Show Reflecting on Frankl's Frankis Mans Search for Meaning Daniel J. J Miller Contributing Writer I recently re read da a book by V kt r E. E Frankl Frank Mans Man Search for Meaning published by Pocket PocketBooks PocketBooks PocketBooks Books a division of Simon Schuster It is about mans man's search for meaning but also tells ells the story of the authors author's time as a prisoner in a concentration camp and of the psychotherapeutic techniques ques he developed According to Merriam- Merriam Webster is a highly directive existential psychotherapy that emphasizes the importance of meaning in the patients patient's life especially as gait gained ed through spiritual values It seeks to help patients solve problems s that they encounter through their lives by helping them to find meaning As Melvin Kimble says of Frankl's the role of the is like an who does not tell us what to see but simply corrects our ability to see Through his memories of the horrors of camp life and the people there he came to wonder why some people survived and some people died How many people gave up hope and soon died but others persevered through the suffering and rose above it Frankl Frank talks about a concept called the ex existential vacuum a feeling that life is without meaning but also that man has an innate will to meaning and outlined three areas where wherein in humans typically find meaning m meaning aning through doing like in having a job to do or a task to fulfill meaning through knowing like having a friend or a loved one sharing your life with someone and meaning through suffering like a cancer patient being strong in facing their mortality He stresses that its it's in unavoidable stress that one can find meaning wallowing in suffering that can be avoided is nothing more than masochism He talks about meaning in life not as some monolithic truth out there a single answer to one question but as something that is different for each individual person that changes throughout a persons person's life As humans we search for fora a meaning to our existence our consciousness f four our mortality Philosophy is in part an attempt to answer those and other questions It can be a way to try ty and find meaning in life in lotsof lots lotsof lotsof of different areas So what is meaning Merriam- Merriam Webster defines meaning as the thing one intends to convey especially by language and implication of a hidden or special significance among other thin thins things s. s Going to school can be a search for meaning gaining knowledge and taking classes in subjects that interest one can help to broaden ones one's understanding of the world stave off Frankl's vacuum That fits into Frankl's first area where man finds meaning As Asfar Asfar Asfar far as Frankl's second area where man finds meaning I believe that if I were able to share some small part of who I am am of the good things about me the things that make me unique e with witha a friend for instance even if that were all I was able to accomplish before I Idie Idie Idie die my life will have had meaning at least enough for me to keep on searching for deeper meanings still The book is a good one that I r I would recommend reading It will probably provide some interesting and thought-provoking thought reading It certainly has made me think |