Summary
Part 1
Dr Viktor E. Frankl and his family were first arrested by the Nazi German Authority for the reason he was Jewish and in the coming days of his narration, his entire family got perished except him. After that, he was subjected to live a life where not only his wealth and family were eliminated but even the basic right of human was denied. To share some of the vicious treatments by Nazi’s, they stripped him off all his clothes except his shoes and belt and even shaved all his hair in the body, to which he compellingly wrote with humour in it that, “we knew that we had nothing to lose except our ridiculously naked lives.’’ What is more disgraceful in the concentration camp was they were not even allowed to call by each other names but rather with a number like 119,104. He was made to rely on the piece of bread or very thin soup for most of the days and have to share a piece of a mattress with nine other friends in extremely cold or bitter weather. See, how lucky we are and still complaining???
My eyes lit up in the way he artfully expresses how he finds meaning in his existence and the way he believes and decodes that if there is suffering in life, there must be meaning in it, too. He is moving in a way he codes happiness with nature, his tolerant attitude despite the brutal treatment, how he intellectually deal with the injustice and how genuine he is to his friends (both weak and strong), which I find is radically beautiful and a rare personage. In nutshell, experiencing such tragic life where he saw a man dying due to loss of hope, hunger, sickness, execution or gassing and some surviving with hopes for love, inner freedom and taking responsibility for one’s life eventually led to his famous theory of logotherapy.
' For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run – in the long run, I say! – success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.'
Dr. Frankl
Part 2: Summary of Logotherapy
Logotherapy, which is understood in a plain term as finding meaning in one’s life was articulated to be a primary driving force of human existence. It sparked the light of my curiosity by answering most of our thought-provoking questions on how to find meaning in one’s life. That is, first by questioning oneself about what is the meaning of life and then responsibly answering oneself and additionally by understanding and putting into practice of his three other highlights.
Dr. Frankl highlights that the meaning in life to be discovered in three different ways:
1. Creating a Work or doing a Deed
2. Experiencing Something or Encountering Someone
This is expected to be done by cherishing nature, goodness, truth, culture, beauty and most importantly by knowing other people and loving them. In logotherapy, love doesn’t highlight the sexual drive (it is said that sex is just seen as one of the means to express love) but discovering the innermost beauty of someone’s personality and enabling them to see their worth in achieving their truest potential is true love.
3. Attitude we Take toward Unavoidable Suffering.
It believes that even in one’s hopeless situation and in a face of tragedy, one can be hopeful and take an optimistic approach to it rather than avoiding those challenges.
Overview
I appreciate how the author first narrates the harsh reality of his life and then makes us understand his theory. This story is powerful in the way that it has inspired me to never give up and lose hope in life when encountered challenges and most importantly to add value in my life by loving and caring for oneself and those around me and also by engaging in useful work. I even liked how the words are framed in a book that is clear and understandable with factual evidence. I also appreciated the way he described paradoxical intentions and tragic optimism which I find very refreshing. However, the story would have been more enjoyable if the author has narrated more about his story after concentration camp because maybe the story was very interesting to me that I find it too short.
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