How Do You Find Meaning In The Worst Circumstances Of Life?
Not to scratch your existential dread but how do you find meaning in life despite suffering, captivity, illness, and death?
Viktor Frankl was one of the millions of people that were held captive during World War II. Being a psychiatrist by trade, he had a particular interest in the workings of the mind, and he had a first-hand look at how people suffered in concentration camps. He detailed this in the book: Man’s Search For Meaning. Eleven months after being freed. He gave a series of lectures. These lectures form the subject of this book.
This book is split in three parts all making the case for life despite its worst circumstances.
- Despite hardship and death
- Despite suffering from physical and mental illness
- Under the fate of concentration camps
The first part is about life as a responsibility. Frankl talks about the usual frame of mind that people ponder their life’s purpose: “What do I get out of life? or what does life owe me?” He corrects and says that to find meaning, we should ask “What does life need from me? or what can I do for life?” Frankl notes that we derive meaning from three things: (I) through our actions, (II) through appreciation of nature, works of art or simply by loving people, and (III) by how we adapt to the limits on our life.
The second part is about suffering as a human condition, and that illness does not necessarily involve a loss of meaning. Frankl gives a couple of examples where patients in the last hours of their life would think of sparing others the trouble of attending to them. Frankl agrees that to think of life as either meaningless or meaningful has the same logic, and that “a person cannot take this decision on the basis of a logical rule but only from the depths of his or her own being.” If a person believes that his or her life has meaning, it brings about a creative effect, and that “belief brings into being that which is believed. “
The third part is about the psychological phases a prisoner goes through in a concentration camp: (I) feelings of shock upon admission, (II) feelings of apathy and helplessness, (III) feelings of guilt upon being set free.
Why read Yes To Life?
You learn how life can be meaningful in all circumstances.
How can you use this information?
Live well and live free.
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