Man’s Search For Meaning written by Viktor E. Frankl

1. Man’s Search For Meaningwritten by Viktor E. Frankl Adam Zubke November 3, 2011 Siena Heights University

2. Why I chose this book • Enjoy history • Interested in first person perspective of life in a concentration camp • Preface indicated “tie-in” to many concepts discussed in class

3. About the Author • Viktor E. Frankl • Jewish neurologist and psychiatrist • Spent 3 years in concentration camps • mostly manual labor • Parents, brother and wife were all killed in concentration camps • Founder of logotherapy – a form of existential analysis

4. General Concepts • “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how” – Nietzsche • Existentialism: people are entirely free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves • Despite terrible conditions, survival is possible • “sufferer” must find meaning and responsibility in existence

5. General Concepts cont. • Central theme – “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering” • Last remaining human freedom – ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances • Logotherapy: psychotherapy which aims to confront and reorient the patient toward the meaning of his life

6. Synopsis • Horrific concentration camp experiences • Break man down • Strip him of all goals, hopes, dreams etc. • Both physical and mental pain • Man is left with a choice • Give in to these conditions and lose the will to live, seeing no meaning behind life or • Choose to find meaning in your suffering and life, something/someone you must survive for • A loved one, personal ambitions (life’s work)

7. Author’s Conclusions • Life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death • Example Frankl gave to fellow prisoners enduring a fast to protect another inmate • For everyone in dismal conditions there is someone looking down who would expect not to be disappointed • The salvation of man is through love and in love • Used thoughts of his wife to “escape” from realities of camp life

8. Author’s Conclusions cont. • Two races of men exist – Decent and indecent • No society is free of either • “Decent” Nazi guards • “Indecent” prisoners

9. What I learned • Concept of logotherapy • Meaning of human existence and man’s search for it is the primary force for life • By accepting the challenge to suffer bravely, life continues to have meaning regardless of circumstance

10. What I learned cont. • “Responsibleness” is the essence of human existence • Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life • “So live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about act now”

11. Personal Impact • Searching for meaning to life is normal • Always have hope if you can identify who or what you live for – something that give’s your life purpose and a reason to go on • Even in the face of death it is possible to understand your predicament and give meaning to life • We are responsible for the path we take • Despite things out of our control, we are responsible for choosing our attitude. We must answer to something/someone, be it society, our conscience or God.

12. “Our generation is realistic for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who has invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who has entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips” – Viktor Frankl