that such a personal view did help me to understand these events better.
The inmates at the camps were stripped of all personal possessions upon their arrival. Because of this Frankl lost the manuscript of a psychiatric theory he’d been developing before the Holocaust. He decided to use his experiences in the camp to further develop this theory. He was also determined to survive the experience and so he could record his findings.
He was thus able to use his theory about the importance of meaning in life in order to survive. That is, he gave meaning to his life even though he was living under the most miserable circumstances imaginable. Despite the near-certainty of death, the beatings, the hunger, and the cold, Frankl found a reason to go on.
This is the core of the human spirit, according to the theory. If we can find something to live for – if we can find some meaning to put at the center of our lives – even the worst kind of suffering becomes bearable.
In fact, meaning can even be found in our reaction to difficult circumstances. By being determined to preserve some measure of their humanity, in spite of the Nazi’s efforts to steal it away, many were able to survive the concentration camps.
An example of this in today’s world may be a mother who finds her life empty because her only son has committed suicide. It's still possible for her to find a purpose for her life, even in this terrible circumstance, by realizing that she is keeping a part of her son alive within her mind. Her child still has some existence through her memories of him. She can also find meaning in the quiet dignity with which she bears the pain.
Dr Frankl says many of his patients come to him with an idea of him providing meaning for them, but insists that this is generally not possible to do. Instead, it's up to each of us to discover what the meaning of our lives is for ourselves.
Perhaps there is something for you to create, or a child for you to rear, or someone for you to love. These are just suggestions to get you thinking.
There is one interesting section of the book where he states that modern culture makes this search more difficult than it used to be. For prehistoric man, mere survival was so difficult that it created meaning. Up until the 20th century, many people had meaning provided through the religion and traditions of their upbringing.
But Western societies now have a type of nihilism at their core. That is, they assume that life is meaningless and the universe is random. They are unable to provide us with the reason for being alive which we seek.
So, more than ever, the responsibility falls on ourselves to discover that meaning. We are the only ones who can find something that makes our lives seem worthwhile.
Dr Frankl describes an interesting occurrence in the concentration camp that can tell us a lot about modern life. He says the prisoners could always tell when one of them was going to die soon, because that person would start talking about how they could find no reason to go on living.
Often, according to Frankl, such a doomed prisoner would suddenly refuse to get up and leave their hut for work in the morning. They would simply lie on the floor in their own filth, and no amount of beatings or persuasion could get them to move. However, such prisoners could often be seen smoking a cigarette while lying there.
Even when they had chosen to give up on life, they still sought bodily pleasures.
While this is an extreme example, you can see echoes of it in the problems of many people today. Despite finding no real reason to live, many still continue to pursue cheap thrills. They take drugs, engage in loveless sex, and consume violent entertainment.
In fact, those who can find no meaning seem to chase such gratifications with a kind of desperate energy - as if they're trying to fill the emptiness inside.
I’ll offer one more example of finding meaning even in suffering that will probably resonate strongly with most people. The search for love can be a painful experience, filled with cruelty and doubt. But it also carries a deep lesson that can help add meaning to that suffering. It's difficult, because it’s love’s way of teaching us how valuable it is.
I’ve only just finished reading Dr Frankl’s book, so I am still digesting some of its lessons. Overall, however, I think his theories are very interesting and useful.
 | Why it's so hard to find a satisfactory long-term partner | | Almost all of us have a deep yearning to find a significant other to share our lives with. For those of us without one, it can become an all-consuming problem. A single person can meet someone who they could form a relationship with almost every day, yet years can go by without such a relationship being formed. Why is it so difficult? |  | The problems of excessive planning | | The 1916 Battle of the Somme between German and Allied forces was one of the bloodiest in history. Between the 1st July and the 18th of November that year, France and The British Empire lost 145,000 men in the battle and suffered over 600,000 casualties . Germany lost 164,000 men and had over 450,000 casualties. |  | Most people start with a conclusion and then search for the facts to support it | | Most of us realise that the people we deal with in everyday life often aren't rational. They behave in ways that bewilder. They do things that seem immoral, stupid and not in their own interests. They hold beliefs that just seem crazy. | | Be generous to the future | | The future is like a giant spiritual bank account. You can invest in it, or withdraw from it any time you like. How you treat this bank account plays a big part in deciding how successful you are. | | A bit more about me | | A reader of Paul's Tips has written in asking me to reveal a bit more about myself and my life. I'm usually happy to oblige a reader's request, so here's a quick bio of me for those who are interested. |  | Five things likely to make you happier in the short term | | Here is my list of things to give you a short-term "hit" of happiness. Each is virtually guaranteed to give you some satisfaction. | | Watch out for salami tactics | | It's a fact of life that most people on Earth don't feel like they're getting everything they deserve to. We're just one big dissatisfied lump of humanity. Because of this, people can often be pretty scheming when it comes to getting their way. |  | With effort and inner-strength, you can be good at almost anything | | It's a cliche for writers like me to say "You can be anything you want to". I like to be a little different in most things, but on this one I agree to a large extent. With a little effort and inner-strength, most people can become way above average at almost anything. | | The best opportunities are often found where others aren't looking | | One of the main reasons a lot of people don't succeed as much as they could is because they're not looking in the right places. They look at where everyone else thinks the good stuff is to be found, and rush in to compete for it. |  | You can't trust people with money | | What is it with money that makes otherwise good people lose all moral perspective? The dubious real-estate agent may well be a good and trustworthy friend away from the office, but he'll tell his clients anything to get a few extra dollars out of them. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|