Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl in 1949
With over twelve million copies in print worldwide since it was originally published in 1959, Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, has become a psychological and spiritual classic.
In it, Frankl recounts his experiences during three years in Auschwitz and several other Nazi concentration camps. And yet, as its title suggests, the message of Man’s Search for Meaning is not one of horror and despair, but one of meaning and of hope for humanity.
Instead of surrendering to hopelessness as many imprisoned victims of the Nazi regime did, Frankl viewed the horrors of the camps with a trained psychiatrist’s eye. In doing so, he found vindication for his view that the beauty and power of humanity is our ability to rise above even the worst suffering, and become greater than any barbarism that might be inflicted upon us.
Frankl proposes that in finding a meaning for our own particular life and circumstances, we can rise above hopelessness, depression, and the various neuroses that afflict us, and build a satisfying and worthwhile existence for ourselves. In the second part of Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl lists three different ways we can find meaning in life:
- By creating a work or doing a deed
- By experiencing something or encountering someone
- By the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering
These three paths to meaning in Frankl’s existential system of psychotherapy (which he named “logotherapy”) are harmonious with similar elements of the path of spiritual rebirth or “regeneration” described by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) two centuries earlier.
In Part 1 of this article we’ll look at finding meaning by creating a work or doing a deed.
For more on Viktor Frankl and meaning through work, please click here to read on.
Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life 