What Does Man's Search For Meaning Mean

Viktor Frankl’s thesis found in Man’s Search for Meaning is repeated multiple times, in different ways throughout his book. On page 111 he states, “According to logotherapy, we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering” (Frankl). This is not saying that all of those qualities have to be present to find one’s meaning though especially suffering. The only way to find the meaning of life is by answering your own call for life, not what others value as meaning. Each meaning

'He who has a why to live for can bear any how.' The words of Nietzsche begin to explain Frankl's tone throughout his book. Dr. Frankl uses his experiences in different Nazi concentration camps to explain his discovery of logotherapy. This discovery takes us back to World War II and the extreme suffering that took place in the Nazi concentration camps and outlines a detailed analysis of the prisoners psyche. An experience we gain from the first-hand memoirs of Dr. Frankl.

Shock, apathy, and disillusionment were three psychological stages that the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps experienced. Ironically, it took an event of such tragedy and destruction to enable us to learn more about how the human mind responds to certain situations. Frankl’s methods for remaining positive can be used by every human being to give them a meaning in their lives regardless of what predicament or mental state they are in – it is in many ways like a phoenix risen from the

Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.

Frankl endured much suffering during his time in the concentration camp. All of his possessions were taken away, including his manuscript in which he recorded all of his life's work. He went through rough manual labor, marching through freezing temperatures, and little or no

In literature as in life people experience tragedy and suffering. Survivors of the Holocaust can relate to this in more ways than one. In the memoir, “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, it shows how humans can be cruel and kind. During the memoir, it also shows how courage and hope assist survival. Throughout the memoir, there are situations of dehumanization, cruelty, and suffering. This affects people in a such a way that causes intense diseases that they live with for the rest of their life. In contrast, kindness and compassion can positively affect people in their lives even while suffering through the worst of times. In the memoir, many people are faced with different challenges showing how their courage and faith can help them endure the toughest

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is filled to the brim with rhetorical devices from all three sections of the text. Particularly in his section about logotherapy, Frankl’s practice to find an individual’s meaning of life, he explores the three main meanings of life: accomplishment, love, and suffering. This area uses a plethora of comparison, such as parallelism and metaphor. Recurring themes are used to draw back to Frankl’s three life meanings, like word repetition and alliteration. Frankl’s use of rhetorical devices allows his audience to focus on their individual possibilities and incorporate his ideology into society.

Prior to World War II, Viktor Frankl was a somewhat successful therapist. Once the war began however, he was sent off to an Auschwitz concentration camp. Everyone in concentration camps had one wish, to stay alive (Frankl 15). Whether they tried to get on the good side of the warden, or attempt an escape, everyone had a different way to survive. Many prisoners died while at camps, but some of them who were hopeful and courageous made it out. Inspired by these prisoners, Frankl created logotherapy to help other find meaning in their own lives.

Long ago, Viktor E. Frankl was a part of the Nazi death camps. From 1942 to 1945, Frankl was forced to work in camps like Aushwitz while his family members perished. He used this experience and his own practice to write about suffering and finding meaning in leaf. His technique, known as logotherapy, believes that man's main drive is not to find pleasure in life. Instead, humanity's goal is to continuously discover and pursue the things that we find meaningful. Due to the immense popularity of his book, Frankl sold 10 million copies by the time he died in 1997.

The Holocaust is regarded as one of the worst events in human history. In fact, the vast majority of those who were sent to a concentration camp perished there. When prisoners view the despair all around them, they find it hard to see meaning behind all the suffering. Life is no longer worth living, so many prisoners see suicide as the only option to escape the pain. As a psychiatrist who was sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp notorious for its crematoriums, Viktor Frankl has a special perspective on the loss of the will to live that those imprisoned exhibit. In his own words, “Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths”(Frankl 94). Frankl discovers in himself not only the shock and apathy he displays, but also the strange hope that comes with imagining his freedom. The brutality of the Holocaust changes Frankl and brings out his true self while teaching him that he and others can survive the worst of terrors by setting a purpose in life, which only they can individually determine.

Certain situations and experiences we undergo in our lifetime are destined, nearly inevitable. Mans search for meaning urges us to acknowledge that “we cannot avoid suffering, but we can chose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose”. Viktor Frankl was faced with an experience of inevitable suffering during his time spent at various concentration camps during the second World War. It is these experiences and sufferings that set the narrative in his novel “Mans Search for Meaning”, where he uses a philosophical standpoint to evaluate his life in camp which led to his liberation. Within this paper, I intend to present Frankl’s ideology that when faced with suffering, you must have control over your free

When he is explaining his experience he discusses how he tried to understand the minds of the people suffering around him. In the book he describes his admittance into the camp, the everyday camp schedule and his release from the camp. When he is talking about his involvement in the camp he noticed many people experienced shock. As a part of this he noticed most people believed that the gassing would be stopped or delayed right before their execution. There was always a tiny hope fluctuation around in the camps that they would live to see freedom. Once people started to lose optimism that they would survive, suicides were common and majority of the prisoners lacked enthusiasm and energy which created emotional emptiness. He thought that people had the ability to governor and choose their piety and mental stability. Frankl said that people struggled with not knowing when the torment and suffering would end. He thought that people who couldn’t foresee themselves getting out lost control of their mental stability. When freedom does eventually arrive for those who had survived they had a hard time accepting it because they never thought it would happen. He states that some prisoners weren’t even happy about being released. Once they were released the former prisoners had to relearn how to experience things that didn’t revolve around suffering. Once the holocaust is over and everyone has been released the book goes on to describe the techniques to help people that are still mentally ill from the horrifying experience. He states that the only way to help them find their meaning for life is Logotherapy. He thinks you can discover it in 3 ways which are to perform a deed, experience something and display an attitude toward suffering. A

Psychologist Victor Frankl’s novel: Man's Search for Meaning delivers a powerful and humbling perspective on life that inspires introspection in the minds of all those that read it. The book achieves this by taking us on a journey with Frankl as he describes his personal experiences of the Holocaust. During his time spent in four different concentration camps Frankl gradually learns lessons in spiritual survival. Devoid of all pleasures and possessing nothing but his “naked existence” Frankl is forced to look inward and in the process discovers what he believes to be the primary motivating factor of all men (p. 15).

In September of 1942, Viktor Frankl was arrested in Vienna and taken to one of the many Nazi death camps. Frankl was working on a manuscript which was confiscated from him in a move to Auschwitz. In this manuscript entitled, The Doctor and the Soul, Frankl had began his work on a theory he would later call logotherapy. The term logotherapy is derived from the Greek word logos, which means meaning. According to logotherapy, the striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man (Frankl 121). Frankl’s theory and therapy generated and grew through his experiences in the concentration camps.

Experiences encompassed in times of struggle can lead to a new transformative perspective of one’s relationship with self and the world. William Shakespeare’s last play “The Tempest” (1610), canvasses loss catalysing rediscovering the importance of life resulting in a greater understanding of how our flaws compromise our humanity. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, shows this to be true, moving from a mindset focused on vengeance to a profound discovery of self. Similarly, in “Man’s Search for Meaning” (1946), fulfillment with discovering how we choose to cope and find meaning/purpose in life through unrelenting struggle is illustrated. The three-part non-fiction told by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, depicts his ordeal inside of concentration camps during the Second World War, elaborating on finding true meaning in life even under the most horrific circumstances. Frankl shares his process of discovery demonstrating his ability to overcome the most overwhelming experience leading to doorway of meaning, purpose and happiness.