Nietzsche said, "He who knows what he lives for will live." ”
In a complex world, we often lose our way and struggle to find the meaning of life.
This is not only a subject that philosophers and thinkers have diligently pursued, but also a lingering confusion in the minds of the general public.
It seems that there will never be a definite answer to this ancient and eternal philosophical proposition why do people live.
Victor Frank's "Living the Meaning of Life" reveals the mystery of the meaning of life and leads us to re-examine our own existence.
Victor Frank, a distinguished psychologist and founder of Denotics. Based on his own experiences, this book delves into the meaning and value of life.
The book is divided into two parts, the first half of which tells Frank's painful experience in the concentration camp, allowing readers to deeply appreciate the difficulty of survival and the fragility of life.
The second half of the book explains the core ideas of logotherapy.
Frank emphasized the importance of human free will and choice.
Even in the most difficult circumstances, people can still choose their attitudes and behaviors and overcome difficulties and setbacks by finding meaning in life.
01 Even in a desperate situation, life has meaning
When the iron gates of the Nazi concentration camp slowly closed, when countless people fell into the abyss of despair, Victor Frank found the motivation to live with amazing courage and wisdom.
The meaning of life is often highlighted in severe trials. The more difficult the situation in life, the closer he is to the essence of life, and the more he can live in simple terms.
There will always be big and small difficulties in life, but difficulties do not mean despair, it is these difficulties that make us think and become opportunities for us to grow.
The author firmly believes that power resides in the things that make him miserable.
When we face it bravely, we can draw strength from it.
What is the meaning of life? Victor Frank emphasized that the meaning of life is not given by the outside world, but comes from our unique understanding and experience of life in our hearts.
Everyone has their own life story, and each story has its own unique meaning.
And it is these myriad individual meanings that make up our colorful world and the root of our love of life.
In that purgatory, full of death and absurdity, Frank transforms pain into thinking and understanding the meaning of life.
Life is everywhere, it's all in our choices.
He not only paints a picture of a hopeful future, but also teaches us how to face the difficulties and challenges of reality.
02 The meaning of life is a choice
In his book, Frankl says:
"Anything that man possesses can be taken away, but the last freedom of human nature – that is, the freedom to choose one's own attitude and way of life in any circumstance – cannot be taken away. ”
No matter what kind of suffering and hardship we encounter, we have the freedom to choose how we want to deal with it.
We can choose to complain, to be angry, to despair, or we can choose to accept, to understand, to hope.
By choosing the former, we will only make ourselves more miserable, and by choosing the latter, we will make ourselves stronger.
The author was consulted by an elderly doctor suffering from severe depression whose beloved wife had died two years earlier, but who had been unable to accept his wife's death and had been living in deep pain for two years.
The author empathizes, but instead of comforting him and not telling him what to do, he asks him a question:
"What if you go before her, and your wife is still alive after you die?"
The doctor exclaimed, and said, "Then she must be very uncomfortable, how can she bear it?"
The author immediately replied: You are still alive and have endured such pain in her place.
The doctor didn't say anything more, and walked out quietly.
At this point, he found the meaning of life, and the pain was no longer pain.
In the concentration camp, Frankl witnessed countless deaths and atrocities, but he did not give up his faith in life.
He used his knowledge of psychology to help himself and others maintain their sanity and courage, and wrote this great work while in prison.
As he said, "It is in the midst of extreme hardship that people have the opportunity to achieve spiritual sublimation." ”
03The meaning of life is to create value
In the book, Frank not only focuses on the macrocosm of life, but also delves into the microcosm of individual life.
Everyone has their own unique mission and values, and this value is often hidden in the seemingly insignificant details of life.
When a person realizes his uniqueness, he understands that he is still valuable even when the whole world ignores him.
Frankl said:
"Instead of asking what is the meaning of life, we should ask ourselves: What do I want to do in this world?"
Everyone has their own unique mission and goals, and only by finding these things can we find the meaning of our existence.
The meaning of life is not given in advance, but is created by each person in his or her own life.
We can realize the value of our existence by bringing joy and happiness to ourselves and others through work, love, art, etc.
Work is an opportunity for us to create value for society and others, find a valuable and meaningful job that you recognize to do, this sense of meaning will enhance your sense of achievement.
Love is the nourishment of the soul, whether it is the author himself or the old doctor mentioned above, they have found the meaning of life from love.
Frank mentions art more than once in the book, and the oppressive environment in which the prisoners are able to experience artistic and natural beauty that they have never experienced before, and even make them forget the situation in which they are in.
There is always something in human nature that cannot be taken away.
When we become aware of this, we will rediscover ourselves, hold on to the meaning of life, seek the light of life, and find the path to happiness.
Frank said, "Man's inner strength can change his outer destiny." "This power is the meaning of life.
It is believed that everyone has a unique talent and mission.
At any time, as long as you live actively with hope and love, you can create your own beautiful future and let life bloom with infinite brilliance.
Golden sentence in the book:
1. Some uncontrollable forces may take away a lot of things from you, but the only thing it can't take away is your freedom to choose how to deal with different situations. You can't control what happens in your life, but you can control your emotions and actions in the face of these things.
2. Love is the highest goal of human life. I understood the true meaning of the great secret conveyed by poetry, thought, and faith: to save humanity by loving and being loved. I know that a person who has nothing in the world only needs a moment to miss his lover, then he can understand the true meaning of happiness.
3. Man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or avoid pain, but to see the meaning of his life. That's why people are even prepared to suffer, and in that sense, their suffering has meaning.
4. Human beings always have the ability to (1) transform life's suffering into achievement, (2) extract the opportunity for reform from sin, and (3) gain the motivation for responsible action from the short life.
5. No one is qualified to judge others unless he asks himself that he would not do so in such a situation.
6. People's understanding of their own intrinsic value is pinned on higher, more spiritual things that will not be destroyed by concentration camp life, but how many free people, let alone prisoners, have such self-consciousness?
7. People do not endure the meaninglessness of life, but endure their inability to grasp the infinite meaning of life in a reasonable way.
8. I think that childbirth is not the only meaning of life, because if that is the case, life itself will have no meaning. Things that have no meaning in themselves do not give it any meaning just by perpetuating it.