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Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl: Review & Summary

Book Review, Summary & Facts about Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Book Review: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 

Every suffering is the meaning of life. Find worthy goals, choose your own life, and explore the purpose and meaning of life. 

Introduction of Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. What is the meaning of life? What is life? I have been thinking about it for four years, and I have graduated from college. The meaning of life is sometimes clear but sometimes ethereal. 

I intermittently remembered the sentence that the Teacher quoted in class: "A person should not ask him what the meaning of life is. On the contrary, he should realize that he is the one who is questioned by life." 

The original author of this sentence is Victor Frankl. He was imprisoned in a concentration camp for three years during the Nazi period and survived. After being released, he founded logotherapy, a psychotherapy called logotherapy. 

The day before yesterday, I finished reading his booklet "Searching for the Meaning of Life". The moment I closed the book, I deeply regretted why I didn't read it earlier.

The author of Man's Search for Meaning is a psychiatrist himself. He came out to become a psychiatrist and invented a kind of meaningful therapy.

The whole book is to the effect that the sense of accomplishment, love, and enduring hardships are the three major components of the meaning of life. It's about suffering here. 

The author tells you that suffering is a blessing, and suffering is earned. To experience pain is to experience life. Of course, the author also reminds you that if you suffer unnecessary hardships, you are a fool. 

As for how to judge whether suffering is necessary or not, it is entirely up to you. The author can't help you either.

The whole book is divided into three parts,
  1. In the author's life in the concentration camp, he finds that people can still make choices under extreme predicaments, and the ultimate freedom in life---the freedom of the mind.
  2. Liberated, went out of camp and invented logotherapy, a meaning-based psychotherapy
  3. On how to find meaning in suffering, he told the case of patients he met
In fact, the whole book can be summed up in an old saying, suffering is a blessing.

But why blessing? God knows.

In fact, the author has not made it clear in this regard, or it is difficult to make it clear. In fact, enduring hardship is a blessing, and when it comes to the final judgment of whether it is a blessing or not, it is also result-oriented. If the author finally died in the concentration camp, there is no meaning at all, and the meaning may only be known in his heart.

But the author believed it. He believed that all the suffering he suffered was meaningful. He came through. So, in fact, as long as you don’t die, you still have a future, your hardships will not be in vain, your sweat, your tears, all of which are valuable, you have a purpose and a sense of meaning, all these things will turn into the strength of your soul so that you do not give up hope for life, so you can face life with a more optimistic attitude.

This is what the author has to say. There's a bit of a philosophical one here. The effect of idealism is the greatest. The law of attraction is universal. As long as you believe that this one won't break you, you can survive, you have a future, and you have hope.

Therefore, you must have goals and expectations. In the face of extreme difficulties, you still have the right to choose.

Of course, the author also reminds us that if you don't eat hardships, you will be an idiot.

But many times, you don't know whether you should eat the bitterness or not. When we suffer, in fact, most of us cannot help ourselves.

Therefore, the most important thing is the tragic optimism mentioned in the last part of the book. Learn to have fun while you suffer.

Finally, I conclude with the author's sentence,

"There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings" 
The only thing I fear is that I am not worthy of my sufferings.

Book: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 

Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. ---Wikipedia
    • Originally published: 1946
    • Author: Viktor Frankl
    • Genres: Biography, Autobiography, Personal Narrative
    • Language: German
    • Original title: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager
    • Pages: 200
mans-search-for-meaning-by-viktor-e-frankl



About the Author: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl MD, Ph.D., was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School" of psychotherapy.

He holds professorships at Harvard, Stanford, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, and teaches Significance at San Diego International University in California. Frankel has published 39 works that have been translated into 34 languages. His work "Live the Meaning of Life" is one of the "Top Ten Most Influential Books in America".

His book Man's Search for Meaning (first published under a different title in 1959: From Death Camp to Existentialism. Originally published in 1946 as Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most sordid ones, and thus a reason to continue living. He was one of the key figures in existential therapy.

At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life " found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America.

Beacon Press, the original English-language publisher of Man's Search for Meaning, is issuing this new paperback edition with a new Foreword, biographical Afterword, jacket, price, and classroom materials to reach new generations of readers.


Book Summary: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl  

The psychoanalyst Victor Frankl often asked his patients, "Why don't you kill yourself?" This is a "provocative" question. We can politely ask: "What makes your life have purpose and meaning?" "What makes you wake up in the morning and want to jump out of bed?" "What are you desperate to do?" "What are you looking forward to?" ?" Pause and see what answers come to your mind as you ponder these questions?

