Man's Search for Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a book I've been wanting to read for awhile. (A few months ago, I started--but didn't finish--an awesome book called Character is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember by John McCain. I want to go back and finish that book, but in the meantime, I wrote down the names of those whose stories I read and wanted to learn more about. Viktor Frankl was one of them.) Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who was in four different concentration camps during the Holocaust.  Even before his time in the camps, he had developed a theory about the importance of finding meaning our lives. Once he spent time in the camps, he realized that even in suffering, we can choose to find meaning in our lives and move forward with purpose.

This was a really beautiful book. I am always completely shocked and amazed by what the Holocaust victims had to go through and how they endured, and Viktor Frankl's experiences are no exception. This book was super deep at times and used a lot of psychiatric vocabulary that I was not familiar with, so I'm sure the book would have been even better if I were smarter. :) I also felt like the book was not organized in a super logical way but was more like a stream of consciousness. But despite this, I really enjoyed the read and was touched and inspired by the messages. I'm glad I read it and think it was an important and meaningful read. Although there are so many more I'm not going to include, here are some favorite quotes I want to remember:

• "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
• "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."
• "A man who became conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the 'why' for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how.'"
• "We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed....When we are no longer able to change a situation--just think of an incurable disease such as an inoperable cancer--we are challenged to change ourselves."
• "It is one of the basic tenants of logotherapy that man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. That is why man is even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning. But let me make it perfectly clear that in no way is suffering necessary to find meaning. I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering."
• "Researchers at the Yale University School of Medicine 'have been impressed by the number of prisoners of ward of the Vietnam war who explicitly claimed that although their captivity was extraordinarily stressful--filled with torture, disease, malnutrition, and solitary confinement--they nevertheless...benefited from the captivity experience, seeing it as a growth experience.'"
• "Most important, he realized that, no matter what happened, he retained the freedom to choose how to respond to his suffering. He saw this not merely as an option but as his and every person's responsibility to choose 'the way in which he bears his burden.'"
• "I do not forget any good deed done to me, and I do not carry a grudge for a bad one."

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)