Review of Mans search for meanng - Essay Example

This dichotomy is not strictly applicable to camp inmates versus Nazi officers divide, for there were ‘decent officers’ and ‘indecent fellow inmates’ as well. Frankl reckons that this classification is at the core of human psychological makeup. He recounts how there were exemplar inmates who managed to keep their integrity intact even in the most testing of situations. The same applies to some Nazi officers who tried to dispense their duty as humanely as possible while still obeying orders from the High Command.

One of the major goals of Frankl's thought is “to highlight the relationship between psychotherapy and philosophy. He reminds us that all psychotherapies, wittingly or unwittingly, are based on a theory of humanness, a philosophy of life. The question, states Frankl, is whether or not our "humanness" is preserved in the given philosophy and theory. This is where Frankl demonstrates his concern over the implications of the "nothing-butness" theory. This is where--as a psychiatrist and as a humanist--he takes a hard look and sees that in most current approaches the human quality is disregarded or neglected: our freedom of will is denied!

” (Lowen, 2000, p. . In the book, Frankl poetically recalls how, in the mind space of his reminiscence, he was able to picture his wife as the epitome of beauty, tenderness and love. Here, his wife appeared several times more luminous than that of the rising sun. In moments such as this he was able to understand for the first time what the poets have been in adoration for centuries past - namely the centrality of love in an individual’s life. An interesting notion brought up by Frankl’s analysis of human psyche under severe distress is ‘will to meaning’.

What this concept means is our obligation toward ourselves to find meaning to our suffering even when prospects for a future look bleak and hopeless. Frankl seems to suggest that adverse external circumstances should not have a significant bearing on the spirit of striving to live. Irrational as it might outwardly seem, Frankl says that suffering creates its own meaning and experience which will strengthen an individual’s hold onto his spiritual self. Hence, the concept of ‘will to meaning’ counsels us on how it is spiritual progress that is the ultimate meaning of life.

Such being the case, harsh physical conditions can actually aide in this progress. Further, Frankl hypothesized that not only a repressed will to pleasure or power can lead to sickness, but “also that a repressed will to meaning can have similar results. In fact, he placed the will to meaning at a higher level than the other causal factors. Pleasure, Frankl said, is not an end in itself but only a by-product of a person's having found meaning. Power, too, said Frankl, is not an end in itself but only a means to an end, namely to find meaning.

Meaning, or logos, in Frankl's view is neither a by-product