Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frank - Book Report/Review Example

Man’s Search for Meaning The wrote this book based on his real life experiences as a prisoner during World War II. He was an Auschwitz concentrated camp inmate during one of the most traumatizing times in the history of the world; the Holocaust. Most of his family members including his wife passed away during this time in the concentration camps. He lost everything he owned during this period and underwent so much inhumane torture such as extreme hunger, brutality and severe cold. Despite all these events, Frankl did not let them bring him to his knees. He was an optimist, not looking at things as they are but what they may lead to in the future (Frankl, 2011). Frankl was born in 1905 in Vienna. He was a student at the University of Vienna. Being a bright student, he was able to attain two doctorate degrees from the university. Upon capture, Frankl was detained for three years in Auschwitz among other camps. When he was set free, Frankl wrote the book, Mans search for meaning. He introduces his psychotherapeutic method that he cultivated and lived by as a prisoner. This method involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then deeply imagining that outcome of it. As a scientist, Frankl had many ideas that were mainly in theory until the breakout of World War II. During his time as a prisoner, he got to live out many of his ideas. The experiences he went through while in captivity enabled him to come up with the basis for a new school of psychotherapy. He named it Logotherapy that was in line with the psychoanalysis of Freud and Adler’s individual psychology. Logotherapy attempts to draw out a person from themselves and view their life in a broader perspective. On the other hand, psychoanalysis is about looking inwardly at oneself and identifying the cause of neurosis. It mainly focuses on what draws emotions in an individual, while Alderian psychology concerns itself with drawing the desire of an individual to control others. After analyzing both schools of thought, Frankl concludes that the major motivational force in human beings is the will to draw meaning out of life. The world is in need of hope. During times of adversity, people feel like they have lost control. Frankl is an inspirational figure in showing us an alternative to giving up. Even to the point of severe hardship, beyond the limits of inhumane treatment, he emerged an optimist. His perseverance during his captivity and the will to live should encourage every individual to keep on holding onto hope no matter the circumstances. During his captivity, he was able to witness the death of innocent infants, women, men and children (Coutu, 2002). He lost many friends and acquaintances and experienced loneliness but still he did not give up on life like many of his fellow prisoners. According to Frankl, the future imagination of a prisoner determines how long he would survive or hang on to dear life. The intention of the work is to discover the daily life of average inmates. One gets to see the contrast in thought between Frankl’s positive outlook to life and other men in the camps that had long given up on life and fighting to hang on to it. The quickening to the end of their miserable lives as they smoke their last cigarettes shows the bleak despair that hung in the atmosphere. At the beginning of the text, Frankl analyzes what he went through in the camp. The second Part introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory known as the logotherapy that involves overlooking your current situation and focusing on a particular positive object in your life and hanging on to it completely. For Frankl, his main object was his dear wife and the love he felt for her. From the above discussion, the deduction points out Frankls argument, as per his experience, is that one has to be life affirming, headstrong, and weather the pressures of life (Coutu, 2012). According to Frankl, having meaning in life prevents an individual from taking his existence for granted. It brings a sense of focus in life and direction. It brings order back to the life of an individual. When Frankl was writing this book, he was trying to document the psychological trauma that most prisoners undergo while in their cells. He lists three states that he considers mandatory for every prisoner to experience. The first step is shock; the second is apathy while the last stage is depersonalization. Frankl is of the opinion that apathy forces a prisoner to go down to the level of a primitive animal where all emotions and efforts are centrally directed towards self-preservation. His theories are based on the things he was able to observe while in prison. For instance, he makes the observation that many inmates would discuss food when the prison warders were not around. Such discussions indicate that the desire for food was the main instinct around the prison camps. Ideally, the search for meaning and a purpose in life is something that all human beings attempt to find. Lacking meaning and purpose in life creates a void, a black hole and a feeling of emptiness that leads one to conclude that his life is a waste (Frankl, 2011). The only way to overcome is to find meaning in life by upholding moral values, discipline and moral values. Ignoring the need for life with purpose is detrimental to our survival. Despite the negative attributes that we possess, and all the negative behavior that we may have, deep down, every human being has some positive values that they hold dear. Behaving in ways that contradict these values makes people restless and makes life lose meaning. Values teach the importance of our identity, who we are and who chose to be. It also helps us to learn the value of self-sacrifice; giving up our comforts and securities for the sake of aiding others. Frankl was a doctor by profession. His job was a way of giving back to the society by caring for the sick in hospitals. He found meaning in his life by discovering his identity as someone who could be of help to other people. While in the concentrated camps, Frankl built his character by making a difference in the lives of other inmates. The choices that Frankl made while in the concentrated camps helped him get through the Holocaust. By serving others as a doctor, he was able to make himself useful to both the prisoners and the Nazis, hence surviving the Holocaust. For this reason, Frankl states that the attitude of a man in life cannot be snatched away. Depersonalization was third on the list of Frankl’s three psychological states that every prisoner experiences. It is perhaps the most severe of all the three stages. During this stage, the prisoners start dealing with the cruelties of life. At this point, everything seems surreal. Victims of such inhumane treatment and injustices of life tend to cause mayhem in the society that they go back to as a method of revenging for their mistreatment. Unlike psychoanalysis, logotherapy demands that patients should not wallow in self-pity. Instead, it encourages progressive thinking, using the future as a canvass for searching for meaning. Unlike psychotherapy, logotherapy does not focus on self-awareness but the will to meaning of life. People tend to experience emotional and chemical imbalances in the body if their life is meaningless. Life is unpredictable and thus cannot conform to the shape we want it for ourselves; rather, we must accept the road it leads us to follow. It is Biblical to argue out that the testing and sufferings of a man are meant to strengthen his will to live. Events occurring in a man’s life shape his outlook on life and influence his perspective to the meaning of life. Frankl states that living a common life is living a meaningless life. Simple-minded people do not have any goals, dreams or ambitions, hence causing them to settle for less. Ordinary people live ordinary lives. People who have found meaning in their lives tend to have better quality of life. Above all, they have something that motivates them to work very hard and to become better people every day. People with motivation have dreams and ambitions in life. Each morning presents to them a chance to become better people in society. Every morning they find an opportunity to offer help to another person. Leaving a legacy is their aim and they enjoy what they do. In conclusion, Frankl’s book teaches on how to rise above our adversities. His life story is a good example. He was taken as a captive in the concentration camps where he faced psychological, physical and emotional traumas. The Nazis mistreated him together with the other prisoners. As a result, he lost his family. However, he rose above it all and continued with his service to mankind by using his professional background to help his fellow inmates. Even when he should have given up, he was hopeful that he would be a free man once again. Frankl teaches that we should stop whining in our current situations. Besides, every cloud has a silver lining. References Frankl, V. E. (2011). The unheard cry for meaning: Psychotherapy and humanism. Simon and Schuster. Frankl, V. E. (1985). Mans search for meaning. Simon and Schuster. Frankl, V. E. (1986). The doctor and the soul: From psychotherapy to logotherapy. Random House LLC. Coutu, D. L. (2002). How resilience works. Harvard business review, 80(5), 46-56. Read More