This book is based on the first-hand experiences of Viktor E. Frankl during World War 2 when, over the course of 3 years was incarcerated in 4 different Nazi Concentration Camps, including Auschwitz.
Despite everything, was able to look at his experiences with an objective view, considering various aspects of life for himself, his fellow prisoners and the guards and rulers around him.
Frankl describes his realisation that while ever more people in Western nations were living lives of material comfort, all too many lived in a detrimental psychological state he called the existential vacuum.
“The existential vacuum is a widespread phenomenon of the 20th century. This is understandable; it may be due to a twofold loss which man has had to undergo since he became a true human being. At the beginning of human history, man lost some of the basic animal instincts in which an animal’s behaviour is embedded and by which it is secured. In addition to this, however, man has suffered another loss in his more recent development inasmuch as the traditions which buttressed his behaviour are now rapidly diminishing. No instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people wish him to do (totalitarianism).”
Key takeaways
- Success, happiness, and pleasure ensue, they should not be pursued.
- You always have free will
- Your primary motivation is the will to meaning; you are not merely a pleasure or power-seeking organism
- Meaning of Life: Creating, Encountering, Seeing, Loving, Suffering
The first way to find meaning is through an active life in which you create a work or do a deed. This life serves “the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work”. The work you do contribute to something greater than yourself. For example, it may contribute to the community.
If you are unhappy for unavoidable reasons, do not listen to those people who want to make you happy or try to make you feel unhappy about being unhappy. No, sometimes it is good and right to be unhappy, and you can still find meaning in life. Pleasure and happiness are not most important, finding meaning is. When you find meaning, you enter a state of being that transcends pleasure and happiness. We are beings as in human beings, not human machines.
This theme should remind you that the way you accept unavoidable suffering, the way you take up your cross, gives you ample opportunity to add depth and meaning to your life
According to Frankl, it is when individuals fail to find meaning in their lives that they turn to the dogged pursuit of pleasure or power in the false belief that doing so will fill the void that an absence of meaning has left in them.
Frankl stressed that as unique individuals, meaning will present itself in different ways to each person. Each of us faces different situations in our lives, some of which are more, and some of which are less, under our control and influence. Frankl’s belief was that no matter what fate brought if one took appropriate action and adopted the right attitude to the situation, a meaningful life could be realized.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I’ll leave you with a Nietzsche’s quote that aligns with a takeaway I further understood after reading Frankl’s work.
He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow.
Bedroom 2 Boardroom 🚀 