Reviewing ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl

Man’s Search For Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl, pub. Rider, 2004

Man’s Search for Meaning poses an essential question. When faced with experiencing the utmost suffering and deprivation that we could conceivably endure as human beings, can we still find within us the will to live? And furthermore, the purpose to carry on? Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist Dr. Viktor E. Frankl said yes. He also spoke with the authority of someone who had survived just such an ordeal.

Frankl’s classic memoir, ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’, is an account of his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. It also provides a brief treatise on logotherapy, the model of analytical psychology that he subsequently developed. At the heart of the book lies Frankl’s essential insight. The purpose of life is to discover a personal meaning. And we alone are responsible for finding and aligning ourselves to it. As long as we are creating meaning in our lives, he claims, we can weather the worst storms of human suffering.  We can even die with dignity and purpose. It is, after all, how he  survived some of the worst deprivations it is possible for a human to undergo.

Psychology in the concentration camp

Originally published in German in 1948, Dr. Frankl’s concentration camp memoir is not an account of the atrocities as such. However, many heartbreaking instances are described. Rather, the author’s intention is to explore the psychological reactions of the prisoners to their surroundings. He wanted to ascertain what mental attitudes allowed some of them, including himself, to maintain their humanity, dignity and hope. All this whilst existing under brutal, inhumane conditions.

He describes how the typical inmate passed from an initial state of shock into a period of hopelessness. This stage was characterised by a descent into apathy and emotional numbing. Then, finally, ascending through to a redeeming ‘intensification of the inner life’. This stage involved reliving cherished memories and appreciating beauty (a view of mountains, a vivid sunset). It was also about discovering joy in the most trivial events and small moments of gratitude.

Frankl observed that some prisoners were not simply responding to the physiological and environmental conditions of life in the camps. They were able to transcend their impoverished circumstances by finding meaning and purpose wherever they could. What distinguished these prisoners from those who gave up hope and succumbed to fatal ennui and nihilism? The exercising of a choice to embody a radical inner freedom. What Frankl termed “a will to meaning’.

In his own words:

‘The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, 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.’

Descriptions of meaningful experiences and encounters are littered throughout Frankl’s narrative. Concrete examples are given alongside the psychological insights. The author has experienced human life stripped down to its most primitive state. Then he has returned to tell us what it is that is most essentially us. It is that central to human existence is not the search for happiness but the search for meaning. Something which gives our life purpose and is held to be of such value that we can survive just about any hardship by holding on to it.

The need for meaning in everyday life

It is not simply that the search for meaning made a useful survival strategy in the internment camps of WWII. Rather, according to Frankl, it is an existential need and the central purpose of human life. The search for meaning is also the core tenet of his logotherapy. We must find meaning and purpose in our lives to thrive as human beings. Then perhaps, when it is our turn to experience tragedy and suffering, as is inevitable, we may be better placed to find the resilience needed to overcome it.

In our current social and cultural climate, Frankl’s short and powerful book is a valuable reminder to exercise our ‘will to meaning’. Taking responsibility for creating and sustaining the significance of our lives is essential to our wellbeing. Without a central purpose we risk slipping into nihilism and may lack the resilience required to manage the inevitable hardships of life.

In our own search for meaning, Frankl’s book is both map and guide. And whilst he may not have all the answers (of course no one thinker does), his classic psychological study continues to inspire and inform 60 years after its initial printing. That he undertook such a study during his incarceration, endeavoring to as much objectivity as he could muster given the most challenging of circumstances, is itself testament to Frankl’s extraordinary resilience and presence of mind. Perhaps his legacy can inspire us to cultivate our own.

Man’s Search for Meaning is available at Amazon, Book Depository and other booksellers.