The Invisible Mentor

“Say Yes to Life,” A Book Review of Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

June 1st, 2010 |

book review, book reviewer, Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl

Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a personal account of Frankl’s experience in a concentration camp and a psychoanalytic look at the suffering that took place there. This is a heart rending book and it must have taken a great deal of effort and control for him to emotionally distance himself from his suffering to objectively relate and analyze the events that transpired during the years he “lived” in the concentration camps.

The goal of Man’s Search for Meaning is to “try to answer the question: How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?” I think that as an author, Frankl answered the question. People were reduced to numbers, and Frankl’s number was Number119,104. When he wrote the book he had no expectations that it would be a bestseller and in fact he wanted to write anonymously using his prison number. “I had intended to write this book anonymously, using my prison number only. But when the manuscript was completed, I saw that as an anonymous publication it would lose half of its value, and that I must have the courage to state my convictions openly. I therefore refrained from deleting any of the passages in spite of an intense dislike of exhibitionism.”

Would you have had the courage to write about such horrific experiences if you were in Frankl’s shoes?

Frankl identified three phases of the inmates’ psychological reactions to life in the concentration camps:

The period following his admission
The period when he is entrenched in camp life
The period after his release and freedom

One of the most difficult things for the inmates was the feeling of no end in sight. They didn’t have an end date for their incarceration, and they weren’t like regular prisoners because they hadn’t committed a crime, they were incarcerated because of the “group” they belonged to. Because of the indefinite incarceration there was often a sense of hopelessness, and inmates who wanted to commit suicide had to be convinced that there was a why for living. Frankl often assumed the role of psychotherapist even when he didn’t feel like it.

“God knows, I was not in the mood to give psychological explanations or to preach any sermons – to offer my comrades a kind of medical care for their souls. I was cold and hungry , irritable and tired, but I had to make the effort and use this unique opportunity. Encouragement was now more necessary than ever.”

The author paints a very graphic picture of life in the concentration camps and you can see in your mind’s eye what happened. And what struck me was even things that most would consider ordinary or even mundane became important for survival. Inmates were exchanging recipes and talking about meals they were going to cook when they attained freedom. Watching the sunset was a simple pleasure for them. Frankl had imaginary conversations with his wife, and in the conversations he asked her questions and she answered, and she asked him questions and he answered. For him that was a way to maintain his sanity and mental freedom . To some, that may seem crazy, but not as crazy as you may think. In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill consulted with his Invisible Counselors and they too responded to his questions, and he didn’t have to endure living in a concentration camp.

“But my mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise…The guard rushed over and used his whip on them all [because a man had stumbled]. Thus my thoughts were interrupted for a few minutes. But soon my soul found its way back from the prisoner’s existence to another world, and I resumed talk with my loved one. I asked her questions and she answered, she questioned me in return and I answered.”

The meaning of life

Life means different things to different people depending on their circumstances. “Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answers to its problems and to fulfill the tasks it constantly sets for each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way.”

5 Great Ideas

A sense of humor can get you through tough times
You are capable of doing much more than you think
Don’t make success your goal because you’ll never attain it
“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.”
You may not have a choice in the experiences you encounter in life, but you have a choice in how you react to them

After reading Man’s Search for Meaning, one of the core messages that I received is that if you have a why for life you can weather any storm, what’s the why for your life? I recommend that you read Man’s Search for Meaning because it will inspire you, and you’ll realize how much you take for granted. Man’s Search for Meaning is one of those books that transcend time. Though first published in the 1940s, the book is still relevant today. I will leave you with two quotations Frankl mentions, which provide good advice to live by. And, while you are reading the book, answer the question, “What does my life mean to me?”

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Nietzsche

“Life is like being at the dentist. You always think that the worst is still to come, and yet it is over already.” Bismarck

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