Joseph Frankl s Man s Search For Meaning - 1348 Words

As I read our reading assignment in our textbook The Philosopher’s Way by John Chaffee I came upon the section in Chapter One that spoke of Viktor Frankl and his horrific imprisonment in the ghastly concentration camp. Frankl said â€Å"Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.† In that phrase I was curious to find out more about this man and how he put his theory to the ultimate test in the worst of human conditions imaginable to modern man. In nine days Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning which has over 12 million copies in print. A 1991 Library†¦show more content†¦A person must find their meaning of life to engage their own individual human spirit. Frankl had to test his theory when he was granted a visa to leave Austria and avoid imprisonment during World War II. However, knowing that his aging parents would most likely be imprisoned he felt that he could not in good conscious leave them to Nazi rule and torture. The meaning for him was what his life would stand for if he were to desert his parents for his own safety. Upon entrance into Auschwitz his life’s work was confiscated and he wondered what his purpose would be without having the manuscript that outline his theory of Logotherapy. During his time in the concentration camps he was able to motivate his fellow prisoners while keeping his purpose of life in focus by having silent conversations with his pregnant wife he knew that their love was true in more than just a physical state but also that of a spiritual love that could not be denied no matter what the circumstances. Frankl and friends would imagine what they would order at the cafà © after their liberat ion from the camps. If a man lost the will to live and could not find the thoughts of the good things that awaited them after liberation they were doomed by their own thoughts as much as the brutality handed out by the capos and Nazi soldiers. Logotherapy has three basic principles as outlined by Frankl in the book. The first basic principle was that life has meaning under all