The author of this book, Viktor Frankl, expent three years at four different concentration camps: Theresientadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Kaufering and Turkheim that was a part of the Dachau complex. He was arrested in September of 1942. He was eligible for a U.S. immigration visa. Although he decided to stay for the sake of his aging parents. His wife and parents died in their concentration camps.
Man's search for meaning is a proof of how we can overcome the most horrible conditions based on the way we think, the way we nourish our souls. Frankl's would say: "Those who have a why are able to endure any how".
6 million innocent people were murdered by the Nazis. Only in Auschwitz 1.5 million. Frankl survived and gave us these pages to never forget what human being is capable of: "man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz. However, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips".
This inspirational author, created the technique called logotherapy which consists of widening and broadening the visual field of the patient so that the whole spectrum of potential meaning becomes conscious and visible to him. According to logotherapy we can discover the meaning of life in three different ways:
1- By creating a work or doing a deed.
2-By experiencing something or encountering someone.
3-By the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.
At the same time, he differentiates the tragic triad as the causes that make us feel unhappy:
1-Suffering.
2. Guilt.
3. Death.
In his pages, he talks about these elements... contents of pages that I just mention for the reader to dive into.
But, what is the meaning of life? Is there an unique one for all of us? Or depends on the particular person?
Frankl doesn't refer to this topic only. He explains other very interesting themes like love, aging, depression, life's transitoriness, or concepts like existential vacuum, paradoxical intention or pan-determinism.
More than 12 million copies have been sold worldwide of this book becoming a book of reference for generations and generations that hope for a better world. This is a living testimony of someone who survived to one of the biggest barbarities in the history of humankind. As the philosofer Winslade explains, Frankl was once asked to express in one sentence the meaning of his own life. He wrote the response on paper and asked his students to guess what he had written. After some moments of quiet reflection, a student surprised Frankl by saying: "The meaning of your life is to help others find the meaning of theirs".
A wonderful book that changed, and keep changing the world for the very best. Thanks for showing us what the human soul is capable of doing... the both sides of it...
G. P. Fishers, 7-4-2012.
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