(Book) Man's Search for Meaning -Viktor E. Frankl (8/10)

[Basman]

Page count: 154

Either a self-help book with a holocaust account attached or a holocaust account with a self-help angle depending on who you ask. That is not to say that either aspects are somehow diametrically opposed, quite the opposite. The holocaust account is an essential vehicle to frame the concept of logotherapy, or in laymen terms, having a strong purpose to deal with life's hardships. Such a concept would very easily end up as mental masturbation if not grounded in lived suffering. And there are few experiences as dehumanizing and miserable as the holocaust for its victims. I would go so far and posit that a book like this wouldn't really work if its author didn't live through and survive something like the holocaust. At least it wouldn't have the same impact. A concept like logotherapy needs to be "hard earned" for it to have any emotional resonance, as brutal as that may sound.

About 2/3 of the book is dedicated to accounting his experience as a prisoner of Auschwitz and several other camps. While the book is clearly divided chapter-wise between the account of prison life and explaining logotherapy as a concept, the content itself interplays organically. The most illustrative passages of logotherapy are arguably during the holocaust account, where the author reflects on his spiritual attainment during the ordeal and what it meant. The logotherapy section contrasts in how much more informational and jargony it is as opposed to the more storytelling and reflective prose of the holocaust account. The author is clearly intelligent and educated and you get a sense that he is in his element when he discusses psychology especially.

Originally, the author intended for the book to be anonymous because he didn't want the sensationalism of the holocaust to overshadow the important concept of logotherapy (he was eventually convinced to publish as himself by a friend). It illustrates how the holocaust account is more or less meant as a reflection as opposed to a sensationalist piece, though some sensationalism is unavoidable due to the cultural significance of the holocaust. The account doesn't delve deeper into the experience more than the essentials. Most of the time is spent reflecting on how this environment changes a man and forces them to cope with this brutal reality. How prisoners became emotionally numb, retreated into themselves for comfort or how the harsh environment exposes a person's morality. Certain people became viciously sadistic when in position of power over someone else, be it SS guards or kopas, who where themselves prisoners, while others where fair people. There is one excerpt of an SS captain who spent his own money buying medicine for the prisoners and was so well liked that the prisoners hid him during the liberation from the American soldiers. The experience culminates for the author down to what he would essentially coin as logotherapy by the time of the book's publication.

My favorite passage of this book, which reflects the essence of its core concept of logotherapy:

Quote

P. 74-76

Man preserves a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstances, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

...Fundamentally, therefor, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him -mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in  a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, "there is only one thing that I dread: not to be worth of my sufferings." These words frequently came to my mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom -which cannot be taken away -that makes life meaningful and purposeful....

...The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity -even under the most difficult circumstances -to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worth of his suffering or not.

It should be noted that the author stresses multiple times the distinction between unavoidable and unnecessary suffering and that you should do your best to avoid unnecessary suffering. Just in case of any misunderstandings.

8/10

Edited yesterday at 09:33 PM by Basman