But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.
Man's Search for Meaning is a nonfiction book written by Viktor Frankl. Released in 1946, it serves as a way for Frankl to explain his view of life as a search for meaning.
Publisher's summary[]
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.
Summary[]
Chapter I: Experiences in a Concentration Camp[]
Before examining his own experiences, Frankl explains the position of his own narrative - claiming that it is not a history of the Holocaust but an examination of his own experiences. Along with this, he examines the character of the Capos (misspelling kapo) - prisoners who were used by the Nazis as middlemen within the camps. According to Frenkl, these prisoners were extremely cruel towards their fellow prisoners. He also examines how prisoners would sometimes send fellow prisoners to the gas chambers largely out of a desire for survival at any costs, saying that "the best of us did not return". Along with this, Frenkl discusses the premium coupons that prisoners were awarded by companies who they were effectively sold to as slaves.
According to Frankl, the first phase of prisoners entering into concentration camps was shock. To illustrate this, Frankl shows his entry into Auschwitz. He and the prisoners on his train believed that they were being sent to work camps and were shocked that they were being sent to the infamous concentration camp. Upon arriving, they were greeted by Capos (who led Frankl's lingering sense of optimism to believe that he might be treated by them) and then judged by the Nazi officers in the camp. Though many were sent to the crematoriums (including a friend of Frankl's whose name he gives as "P-----"), Frankl escaped this fate. His personal belongings (including a manuscript of his) were taken and he was sent to the showers. After showering off, he was sent to the living quarters for the prisoners. It was here that he learned that he would be judged by the officers on his ability to work.
Frankl quickly passed into the second phase of his imprisonment, which (according to him) was characterized by apathy and a general lack of emotion regarding others and himself. Though the inhumanity of some beatings could bring about flashes of emotion, these usually only lasted brief moments. Early in his time in a work detail, Frankl was able to befriend one of the Capos and get him to transfer him to another work detail. Despite this, these were still extremely harsh times for Frankl as - like all his fellow prisoners - he was forced to work in extremely cold conditions for many hours with extremely meager food supplies given out only once a day.
Frankl's stay in Auschwitz was short and he was transferred to a camp near Dachau. Despite this, conditions were still extremely rough in this camp - leading to a sort of psychological retreat in most of the prisoners which affected all parts of their psyches beyond spiritualism and remembrances of the past. It was these remembrances (specifically of his wife, who Frankl believed had been sent to another camp) that Frankl credits as a major part of his survival. Despite this retreat, many prisoners in the camp engaged in whatever forms of art that they could still make in the camps. According to Frankl, these were largely a way for these prisoners to escape thinking about their condition, if only for a brief moment. Another brief respite was humor, though this respite only lasted for a few moments at a time.
According to Frankl, he and the other inmates were actually happy to enter into the camp nearby Dachau. This was due to their conditions slightly improving - having avoided death at Auschwitz and completely avoided Mauthausen for a camp without a furnace. Thus, they had a very small joy - one of the few joys that they had had since entering into the camps. While the camp was stricken by an epidemic of typhus, Frankl volunteered to help those stricken with the illness.
Two times within the camp, Frankl managed to narrowly avoid death in a way that he describes as being like the parable Death in Teheran. First, Frankl accepted a brief transfer to a rest camp (something that was said to be a transfer to a death camp and that he initially assumed was a trick to force people into taking the dangerous night shifts). Several weeks later, he almost made an escape attempt with a friend but decided not to due to his patients. This came closely after the war front came to the camp and, after a visit from a Red Cross van, it was to be evacuated - with the prisoners supposedly being exchanged for POWs. Though Frankl and his friend avoided being evacuated, this turned out to be fortunate as the prisoners were actually evacuated to a death camp and killed en masse.
Having initially examined the Capos, Frankl briefly examines their strange sense of superiority before examining how one found strength in a situation such as the camps (or similar situations in life). Though their freedoms were taken away and their capabilities to have creative lives and lives of enjoyment (seemingly) taken away, some (though not all) were able to find meaning in their suffering and not become animalistic or retreat away from life. The most damaging part of life in the camps was the fact that the prisoners were living in a sort of provisional existence in which (to them) inner time almost slowed to a crawl and there were seemingly no future goals for them to follow. Despite this, a few prisoners were able to fight against this and reach great spiritual heights. Those who didn't and gave up on life almost invariably died, at least within the camps.
