Dr. Frankl Man's Search For Meaning

Not too long ago, I had joined a philosophy class at ULM. The class seemed to be interesting and quite invigorating. One of the class major requirements was to write a review on Dr Frankl's book, "Man's search for meaning." At first, as most students would think, I thought "one more book to review," but later on I also thought "let's give it a fighting chance." So, I began reading the book, somewhat, a few days after it was assigned. The funny part was that the content, actually, revived some memories and intrigued my interest rather than boring me to death as I initially speculated. My grandfather is from Poland, and he was held captive during World War II by the Germans; while I was reading the book all of the memories that he shared with me about the war began popping in my head, like the mushrooms in the Amazon forest!
At first, I needed to find out who was Victor Frankl; I needed to look in depth who was this person. After numerous searches, I found out he was born in 1905 and died in 1997; he was a neurologist, psychiatrist, founder of logotherapy, and existential analysis. And most importantly, he was an Auschwitz survivor. Dr Frankl authored thirty two books that were published in no less than 29 languages. The book I was supposed to review,
"Man's search for meaning" belongs to the ten most influential books in the US. Even though he is not alive today, his memory and work are remembered, honored, and praised accordingly by various institutions, philosophers, scientists, and other people alike.
"Man's search for meaning" main theme concentrates on the tortures, struggles, and the essence of existence of the prisoners in the concentration camps. Dr Frankl described in quite a bit of detail the emotional, spiritual, and physical status of the various encampments he attained during his imprisonment. The inhumane treatment, the lack of food, and the lack of relaxation were triggers for the prisoners to respond and probably survive. In fact, Dr Frankl used a very peculiar way to make it through. Except the fact that he wanted to reconstruct his scientific paper, he thought about the future as if he was living in the past, and he thought about the past as if he was living in the future. These three elements combined gave him an enormous motive to survive: each contributing in different instances of his captivity. I am not really sure if Dr Frankl studied the ancient Greek philosophers, but in my opinion he was using Aristotelian and Platonic doctrines at his own benefit. What lead me to this conclusion was his need to reconstruct the scientific document (material) and the "lost in my thoughts" approach (ideas), to soothe the conditions he faced. I believe that he used this delusion based strategy to partly avoid the brutal reality, think about his theories, and above all remain humane. As Socrates said two and a half millenniums ago, "an unexamined life is not worth of living," Dr Frankl was quite busy examining his life; whilst, he was still in touch with the "Nazi" reality and able to help others.
It is amazing how some people find strength to endure though such horrific situations; it is even more amazing to see these same people who were through such troubles in their life to come out sane and with their will for life intact. Nevertheless, not all of us are made from the same stock; as a result, not all of us under such strenuous conditions are able to excel or even make it. From what it seems, Dr Frankl was made to excel: contributing to humanity important work regarding neurology - psychiatry, logotherapy, and existential analysis. As Dr Frank said, "a man who becomes 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." It is important to understand the significance of being able to become conscious of any situation. Only then our inner strength will be able to be utilized to out benefit.
A quite interesting part that caught my attention was him saying, "we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: by doing a deed; by experiencing a value; and by suffering." Even though he was referring to the imprisonment conditions at that point in time, I believe that he meant the driving force behind all of our actions: our motives.
People in Auschwitz that had a cause (meaning in life) usually were alive after World War II; on the contrary, others with no cause or something to believe in simply didn't make it. As he mentioned deeds, values, and suffering can lead us towards finding the meaning. In his own words, "The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather
detected."
People that study martial arts are very familiar with Bruce Lee teachings. One of the most famous doctrines regarding life, which I absolutely agree upon, is this: "If you pour water into a cup it becomes the cup. If you pour water into a bowl it becomes the bowl. Water can crush; water can flow. Be water my friend." This doctrine in my opinion totally goes in line with Dr Frankls theory that we are "not fully conditioned." By reading some more articles about him, Dr Frankl mentions that humans are free to do whatever they want, but do not have any control over what condition faces them in life. In fact, this particular quote further characterizes his implication, "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." The cup and the bowl as Bruce Lee so charmingly mentioned are the different life situations; the water is us. We have the choice either to adapt and become the cup, or not adapt and extinguish. "Crushing" or "flowing" is no more than various ways of dealing with the "cup" – life situation. The camps were mainly divided into the SS soldiers and the prisoners. Some prisoners in the concentration camps chose to be pigs (Capos) being worse than their masters, some chose to be saints relieving anyone in need, and the rest chose to be "the cattle" that was simply there to fill the space. I think that the free-will issue that he stressed throughout the book is very important; in fact, our mere existence relies on our choices. Life throws at us various conditions; if we cannot make choices, we are nothing more than meager plants.
I found this book very exciting, lively described, and needless to say intriguing. He is very concise, up to the point, and quite informative. By looking at Dr Frankls struggles, thoughts, and responses during captivity throughout the book, I acquainted a feeling of respect and admiration towards him. Because of this book, I was able to get a better understanding of what my grandfather went through, during the war. Also, I was amazed by the fact that many personal thoughts of mine, doctrines, and my beliefs about the divine instead of being trashed were reinforced. It is pretty hard to agree with somebody so closely on such light matters, but obviously this is the case with Dr Frankl and me.