Viktor Frankl's "A Man's Search For Meaning"

In preparation for this Sunday's message, I pulled a book from my shelves.  I purchased Man's Search For Meaning while a student at seminary.  Those days were filled with books I had to read, leaving little time or energy for the books I wanted to read.  I am now trying to fill my time with the latter...

I remember hearing about and reading excerpts of Viktor Frankl in both philosophy and theology classes.  I repeatedly heard that Frankl discovered that concentration camp inmates who lost hope quickly lost their lives, while those who retained hope often retained their lives! This concise, but insightful, work on the subject of meaning, suffering, and hope just cannot be ignored.  I concur with one reviewer - I could barely put it down.

I read this short work in order to hear Frankl's perspective on the necessity of hope. Interestingly, he rarely use the word itself.  Rather, he focused on the subject (as the title suggests) of finding meaning.  Frankl pushes existentialist philosophy beyond the mere acceptance of the reality of suffering to the discovery and acceptance of the meaning of suffering.  He regularly quotes Friedrich Nietzsche, "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how."

The value of Frankl's work is his firsthand description of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, coupled with his professional training and experience as a psychiatrist before and after his imprisonment.  He recognizes the limits of his personal experience, but also makes the most of his experiences.  He writes of what he witnessed in others and in himself.

Frankl's thesis is to show the various ways that prisoners found meaning in the midst of and in thedoes life have meaning right here, right now, or is it now meaningless? He writes, "It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future."  A few pages later, he writes of the consequences of failing to see a future: "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future - his future - was doomed."
experience of sufferings that included starvation, beatings, and the constant threat of death by extermination.  Frankl discovered that the central question asked by the prisoners was,

Frankl's genius, however, was not a simplistic solution of "well just find meaning..."  He pushes further.  He suggests that a person must hold on to the future (as something to look towards), find meaning in the present (as something to live for today), but also to take responsibility for his life's meaning.  Genius!  He writes, "we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us...Our answer [to the question of the meaning of life] 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 to which it constantly sets for each individual."  I think he is right on!  Too often we want to think about the meaning of life and then expect it to "just happen."  But the real heroes are those translate meaning into action!  Frankl even prophetically warns against societies who promote reflection without action!  Frankl also acutely noticed that a person's "meaning in life" is not vague and grand, but is specific and related to the time and place at hand.  In other words, our meaning in life can and does change - and so in every place and situation, we must ask ourselves what our meaning is here and now. Genius!

This idea is expanded upon in the second half of the updated edition which I read (published in 1963).  In this edition, Frankl adds a brief introduction to his therapeutic method, that which he calls logotherapy (a method to help patients discover and activate meaning in life).  He describes his method the "third school of Viennese therapy" (following Freud and Adler).  Frankl clearly, but gently, challenges a few of their ideas which continue dominate.  First, I appreciate his challenge of the human need for "homeostasis."  Frankl suggests that humans need tension, challenge, and "the struggle and striving of some goal worthy of him."  He suggests that expectation or demand for homeostasis results in a sense of meaninglessness.

Finally, and I think this is a great observation that applies especially to my own field of strategic, missional evangelism and outreach, is Frankl's teaching that we only experience meaning when we are others-oriented and world-oriented, not self-oriented.  He writes, "by declaring that man is a responsible creature and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be found in the world rather than within man or his own psyche...By the same token, the real aim of human existence cannot be found in what is called self-actualization.  Human existence is essentially self-transcendence rather than self-actualization...In other words, self-actualization cannot be attained if it is made an end in itself, but only as a side effect of self transcendence."  In other words, we need to stop thinking about ourselves so much, and as we think more about others and the world around us, we will find ourselves happier and fulfilled!

I now know why Viktor Frankl's short work is so highly regarded.  It is moving, challenging, and deeply personal.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!