Before examining the psyche of a liberated prisoner, Frankl examines the psyche of the guards. Though there were a large amount of sadists within their ranks (who were used by the Nazis to torture prisoners), Frankl refuses to claim that they were all evil - instead positing that, like all groups of people, there were a mix of good and bad people within their ranks. Having gotten this out of the way, Frankl focuses on the first few days of liberation for the prisoners. Though these should have been jubilant days, many of them were still afflicted with apathy from their time in the camps. Once this state broke, some of the prisoners started acting out the cruelty of their captors in their own ways (including extremely miniscule acts such as tramping through fields of young plants) but, though this lasted for only a few days, the prisoners were afforded with a sort of fearlessness as they only had their God to fear from then on.
Chapter II: Logotherapy in a Nutshell[]
Note: not in all editions
Before giving an explanation of logotherapy and its methods, Frankl explains what separates logotherapy from Freudian and Adlerian psychology. While Freudian psychoanalysis is fostered on the will to pleasure and Adlerian psychology is fostered on the will to gain power, logotherapy is based on the will to find meaning in one's life. Along with this, logotherapy involves the therapist actively speaking to the patient instead of just listening.
According to Frankl, most humans actively want to find meaning in their lives, even if this is manifested in other wants. The frustration of this will for meaning (which Frankl dubs "existential frustration") can result in the formation of what Frankl dubs noogenic neurosis. This is separate from psychogenic neuroses and is cured by helping the patient find meaning within their life. Though this can cause tension, Frankl claims that this is a necessary part of the human condition - indeed, it might be necessary to increase this tension in some cases instead of removing it. The greatest threat to the psyche, according to Frankl, is the existential vacuum - or a lack of meaning in life. The exact meaning varies from patient to patient but it is the job of the logotherapist to find a meaning to fill the existential vacuum.
Another important part of logotherapy is to foster the patient's sense of responsibleness - to let the patient decide their own meaning in life and to foster their own decisions. Though love is a major way to fill the existential vacuum, another way is to bring meaning to unavoidable (and not unnecessary, as it is not the job of the logotherapist to cause suffering) suffering - usually by recontextualizing this suffering. This can come through simply recontextualizing the circumstances of this suffering or by relying on a "super-meaning", which is usually religious. Though dying and the transitory nature of life itself might be a roadblock to this recontextualization, this can also be recontextualized. This recontextualization can also be used on neurotic disorders and irrational fears, by effectively reversing the symptoms (such as by telling insomniacs to think about not sleeping) or by teaching them to find humor in their fears.
After discussing the negative influence of absolute nihilism (or the belief that life has absolutely no meaning) that was somewhat common in Frenkl's day, Frenkl discusses the nature of the human psyche. Though it constantly seeks meaning and can be influenced, it is not a static machine that never changes. The condition of a person is constantly in motion, and the logotherapist must view the soul of the person they are trying to help instead of viewing themselves as a mechanic fixing a broken machine.
The Case for a Tragic Optimism[]
Note: not in all editions
According to Frankl, there are three impediments to adopting an optimistic attitude are suffering, guilt, and death. While examining the first, Frankl touches upon something that he believes is a major failing in common society - the belief that happiness can be forced into being and that life has no meaning due to various factors which, he claims, are simply impediments instead of stopping points to finding meaning. Having examined this, he turns his eye to guilt - which he believes is actually a major part of finding meaning and something that most people (if not everyone) wants to go through when they are actually guilty. Finally, he casts his eye on death and aging. Though society believes that the elderly have no worth, Frankl believes that their long lives actually give them enough worth as the young - as they have a long life to look back upon. Frankl also discusses the "learned meaningless" that is parroted by other therapists and psychoanalysts, his views on logotherapy as a field, and his disagreement with Freud on the blending of individual differences.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| When Bad Things Happen to Good People | Harold S. Kushner | 1981 | A nonfiction book with similar themes |
| Night | Elie Wiesel | 1960 | A nonfiction book that similarly explores the Holocaust |
| Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Richard Bach | 1970 | A novella with similar themes |
| Faith in Freedom | Thomas Szasz | 2004 | A book that criticizes this book |
| The Road Less Traveled | M. Scott Peck | 1978 | A similar introduction to the author's psychological beliefs |
| Introduction to Psychoanalysis | Sigmund Freud | 1916-17 | A similar introduction to the author's psychological beliefs |
| The Magic Mountain | Thomas Mann | 1924 | A novel with similar themes |
| The Gay Science | Friedrich Nietzsche | 1882 | A similar introduction to the author's psychological beliefs |
| The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology | Alfred Adler | 1924 | A similar introduction to the author's psychological beliefs |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads