Nika's Reviews > Man's Search for Meaning

"This book does not claim to be an account of facts and events but of personal experiences, experiences which millions of prisoners have suffered time and again. It is the inside story of a concentration camp, told by one of its survivors."

This book deals with history, psychology, and philosophy. It is about human suffering and the light of hope that shines even in the darkest times. Victor Frankl survived Nazi concentration camps. His experiences would enable him to develop his psychological theories aimed at helping people.

As a survivor, Frankl recounts what helped him keep going while facing many harrowing situations in the camps. According to the author, feeling that life has meaning and having a sense of purpose, no matter what it is, is essential. One has to expect something from the future in order to endure cruelty and injustice.
Those prisoners who knew why they should stay alive were more likely to survive. Losing the meaning of life was dangerous. Victor tells about one man who died almost immediately after his reason for surviving was invalidated. Shattered hopes can be very dangerous as well.

The author wanted to live for he dreamt of finishing the text he had been working on. His manuscript had been confiscated upon his arrival in the concentration camp. Frankl was trying to find ways to somehow restore it.
Helping his fellow prisoners was one of the things that added a certain meaning to seemingly meaningless suffering. By comforting others you can improve your own mental state.
The author tries to empathize with different situations in which prisoners may find themselves and not pass judgment on them. Sacrifice has a meaning, according to Frankl, and human kindness can be found everywhere.

This work also touches on the psychology of the prisoner who has been released. At first, the new freedom seems unreal to them, "as in a dream."

The book made me look at the notion of life's purpose from a different angle. I have always been thinking that the meaning of life is life itself.
However, sometimes something more substantial is needed. As Frankl points out, having some visible goal could mean the world to him and his fellow prisoners. It allowed them to remain humans in dehumanizing circumstances when people turned on people without mercy.

I can only admire a man who went through hell and was nevertheless able to preserve his inner strength and integrity. Victor's resilience, stoic attitude to pain, and faith in humankind fascinate me. Much wisdom can be found in some of his observations. That being said, Frankl's philosophy, in which his religious beliefs played a big part, did not always resonate with me. I did not always agree with what he was saying.

Here are a few quotes to end this review.

"From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two—the 'race' of the decent man and the 'race' of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people. In this sense, no group is of 'pure race'—and therefore one occasionally found a decent fellow among the camp guards."

"The rift dividing good from evil, which goes through all human beings, reaches into the lowest depths and becomes apparent even on the bottom of the abyss which is laid open by the concentration camp."

"When we are no longer able to change a situation—just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer—we are challenged to change ourselves."

"Therefore, it was necessary to face up to the full amount of suffering, trying to keep moments of weakness and furtive tears to a minimum. But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer."