Man’s Search For Meaning
Viktor Frankl’s book
Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust – by Viktor Frankl, is a book about survival.
Viktor Frankl was the victim of a Nazi concentration camp and managed to survive to tell us about it. However, the book Man’s Search for Meaning isn’t focused on suffering, nor on loss.
It’s not just a book that just aims to describe the atrocities and cruelties of that time.
Above anything, it’s a book that deals with an important issue: where can we find sources of strength to survive difficult situations?
It’s necessary to know how to recognise strategic moments to know how to direct FOCUS to the future, in the purposes that can be achieved and fulfilled in the future. In this way, we stop the formation of vicious cycles of negative thinking.
We must confront ourselves with choices that guide the meaning of our life.
We then become conscious of this meaning, we strengthen our capacity to overcome difficulties and challenges.
The meaning is unique and specific. It can only be fulfilled by the selfsame individual. It’s in this way that they will achieve the meaning of their existence. Man is able to live, and even to die, in the name of his ideas and values.
How to survive crises.
And if we were to be dominated by forces beyond our control? What do we do if they take away everything we have?
Everything can be taken from us, except from one single thing: our ability to choose how to respond in the face of situations.
We can’t control what happens around us, but we can control the way in which we respond.
What is the meaning of life?
Life needs to have meaning. A full life must have meaning. Our greatest mission is to rediscover meaning in our life.
However, it seems that we’re a little lost. Aimless.
The most common complaint is lack of time, living a rushed and busy life. Finding it difficult to deal with commitments. Facing distractions, laziness, interruptions. Everyone can be productive, but the most important question is:
BEING PRODUCTIVE TO WHAT END?
For Viktor Frankl, there are three great sources of meaning:
- Work doing something worthwhile;
- Love caring for a loved one;
- Growing courage in difficult times.
The reason for living gives us strength to face challenges.
If we are able to find out what the reason for living is, we gain strength to overcome difficulties. The person who has a WHY to live is able to overcome whatever challenges of HOW to live.
This is the reason for this video reviewing the book Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It’s not just a journalistic or historical account of the abuse and atrocities of the holocaust. It’s a source of learning for our daily lives. For us to learn how to overcome difficult moments.
Shock, adaptation and apathy
Are humans really a product of the environment? Depending on our environment or on our conditions, we lose the ability to make choices? Viktor Frankl said that this isn’t true. There is a freedom that each of us possesses that cannot be taken by anyone. We always have the freedom to choose how to react in the face of any type of situation.
The situations described by Viktor Frankl show that humans always have the ability to choose their actions. There are innumerable examples that show apathy can be overcome and that irritability can be controlled. There is always the possibility for man to maintain his spiritual freedom and mental independence..
Dostoyevski used to say that that which defines man is the ability to adapt himself to anything. The first phase of imprisonment is characterised by shock, followed by apathy and adaptation.
Apathy is a type of protection that diminishes our sensibility in the face of our environment and circumstances.
Past, present, and future.
Beyond apathy as a defense mechanism, there are those who make use of their memories. They look to the past as a way of reexperiencing good times. The past works as a refuge when life is painful at the present moment.
However, there are limits on what can be achieved with this strategy. Those who excessively attach themselves to the past will find difficulties in living in the present moment. Even worse, without the ability to dream of a better future, they can end up losing their reason for living.
Developing purpose
In the course Productivity Ninja, we develop together the idea of purpose as an essential dimension of a full life. We need to strengthen:
- The physical body (health, vitality)
- The intellectual body (clarity of thought, memory, speed of reasoning)
- Emotional Intelligence (ability to overcome difficulties and maintain self control); and
- The most important dimension, which is PURPOSE.
Invite
The search for purpose and meaning requires reflection. I invite you to find out what Arata Academy has to offer in training, and for us to practice a sincere evaluation, by clicking the below button.