Dr. Viktor Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning" (Excerpt)
"Man's Search for Meaning" (Excerpt)
by Dr. Viktor Frankl
Dr. Frankl, himself a concentration camp prisoner, addresses his fellow inmates on the behest of one of them, after a particularly horrific day:
"I said that even in this Europe in the 6th winter of the Second World War, our situation was not the most terrible we could think of. I said that each of us had to ask himself what irreplaceable losses he had suffered up till then. I speculated that for most of them, these losses had really been few. Whoever was still alive had reason for hope. Health, family, happiness, professional abilities, fortune, position in society - all these were things that could be achieved again or restored. After all, we still had all our bones intact. Whatever we had gone through could still be an asset to us for the future. And I quoted from Nietzsche: "that which does not kill me makes me stronger".
Then I spoke about the future. I said that to the impartial the future must seem hopeless. I agreed that each of us could guess for himself how small were his chances of survival. I told them that although there was still no typhus epidemic in the camp, I estimated my own chances at about one in twenty. But I also told them that in spite of this, I had no intention of losing hope and giving up, for no man knew what the future would bring, much less the next hour. Even if we could not expect any sensational military events in the next few days, who knew better than we, with our experience of camps, how great chances sometimes opened up quite suddenly, at least for the individual. For instance, one might be attached unexpectedly to a special group with especially good working conditions, for this was the kind of thing that constituted the "luck" of a prisoner.
But I did not only talk of the future and the veil which was drawn over it, I also mentioned the past, all its joys and how its light shone even in the present darkness. Again I quoted a poet - to avoid sounding like a preacher myself - who had written, "what you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you". Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, even though it is past. We have brought it into being. Having being is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind. Then I spoke of all the opportunities of giving life a meaning. I told my comrades, who lay motionless although occasionally a sigh could be heard, that human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death. I asked the poor creatures who listened to me attentively in the darkness of the hut to face up to the seriousness of our position. They must not lose hope, but should keep their courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of our struggle did not detract from its dignity and its meaning. I said that someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours - a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God - and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly, not miserably, knowing how to die.
And finally I spoke of our sacrifice which had meaning in every case. It was in the nature of this sacrifice that it should appear to be pointless in the normal world, the world of material success. But in reality our sacrifice did have a meaning. Those of us who had any religious faith, I said frankly, could understand without difficulty. I told them of a comrade who on his arrival in camp had tried to make a pact with heaven that his suffering and death should save the human being he loved from a painful end. For this man, suffering and death were meaningful. His was a sacrifice of the deepest significance. He did not want to die for nothing - none of us wanted that..."
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation– just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer– we are challenged to change ourselves.”
"I said that even in this Europe in the 6th winter of the Second World War, our situation was not the most terrible we could think of. I said that each of us had to ask himself what irreplaceable losses he had suffered up till then. I speculated that for most of them, these losses had really been few. Whoever was still alive had reason for hope. Health, family, happiness, professional abilities, fortune, position in society - all these were things that could be achieved again or restored. After all, we still had all our bones intact. Whatever we had gone through could still be an asset to us for the future. And I quoted from Nietzsche: "that which does not kill me makes me stronger".
Then I spoke about the future. I said that to the impartial the future must seem hopeless. I agreed that each of us could guess for himself how small were his chances of survival. I told them that although there was still no typhus epidemic in the camp, I estimated my own chances at about one in twenty. But I also told them that in spite of this, I had no intention of losing hope and giving up, for no man knew what the future would bring, much less the next hour. Even if we could not expect any sensational military events in the next few days, who knew better than we, with our experience of camps, how great chances sometimes opened up quite suddenly, at least for the individual. For instance, one might be attached unexpectedly to a special group with especially good working conditions, for this was the kind of thing that constituted the "luck" of a prisoner.
But I did not only talk of the future and the veil which was drawn over it, I also mentioned the past, all its joys and how its light shone even in the present darkness. Again I quoted a poet - to avoid sounding like a preacher myself - who had written, "what you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you". Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, even though it is past. We have brought it into being. Having being is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind. Then I spoke of all the opportunities of giving life a meaning. I told my comrades, who lay motionless although occasionally a sigh could be heard, that human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death. I asked the poor creatures who listened to me attentively in the darkness of the hut to face up to the seriousness of our position. They must not lose hope, but should keep their courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of our struggle did not detract from its dignity and its meaning. I said that someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours - a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God - and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly, not miserably, knowing how to die.
And finally I spoke of our sacrifice which had meaning in every case. It was in the nature of this sacrifice that it should appear to be pointless in the normal world, the world of material success. But in reality our sacrifice did have a meaning. Those of us who had any religious faith, I said frankly, could understand without difficulty. I told them of a comrade who on his arrival in camp had tried to make a pact with heaven that his suffering and death should save the human being he loved from a painful end. For this man, suffering and death were meaningful. His was a sacrifice of the deepest significance. He did not want to die for nothing - none of us wanted that..."
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation– just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer– we are challenged to change ourselves.”
"Never, never, never give up..." - Winston Churchill
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