"Reading Notes on 'Living a Meaningful Life'"

Book Title: "Man's Search for Meaning"
Author: Viktor E. Frankl
Recommendation: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

We do not like to talk about our past. For those who have experienced this nightmare, all explanations are unnecessary, and for those who have not had this experience, they will not understand our past feelings or our current emotions.
It is strange that those SS officers seemed extremely friendly and charming. The reason for this was soon discovered by us. They appeared very friendly when they noticed our watches and politely persuaded us to hand them over. Shouldn't we give these friendly people our possessions? Shouldn't these good people have this watch? Perhaps one day they will repay us.
I remember Laisen once said, "Something can make you lose your mind or become completely empty, until there is nothing left to lose."
Indifference, apathy, and lack of concern for anything are manifestations of the second phase of psychological response in prisoners. These symptoms eventually make them indifferent to the frequent tortures that occur every day and every hour. It is precisely because of this protective shell of indifference that prisoners can truly protect themselves.
Whipping is painful because the whip carries an insult.
Sometimes, even prisoners who seem very experienced can become angry. Their anger is not due to the cruelty or pain they endure, but to the associated insult.
Some foremen sympathize with us and try to improve our situation on the construction site at least. They often remind us that a normal worker can do several times the amount of work we do in a shorter time. But they also understand that a normal worker does not have a daily ration of nearly 300 grams of bread (we actually receive less) and 1 liter of clear soup. A normal worker does not live under the mental pressure of submission, nor does he live in the worry of whether his family members have been sent to the concentration camp or the gas chamber, and he does not work under the constant threat of death.
The main symptom of the second phase is indifference, which is an essential self-protective mechanism.
At that moment, I strongly realized that no matter how terrifying the dream was, it was much better than the reality of the concentration camp.
When the subcutaneous fat is depleted, we become skeletons wrapped in a layer of skin and tattered cloth, constantly feeling our bodies consuming our lives.
Love is the highest goal that humans strive for throughout their lives. I understood the true meaning of the great secret conveyed by poetry, thoughts, and beliefs: to save humanity, it is through love and being loved. I know that a person who has nothing in the world, as long as he has a moment to miss his loved one, he can understand the true meaning of happiness. In a desolate environment, people cannot speak freely, and the only correct way is to endure suffering in a respectable manner. In such a situation, people can also find satisfaction by recalling the image of their loved ones. For the first time in my life, I understood the phrase "angels exist in the eternal longing for beauty."
That is, loving a person can go far beyond loving their physical body. Love has profound meaning in the spiritual and inner aspects, regardless of whether the partner is present, alive, or how love ends.
The inner life of prisoners can be extreme, and they can experience artistic beauty and natural beauty that they have never experienced before. Under the influence of artistic beauty and natural beauty, they can even forget the environment they are currently in.
Cultivating a sense of humor and approaching things with a humorous attitude is a skill that people learn in mastering the art of survival. Although suffering is everywhere in the concentration camp, it is still possible to use the art of survival.
People are so concerned about their own lives and the lives of their loved ones that they are under intense mental stress, which can destroy all their values and make them doubt everything.
The meaning of a prisoner lies in his number, so the prisoner number is the most important. The prisoner becomes a true number, and whether he is alive or dead is not important.
Those of us who have lived in concentration camps remember those who walked through rooms comforting others and giving their last piece of bread to others. There may not be many such people, but it is enough to illustrate one point: there is something that cannot be taken away from a person's hands, and that is the most precious freedom, the freedom to choose one's own attitude and behavior in any situation.
Dostoevsky once said, "I am only afraid of one thing-that is not being worthy of the suffering I have endured."
It is this spiritual freedom-that no one can take away-that gives life purpose and meaning.
If life has meaning, then suffering also has meaning.
The way a person accepts fate and all suffering, and carries the cross, provides him with a great opportunity to give his life a deeper meaning, even in the most difficult circumstances. He can still be a brave, dignified, and selfless person. Otherwise, in order to survive, he will forget his dignity and become no different from a beast. In such a situation, whether a person fully utilizes the opportunity provided by this difficult environment to perfect his morality depends on whether he abandons it or not. This also determines whether he deserves the suffering he has endured.
We should no longer ask what the meaning of life is, but rather think about ourselves as those who are constantly questioned by life. Our answer is not in words, but in taking the right action. Life ultimately means taking on and accepting all challenges, fulfilling the great responsibility of completing one's own tasks.
If a strict group of guards is urgently needed, these sadistic individuals will always be chosen. When working on the construction site, if we are allowed to warm ourselves by the small stove (burning leaves and broken wood), even if it is only for a few minutes.
The boundaries of groups will intersect, and we cannot simply conclude which people are angels and which are demons.
In summary, it can be seen that there are (and only) two types of people in the world-noble and despicable. These two types of people exist everywhere, and they exist in all groups in human society. There is no group that is purely composed of noble or despicable people. Therefore, even among the concentration camp guards, you can occasionally find a noble person.
