Many of us get easily depressed, frustrated and even overwhelmed by the most inconsiderable misfortunes because we are unsuccessful in finding meaning in the everyday activities of our lives. Even in the situations that make life unbearable, we can find the perseverance to continue and pursue a more fulfilling life if we understand the meaning to our life, learn to love others and find value in our suffering. In his book Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl shows us that for own our mental and physical well being it is necessary that we find our life’s meaning. What makes Frankl competent enough to teach us about life’s meaning is because he survived four different Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust all because of his beliefs and perseverance. Since he succeeded in persevering in worst situations we could ever imagine, through his book Frankl teaches us that no matter how bad life may seem, it always has some meaning and value.
Based on statistics, the death rates in Nazi concentration camps were catastrophic and the survival rates were drastically low. In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl writes that the prisoners, including him, who were able to survive the concentration camps, were the ones who understood a meaning to their lives and looked forward to carry it through. These people were living for a reason; they were living to conquer the cruel abuse and dreadful living conditions in the concentration camps. Even in the most ill-fated situations, none of us have probably faced the level of hardship and wretchedness that prisoners like Frankl faced in Nazi concentration camps.
If those prisoners managed to survive the terrible conditions by discovering their life’s meaning, then we should surely be able to conquer the problems we commonly face in life. A meaningless life is referred to as an existential vacuum by Frankl, where life becomes tedious and the demands or desires of others end up dictating it. This is likely to be followed by depression, after which addictive or aggressive behavior will likely set in. People seek money, pleasure or power to fill this vacuum they get stuck in, but inevitably and ultimately they realize that they will never be able to live a fulfilled life with these temporary forms of shallow satisfaction unless they find their life’s meaning.
Considering what Frankl learned from Nietzsche’s quote, it is agreeable that when we strive and struggle for a meaningful goal it makes us crave for life and once we accomplish this goal it provides us with fulfillment. Memories of great value are created by this fulfillment. As a result of these memories, regret and the fear of death eliminated, making us live life courageously. Struggling with finding life’s meaning or fulfilling it is normal for many of us. A wholesome form of tension is created by this constant struggle and although it is a form of stress, it is actually necessary for our mental well being and serves as a form of inspiration too.
In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl mentions that the love for a family member or a spouse is one of the sources that can help a person find the true of life, and he also mentions how significant love is in life. Indeed, not everyone is involved in an intimate or romantic relationship. The problem is that we have a very bleak understanding of love. “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality” (Frankl). By loving another human being, their essential features and traits will become visible to us; and moreover, with them potentialities that have not yet come true become visible to us too. Thus, even if we are not in a romantic relationship, another way of finding life’s meaning and expressing love to others is to help make hidden potentials within them a reality.
In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl has also tried to show us that it is even possible to see the meaning and value of life in suffering. Although avoiding suffering seems necessary in order to experience the happiness that is a result of fulfillment. However, when it is not possible to avoid suffering, we must realize that we can still continue fulfilling our life’s meaning by finding benefit and value in the suffering. This is precisely what Frankl did. Despite the suffering he had to endure, he found the value of a chance to live by his beliefs.
Frankl’s beliefs of finding value in suffering are agreeable because researchers themselves have been intrigued by individuals who “undergo a maturing towards personal growth” (Neuner and Elbert) after experiencing traumatic events. If prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, who were brutally tortured and came to face with death, were able to find value in their suffering, the no matter how unavoidable our problems might be, we can surely find value in them too.
While it is necessary for everyone to find the meaning of their life, but life’s meaning varies from person to person (Seachris). If the meaning of life was same for everyone, then none of us would be in control of our own destiny and individuality, and this way the goal of living a meaningful life would be contradicted. If we were living our life for the same purpose that everyone else was living theirs, then we would never be able to find fulfillment in our life. One of the most inspirational and intense aspects of life is the fact that we are able to live our life by our own chosen ideals and values. It is these ideals and values that ultimately lead to fulfillment, which is the reason we all interpret a unique meaning for our life.
Identifying numerous meanings of life is also possible, and over time, these meanings can change too. As Frankl writes in Man's Search for Meaning, striving and struggling in order to achieve a goal is what life’s meaning is based on. Once we achieve that goal, we need to find another goal to achieve and thus, our meaning of life changes. For some of us, a new goal may simply extend from the previous one, but for others, a new goal means shifting in a completely new direction. This is why sometimes it is more productive not to define your life with a single meaning and keeping looking for new meanings until death.
Frankl was able to liberate himself and return to his normal life because he had found his life’s meaning. We are all free to change and free to choose how to respond to any situation. No one can take this freedom away, but we can only benefit from this freedom if we use it wisely. Suffering is a part of life, and no matter how unfortunate, we should find value in it, we find opportunities to love others, and we should find our life’s meaning. If we have a goal, a reason to live, our life will be more fulfilling once we achieve that goal, and begin pursuing a new one. This is all that Viktor Frankl’s Man's Search for Meaning teaches us, and his point of view in the book is definitely agreeable. In fact, Neitzsche’s quote “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how” (Frankl) that Frankl discovered makes perfect sense.
Works Cited
Batista, Ed. "Viktor Frankl on Love, Suffering and the Meaning of Life." edbatista.com. Ed Batista, 4 2010. Web. 12 Dec 2012.
Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning. 1st. Beacon Press, 2006. Print.
Neuner, Frank and Elbert, Thomas. "Long-term consequences of political imprisonment and torture on former political prisoners in Estonia."kops.ub.uni-konstanz.de. KOPS, n.d. Web. 12 Dec 2012.
Seachris, Joshua. "Meaning of Life: The Analytic Perspective." iep.utm.edu. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 29 2011. Web. 12 Dec 2012.
