I recently read Man's search for meaning (by Viktor Frankl) on a friend's recommendation... and I lost myself in the journey that this slim book took me on.
It's quite uncanny how all of us think we know all the answers, but somehow lose sight of the biggest question that fills our existence... and seldom think of answering it.
The friend that I mentioned probably picked up this book for different reasons altogether- he's been on a concentration camp pilgrimage (more on that later :) ) and is devouring CC literature like there's no tomorrow! I think that this book would make a profound impact regardless of the circumstances surrounding its creation - however, the fact that it was written by a concentration camp survivor adds a ring of authority to his words - for, is there any person better qualified to savour the joys of life than he who has been pushed to the unimaginable brink?
The first part of the book is about Frankl's experiences at the concentration camp - only it runs on quite unexpected lines; the focus is less on the horrendous facts and the suffering and more on the saving graces and the lessons from camp life. He is a psychiatrist and blessed to be able to view the life at the camp from an objective perspective.
At first, I wondered how someone who was living only in a nominal sense, deprived of everything that defines humanness - freedom, food, sleep, recreation, expression, could occupy himself with deep thoughts and introspection... and one of the first things that made a huge impression on me was his statement on an undeniable human right: he may have lost most of the freedoms afforded to a human, but there is that one freedom cannot be taken away - and that is the right to shape your attitude to a given situation. The way you exercise this undeniable freedom determines whether you wallow in sorrow and remain grief-stricken or manage to maintain your dignity and be worthy of your sufferings.
The second part of this book talks about "Logotherapy": the school of therapy that Frankl created. Logos itself is Greek for 'meaning'. When he returned to his practice, Frankl had to deal with a number of cases of people searching for a meaning for their sufferings, and even their existence.
On suffering, he says one can withstand any 'how' as long as one knows the 'why' - understanding the meaning of your existence and giving it a purpose can help you tolerate any amount of suffering or obstacles. The key, therefore, is to find a meaning. Patients came to him, suffering from the loss of a loved one, or a tormented existence, and questioned him, asking what meaning there is to their life. He boomerangs the question back to them, saying, it is not for us to question life for its meaning. Life itself sets our obstacles and throws the question to us, and challenges us to find a meaning.
When I discussed this book with the friend who had given it to me, I was astonished that his impressions were along completely different dimensions.
He spoke about how it made him want to develop a vision in his life, and work towards it. I, on the other hand, spoke about making one's life an answer to the existential question and using one's sense of purpose to handle suffering.
Then we realised that he was trying to relate the lessons from the book to his current preoccupation with career choices, while I, to my state of soul-searching on the path of recovery from an immobilizing injury.
Amazing how a treatise on meaning can serve as a balm for wholly disparate maladies...