The meaning of life

During World War II, Frankel was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps for three years. Every day there is a struggle to survive. During those difficult years, Frankel had almost nothing. His parents, wife, and younger brother all died in the concentration camp. He said afterward (and so did others who had survived such extreme conditions) that he only survived because he found something worth surviving. In his view, living only needs a few things, namely "why to live" or "for whom to live".

Life, so to speak, consists of two pursuits. The first pursuit is how to live. The second is the pursuit of the meaning of life. In response to these two pursuits, Frankel reminded: "More and more people today know how to live, but they don't know what it means to live." Life is also hopeless. If life lacks meaning, we will fall into the abyss of despair. Frankel followed and observed 60 exceptional college students who attempted suicide and survived. When interviewed, 85% said they killed themselves because life had no meaning.

No purpose - life in crisis

Psychologist Jung found that about one-third of the people he treated were not so-called neuroses, but because life had no purpose and meaning. Frankel, an American doctor, found that more than 50% of his hospitalized patients experienced a crisis of lack of meaning in life. Psychiatrist Owen Yaron noticed that virtually all hospitalized patients still care about the lack of meaning in their lives.

Many observers have written about the "existential crisis" that many of us face when we are dissatisfied with our lives, when they lack true meaning, even though there are things we struggle with and think are important. In "Confessions", the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy described the crisis he encountered in his life, such as: what is life for, where is it going, what will it be good for, etc. The more frequently such questions arise, the more urgently they need to be answered.

Find Progressive Life Purpose

There is a story about a 70-year-old man who decided to learn to fly a plane and needed to apply for a medical certificate. When registering the basic information, the doctor asked his father's age when he died. The old man told the doctor that his father was not dead. In fact, his father just celebrated his 92nd birthday and college graduation.

So the doctor asked again when his father's father died. The old man replied that his grandfather also had a long life and that he had just turned 112 and would remarry next Tuesday. Another man, whose father was just 44 years old, lost his job last year and soon lost his enthusiasm for life. Now his father sits at home all day watching TV.

In fact, everything in life is changing. Watching young children reveals their eagerness to practice and utilize each new ability. Everyone remembers the joy of learning a new thing. In life, there will be the joy of harvest, and there will be frustration and frustration. We want to be able to express ourselves, but everyone has moments of inspiration and frustration. There are pros and cons to both progress and non-progress: progress is promising, but requires a certain amount of effort and risk; no progress or standing still, although easier and more comfortable, can be tiresome and uncomfortable.

Our mundane, monotonous daily lives are full of adventures that both spark our curiosity and demand courage to challenge them. Sometimes we rise to the challenge, and sometimes we retreat. Psychologist Amy Gross describes a woman's dilemma:

She has to travel long distances between the hospital and home every day. She learned that she had a job at another hospital, just 10 minutes from home and that the job and salary were better than what she was currently doing. This made her feel embarrassed. She asked everyone what to do. To apply or not to apply? Everyone told her to apply, but she asked back, what would happen if she got the job and couldn't do it?

In a situation like hers, when you don't encounter it, you dream of it; when you encounter it, it's hard to make a choice. Just when she was hesitating, the job was taken away by someone else. She was asked, "What do you need to give up?" She felt that people didn't understand the risks she was taking. This is what she calls "self". She believes that all judgments would be confirmed if she applied and was unsuccessful, or if she got the job and then was fired. From beginning to end, she knew that God would also know that she was going to fail.

In fact, we can understand what happened to this woman, because I have had many times in my life to back down from a challenge. Looking back, I think, "I could have done it." And when new opportunities arise, I remind myself that. Is your life improving? The so-called progress here is only a desired change.

What do you want to have or what kind of person do you want to be? Are you progressing toward your goal? Are you becoming more and more of the person you want to be? Are you letting your life gradually become the way you want it to be? Have you increased your ways of enjoying the good things in your life and dealing with the not-so-good things? Pause for a moment and try to find the answer to your question.

Are you choosing your life?

Life is full of choices. In a sense, everyone's life is a choice they make. Are you choosing your life? Or: Are you in charge of your life? Are you making decisions about your life? Are you ready when life changes?

One might think that we should not be responsible for our own lives because we have to live whether we want to or not. Others believe that they live the life they choose, that their life is theirs, and that they can change or maintain the status quo as long as they want. Others are neutral and believe that life is a combination of necessity and choice.

For example, we may not be able to choose our jobs—we are just a cog in a work machine—while at home we can handle it. The reverse is also true: we have power at work, but we feel deeply incapable of running our own families.

