‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor Frankl
By Dipti Savla Gala
Conscious Parenting Coach & Founder
Confident-U Child Enrichment and Parenting
Mumbai, India
‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor Frankl
The author in the first half of his book talks about the saddening moments and heart throbbing incidents of Nazi Camp Concentration. Later, in the second half he talks about logotherapy. He, at one point of time experiences real meaning of Love which he mentions in the book. When life falls apart, amidst all suffering and pain, in the prison, he finds solace in remembering his wife and reminiscing some trifling moments and events with her. He experiences immediate relief, comfort and spiritual love and therefore, says love goes beyond physical body, it’s actually spiritual.
In his book he reminds the reader again and again that no one can take your inner freedom from you. You can still persevere and choose your attitude and make decision in any given set of circumstances. You are the sole deciding authority of how you want to behave in that particular situation and no external factors, circumstances or surrounding environment can influence those decisions. Some prisoners died because they had no hope in life and their bodies acted to their inner dialogues. The author quotes Nietzsche’s words “He who has a why to live for, can bear with, almost any how”.
Life in concentration camp tore his soul apart and exposed him to the lowest depths of pain and suffering. He hit the rock bottom but his ability to decide the right attitude at the given moment always surprised him, which directed him towards the real meaning of life. In the second half of the book he explains what is logotherapy and the broader aspects related to it. He shreds enough light on responsibility as the main pillar in logotherapy.
He mentions three ways of discovering the meaning of life:
- By creating work or doing good deeds.
- Experiencing something.
- Correct attitude and approach towards and after suffering.
In totality the book is for everyone to learn and gain insights. After all the suffering and pain he went through, his spirit remained intact and he emerged stronger from the concentration camp which was seemingly impossible for many.
By Dipti Savla Gala
Conscious Parenting Coach & Founder
Confident-U Child Enrichment and Parenting
Mumbai, India
Dipti Savla Gala is a Conscious Parenting Coach. She is a certified counsellor and landmark curriculum graduate along with graduation in Commerce and Interior Designing. She is The Founder/Designer at Confident-U (Child Enrichment and Parenting). She is The Founder of Your Child – Your Treasure and is on a mission to help 100,000 parents consciously raise next generation leaders.
She firmly believes:
Leaders of tomorrow live in the schools of today so INVEST IN THEM. She also believes “Our responsibility as parents is not only to raise our kids, but it also lies in giving good humans to society”.
read this for the first time in 1996. since then I have revisited it several times.
For me, the best takeaway was that one very often does not have control over stimulus but the response to any stimulus is something that no one can ever take away from you.