Man's Search For Meaning Essay

Man’s Search for Meaning, written by Viktor Frankl, is a memoir about overcoming sufferings to have an optimistic perspective on life in the midst of pain and death. Frankl provides examples of his own experiences after surviving three years in a Nazi concentration camp where his parents, brother, wife, and children died. Using his logotherapy theory, Frankl elaborates on the human pursuit while finding significance through experiences and sufferings. Against a backdrop of violence, cruelty, and death, Frankl creates a perception that by having a meaning or purpose, and a hope in the future, a person can propel through any torment. Frankl’s goal is to postulate a perspective for a person to find meaning in his or her life. Describing his horrendous experiences in an Auschwitz
He claims that existential frustration can result in neuroses, and that it is imperative for the patient to realize his or her existential crises and develop from them. Therefore, people will suffer and die for their values, hence the will to meaning and a will to power. People who are willing to die for their values have found their meaning in their own lives, and have grown from their past unpleasant circumstances. Frankl’s logotherapy approach includes “being responsible.” This means that it is imperative to have a meaning in life, and create a responsibility to do so. This includes willingness to die to beliefs and values, which corresponds with a will to meaning. If a person is willing to sacrifice himself or herself for what he or she believes in, then they have achieved a responsibility. Frankl uses the term “nothingbutness,” as a way of say meaningless or nothingness. He uses this as a platform to describe that life is purposeful, and a person must find the goal in order to find a meaning in his or her life, otherwise that life is meaningless and a sacrifice is