Shortly after liberation, one day I was walking in the fields, passing through the blooming marshes, and walked all the way to the market near the concentration camp. Skylarks flew in the sky, and I could hear them singing happily. Within a few miles, there was no one, only open fields, quiet sky, and singing skylarks, a space of freedom. I stopped and observed the surroundings and the sky, and then knelt down. At that moment, I almost forgot myself and forgot the existence of the whole world. There was only one sentence in my mind: "I call out to God from the bottom of my heart, and he answers me in the space of freedom."
We need to recognize that a person who has been in a highly tense state for a long time, once liberated, will face a certain danger, especially when the enormous psychological pressure suddenly disappears.
For the prisoner returning home, the most important experience is that after enduring so much suffering, besides God, he no longer fears anything, and this experience has an unparalleled sense of wonder.
In logotherapy, the patient needs to sit upright and listen to sometimes unpleasant things.
Sociologists at Johns Hopkins University also conducted a statistical survey of 7,948 college students from 48 universities. The preliminary report was part of a two-year research project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. When asked what is currently the most important thing for them, 16% of students answered "making a lot of money," and 78% of students answered that their primary goal is to "find the purpose and meaning of life."
The occurrence of existential neurosis is not due to the conflict between desire and instinct, but because existence itself has problems. Among them, encountering setbacks in the pursuit of meaning is an important reason.
Nietzsche's words are very wise: "He who knows why he lives can endure."
What people actually need is not a state without tension, but the effort and struggle to pursue a freely chosen and valuable goal.
People have lost the instinct to tell them what to do, the tradition to tell them what they should do, and sometimes they don't even know what they want to do. In this way, they either do what others do (go with the flow) or do what others want them to do (authoritarianism).
The main manifestation of the void of existence is boredom. Now we can understand Schopenhauer's words: Man is destined to wander between anxiety and boredom.
Because automation may result in more and more leisure time for ordinary workers, and many workers do not know how to use these abundant leisure time.
You should not question the abstract meaning of life. Everyone has their own unique mission. This mission is irreplaceable by others, and your life cannot be repeated. In this way, the task of each person's life is specific, and the opportunity to complete these tasks is also specific.
Therefore, according to logotherapy, responsibility is the essence of human existence.
The reason why a person is human is that he always points to something or someone (someone other than himself)-whether it is a meaning to be realized or someone to face. The more a person forgets himself-devotes himself to a cause or dedicates himself to a loved one-the more human he becomes and the more he can realize his own value. The so-called self-actualization does not refer to a goal that can be achieved, because the more a person pursues this goal, the easier it is to lose it. In other words, self-actualization may be the only by-product of self-transcendence.
According to logotherapy, we can discover the meaning of life in three different ways: (1) by creating a certain work or engaging in a certain cause; (2) by experiencing something or facing someone; (3) by adopting a certain attitude when enduring inevitable suffering.
Pessimists are like people who fearfully and sadly watch the calendar on the wall tear off one page every day, making the calendar thinner and thinner; while those who actively deal with life's problems are like people who neatly stack each torn page and write a few lines of diary on the back. He can proudly and happily recall all the fulfilling days recorded in the diary, all the life he has had.
Happiness is (and always has been) an addition, and if this addition itself becomes the goal, it will be diminished.
The technique of "paradoxical intention" in logotherapy is based on the following two facts: on the one hand, it is fear that leads to the appearance of what is feared; on the other hand, excessive desire makes what is desired impossible.
Of course, people generally only see the brevity of life and ignore and forget the past glory, where they have harvested their lives: promises kept, love given, and suffering endured bravely and with dignity.
There is no reason to pity the elderly. On the contrary, young people should envy the elderly. Although the elderly have no opportunities and no possibilities for the future, they have much more wealth than this. They have the achievements preserved in the past-the potential that they have already realized and the meaning that they have already completed-and nothing and no one can take away these wealth from the past.
However, "all great things are difficult to achieve, just as they are difficult to find," as Spinoza said in the last sentence of "Ethics."
To achieve personal meaning, one must go beyond subjective happiness, and the way to do this is to do something "for something or someone, or to dedicate oneself to a cause or a loved one."
In "Man's Search for Meaning," he proposed: "Suffering is not necessarily necessary for the pursuit of meaning, but even with suffering, life can still have meaning." He went on to say, "Enduring unnecessary suffering is not heroic behavior, but rather self-torture."
Nourishing inner freedom, embracing the beauty of nature, art, poetry, and literature, feeling the love for family and friends, is very important. But other personal choices, actions, relationships, hobbies, or even simple happiness can also give life meaning.
Why do some people feel so empty? Frankl's wisdom is particularly worth mentioning: this is a person who treats everything-whether life-threatening challenges or daily trivial matters-with a positive attitude, which helps to achieve the meaning of our lives.
People facing difficult choices may not fully realize how much their attitude affects the decisions they must make.
He knew that his colleagues and neighbors in Vienna might know or even participate in the persecution against him, but he did not demand why they did not join the resistance movement or fight to death. On the contrary, he firmly believed that even evil Nazi criminals or seemingly hopeless lunatics have certain potential to transcend evil or madness by making responsible decisions.
But this is in line with Frankl's characteristics: he accepts a person, not based on his religious beliefs or secular beliefs. He respects the uniqueness and dignity of each person, as can be seen from his respect for Freud and Adler. Although he disagrees with their philosophical and psychological theories, he still cherishes his personal relationships with philosophers.