[BBB#9] Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

"There is only one thing I dread; not to be worthy of my sufferings." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

This book consists of two parts. The first is a short autobiography of the author's experiences in concentration camps during the holocaust. The second focuses on the author's works on logotherapy.

Reflecting on his experience as a Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl states that any man can, even as a prisoner of a concentration camp, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. From his observations on whether a prisoner chooses to persist through such unimaginable conditions, Viktor Frankl points to the one's belief in the meaning of his existence. This focus on the meaning of human existence and man's search for it eventually led to Viktor Frankl's founding of logotherapy.

Logotherapy is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. Central to the understanding of logotherapy is the concept of Noö-Dynamics, which refers to the existential dynamics in a polar field of tension where one pole is represented by a meaning that is to be fulfilled and the other pole by the man who has to fulfil it. For individuals who frustrated by the feeling of being blocked from meaningful goals to live for (also known as existential frustration), logotherapy advocates for the creation of a sound amount of tension through a reorientation toward the meaning of one's life. Viktor Frankl asserts that man should not ask what the meaning of his life is; rather, he should recognize that it is he who is being asked, and that he can only respond by being responsible for what is asked of him. There is no doubt that life will be full of suffering. But if we can find a meaning for our suffering, the suffering ceases to be.

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