A certain view holds that all human activities are given, that is: all our behaviors are governed by genetic or environmental factors. From this point of view, humans are like robots. Another opposing view is that humans are free to act and can freely choose how to act, that is, humans have their own will and their own choices, they are self-determined and not subject to external forces.

Accordingly, we are free agents. Sometimes we may not be able or able to change something, but we are free to choose how we do things, our attitudes, and the perspectives associated with them. If we can't change the world, at least we can change ourselves and make choices. 

Finally,

True, freedom often comes with responsibility. Taking control of your own life can be both exciting and tiring. Many people try to escape freedom. These evaders of freedom deceive themselves into thinking that some power greater than themselves dictates society or God in their actions. On the contrary, there is an opinion that each of us can have our own way of life if we have the courage.

Book Review: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 

I have been fascinated to think about "what is the meaning of life". If I had known about this book then, people around me would not have been annoyed to death by me. Chattering about the "meaning of life" is almost a symptom of psychosis. Who is the normal person to think about this problem?

It turns out that as early as 1946, Viktor E. Frankl had clearly answered my question. He has a clear and tested view of the meaning of life, and he believes in it; after reading Man's Search for Meaning, I couldn't help but admire it.

No long-winded reasoning can compare to a good story. After reading this book, I can also say that any obscure theory is inferior to a good story, including medical theory.

Man's Search for Meaning was first published in 1946. Frankl was a German Jew, psychiatrist, and scholar. He was imprisoned in Auschwitz by the Nazis in 1942 and was later imprisoned in other concentration camps. After regaining his freedom, he distilled his prison experience into this small book. 

The original German version was originally called "Anyway, Say Yes to Life - A Psychiatrist's Experience in a Concentration Camp", and the English version was titled "Anyway, Say Yes to Life". Man's Search for Meaning", there is a good translation in Chinese, the triptych, translated into "Live out the meaning".

The first edition of the book was republished, and Frankl added two supplements, mainly adding a summary of medical theory. By the time of Frankl's death in 1995, ten million copies had been sold and translated into at least 24 languages. The book focuses on the experience of concentration camps, supplemented by medical theories. 

The title also became "Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy". Logotherapy, or translated existential therapy, is a spiritual therapy founded by Frankl, known as the third school of Vienna spiritual therapy. 

The first school is Freud's psychoanalytic method, and the second school is Albert's rational emotional behavior method. Frankl founded this school, and the foundation is this book. Strong, right?

Where is the strength? Because it's a moving story. The record of Nazi concentration camps during World War II is overwhelming. This book is unique among many documents because it is not only the author's personal painful experience but also a scientist's calm observation and summary. 

The author said from the beginning that he did not want to write the actual record of the concentration camp. He just wanted to answer a question: "What kind of psychological process would an ordinary prisoner live in a concentration camp every day?" Ordinary prisoners, their reactions to their environment.

What fascinates me the most is the author's point of view which is both earnest and detached. Based on his own heart, he tried his best to be honest and not deceived; at the same time, with the professional and calm attitude of a doctor, he surpassed the harsh environment at that time, and he did not feel self-pity, nor complain or talk. 

This kind of writing/attitude not only makes people feel his tough heart and excellent and pure mind but also makes people fully understand his inhuman situation. In fact, such a realm has reached a considerable height in literature; such a person can only be described by diamonds, but also by Chairman Mao's beautiful words: a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, A man out of vulgar taste, a man who is good for the people. Everyone fits!

There is a passage in the book where the author walks to the construction site of the railway while being beaten and scolded by the prison head on an empty stomach, wearing broken shoes that leak, with frostbite on his feet. 

His mind is full of resentment: will there be a few more beans for tonight's "dinner", will he be assigned to another unfamiliar and cruel foreman later, and how long will the "shoes" under his feet last. . . 

He suddenly realized that these thoughts are so trivial and humble that they are of no benefit to his own living state, so he turned his head and began to analyze his own situation from a professional point of view and study his own mental state from a professional distance. 

In fact, not many people can make such a change. I believe that this kind of dissociation is a habit he developed in the concentration camp, and the foundation of this book is laid in this way.

Sometimes, he is dissociated from the current environment, talking to his beloved wife in his heart, and filling his heart with love. At that time, the wife was still alive and there was no difference. Being able to use the imagination to pull away from reality is a unique ability for people to help people survive in extremely harsh environments.

Really moved. So the theory he said was unwittingly accepted. Story + not hypocritical + vernacular = psychotherapy theory.

His theory is this: man's search for meaning in life is the primordial force in his life. This meaning is unique and unique, and only people can and must practice it; and only when it is practiced can it satisfy people's will to seek meaning. The mission of "meaning therapy" is to help a person find meaning in his life. 

The meaning of life is different for each person, and the meaning of life in each stage is also different. The person must find it by himself. Once he finds it, he can hope to get rid of the neurological symptoms caused by the emptiness of life. The meaning of life is something real. For example, a mother lives for her child.

There are three ways to find meaning in life
  1. Create and work; 
  2. Recognize value (like love); 
  3. Suffer. 
Frankl believes that everyone can find their own meaning in life, either by creating and working, or by experiencing something or loving someone, and in extreme cases, when all pleasure is deprived, the inevitable suffering itself is the meaning of life. From his experience in the concentration camps, he realized the third way.

Under extremely harsh conditions, a person is deprived of only his body and mind, and he still has the freedom to choose how to face the environment, whether to actively use every condition to survive or to give up the desire to live and bow to fate. The choice of attitude is the only full dignity and meaning. And people can choose to say "yes" to life.

So Frankl is a pessimistic optimist. He knows that life is actually meaningless, but he is willing to inspire all human beings to find meaning for themselves. The mission of his psychiatry is to use various methods to help the patient find his own meaning in life. 

Compared with psychoanalysis, which regards people as passive products of an objective environment, Frankl puts people's subjective will in a more important position.

I can't disagree with Frankl. From my half-life life experience, I also think that the attitude you use to deal with the environment you are in, whether it is good or bad, really determines the trajectory of a person's life. The so-called "character determines destiny". 

Of course, there are times of depression, disappointment, and pessimism. There is no need to feel ashamed. You should learn to pull yourself out of negative emotions and truly believe that "tomorrow will be better". Tomorrow is really fine.

Different ages have different pursuits in life. It is good to pursue ideals when you are young; it is normal to pursue your wife and children when you are older. Frankl said that at different stages of life, the meaning of life on which the spirit is based is different, and it is true.

In the past few weeks, I haven't watched any movies, and I haven't been in the mood to read. Fortunately, I came across this good book, and I couldn't put it down after reading it. It forced me to find time to read it, which is really a blessing.


Reading note: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 

1. Life is suffering, and the meaning of life is to suffer. It is here that we encounter the central theme of existentialism: to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. If there is a purpose in life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering and in death.

2. Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run - in the long run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it."

3. Optimism through hardship is true optimism it is hoped that an "optimism" for our future may flow from the lesson learned from our "tragic" past.

4. three phases of the inmate's mental reactions to camp life become apparent: the period following his admission; the period when he is well entrenched in camp routine; and the period following his release and liberation

5. Ask those who were liberated from concentration camps, how did you get through it? They say, get used to it. But don't ask them how they got used to it Yes, a man can get used to anything but do not ask us how."

6. Shave every day, make sure you look fit and work shave daily, if at all possible, even if you have to use a piece of glass to do it . . . even if you have to give your last piece of bread for it. You will look younger and the scraping will make your cheeks look ruddier. If you want to stay alive, there is only one way: to look fit for work. If you are even limp, because let us say, you have a small blister on your heel, and an SS man spots this, he will wave you aside and the next day you are sure to be gassed.

8. Apathy, the main symptom of the second phase, was a necessary mechanism of self-defense. Reality dimmed, and all efforts and all emotions were centered on one task: preserving one's own life and that of the other fellows

9. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way - an honorable way - in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment

10. In spite of all the enforced physical and mental primitiveness of life in a concentration camp, it was possible for spiritual life to deepen. Sensitive people who were used to a rich intellectual life may have suffered much pain. but the damage to their inner selves was less. They were able to retreat from their terrible surroundings to a life of inner riches and spiritual freedom

11. To be in love, to experience the process of love, is the ultimate goal of life The truth - is that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

12. Humor is the art of life and the greatest Powerful-Strength Humor was another of the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation. It is well known that humor, more than anything else in human makeup can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds

13. Those who can laugh at life are those who have mastered the art of living. The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living

14. This example is very touching. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, and giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

15. In the most extreme desperation, you still have the right to choose there were always choices to make. Every day every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

16. There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." It can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom - which cannot be taken away - that makes life meaningful and purposeful.

17. It makes sense!! An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativity and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.

18. Having goals and expectations is the most important thing. As we said before, any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goals.

19. What matters is not what we can get out of life, but what life wants us to get. What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us

20. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not of talk and meditation, but of right action and right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.

The meaning of each individual's life These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by sweeping statements. 

"Life" does not mean something vague, but something very real and concrete, just as life's tasks are also very real and concrete. They form man's destiny, which is different and unique for each individual. No man and no destiny can be compared with any other man or any other destiny. No situation repeats itself, and each situation calls for a different response. 

Sometimes the situation in which a man finds himself may require him to shape his own fate by action. At other times it is more advantageous for him to make use of an opportunity for contemplation and to realize assets in this way. 

Sometimes a man may be required simply to accept fate, to bear his cross. Every situation is distinguished by its uniqueness, and there is always only one right answer to the problem posed by the situation at hand.


Excerpts from the original text: Man's Search for Meaning

The pursuit of the meaning of life, meaning of life, when the topic of the meaning of life is brought up, people around me will express disdain, and the expression of puzzlement makes me very helpless. I think I am not a serious fantasist, although the topic of the meaning of life is too much. Heavy and bulky, but I always thought it was a question that had to be thought about.

The meaning of life is not given, it is proposed.

The meaning of life is different for everyone, every day, every moment, so what matters is not the universality of the meaning of life, but the specific meaning of life for each person at a particular moment... You shouldn't ask for the abstraction of the meaning of life. Everyone has their own unique mission. This mission cannot be replaced by others, and your life cannot be repeated.

I think one of the happiest things is that one day when you are old, you look back at your life and find that you have sincerely paid for many people, you have created so many beautiful stories through your hands, and you and I have created so many excellent castles with my heart, that kind of relief and satisfaction is the meaning of life.

I would venture to say that there is nothing in this world that can help a man survive the worst of circumstances unless he sees that his life has meaning. 

"Those of us who have lived in concentration camps remember that there were people who could comfort others in their shacks and bring out their last loaf of bread. They may be insignificant in number, however, they provided enough evidence to prove that it is possible to deprive man of everything, except for one thing: man's final freedom - to choose his own attitude, to choose his own way in a given environment."

"Among prisoners, only some maintain have gained all their inner freedom, and acquired the value that their suffering conferred, but even one such example is sufficient to demonstrate that man's inner strength may allow him to transcend his external destiny. Such a man does not exist only in concentration camps. Everywhere people face their fate, the opportunity to gain something through pain."

"What is really needed is a fundamental change in attitude towards life. We have to learn from ourselves, and we have to educate people who have lost hope that it doesn't really matter what we can get out of life. What matters is, what we can give to life. We need to stop and think about the meaning of life. And as those who are asked by life, think about ourselves - every moment. Our answers must include, not saying and Thinking, but right action and right action. Life ultimately means that it is the responsibility of finding true answers to questions and fulfilling the task that is often asked of each of us individually." 

"It is safe to say that the human search for meaning can be Causes inner tension rather than inner balance. However, these tensions are an indispensable prerequisite for mental health. I dare say that there is nothing in the world that helps people survive the worst of circumstances than the existence of meaning in life There is much wisdom in Nietzsche's words: 'A man who knows why he lives can bear almost any question of how he lives.'

"What man really needs is not a state of anxiety-free, but a worthy goal. effort and struggle, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not a discharge of anxiety at all costs, but a call to an underlying meaning that awaits his completion. " 

"People should not seek the abstract meaning of life. ... Each man can answer to life only by taking on his own life; he can only respond to life by being responsible. Therefore, logotherapy sees the true essence of human existence in responsibility. "P111

"According to logotherapy, we can discover the meaning of life in three different ways: 
  • (1) by creating a job or doing a real thing; 
  • (2) by experiencing something or meeting someone; 
  • (3) By our attitude towards the inevitable."P113

"Man can change the world if possible, and oneself if necessary. "P133

At the end of the book, he says:

"Man is not an object; objects have mutually determined characteristics, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he eventually becomes—within the limits of talents and conditions—depends on himself. 

For example, in a concentration camp, here A survival laboratory, and a testing ground, we observed and found that some of the victims lived a lowly life, while others lived like saints. There are two potentialities in human beings; which potentiality is realized will Depend on our own decisions, not circumstances.

Our generation is realistic as we begin to understand people as they really are. After all, man is the one who invented the Auschwitz gas chambers; For those who walk into the gas chambers with their heads held high."

Life is really full of luck and chance. It turned out that at an accidental intersection, you will really meet some people who are full of wisdom. He will say to you calmly: "You can also find your answer in this way."


Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of GeekBookReviews.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.

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