It Was Victor Frankl's Moral Strength And View Of Life... Essay - 1,580 words

It was Victor Frankl's Moral Strength and View of Life that Allowed him to Survive the Concentration Camp Today Viktor Frankls is a world-known psychologist, who founded his own school of psychotherapy, and also the author of twenty-five books. The most influential and distinguished book of Frankls is Man's Search for Meaning: Experiences in the Concentration Camp written in 1946. The writer dedicated it to the sombre pages of World War II and it appeals to every one who reads it with its striking illustrations of human moral strength in the time of horror and disaster the war brings with it. Viktor Frankl himself survived the war and the Nazi Concentration Camp and it was his view of life that did not allow him to surrender to despair. In my essay I show the philosophy of survival developed by Frankl in the hardest moments of his life. My essay will touch the issues of meaning of life, success, choosing ones attitude, committing to values and goals, fulfilling ones task.


I will discuss the following views of life expressed by Viktor Frankl in his Man's Search for Meaning: Experiences in the Concentration Camp: It does not matter what we expect from life, it is more important what life expects from us; There is meaning of life at a given moment, there is no general meaning of life; There are three ways to discover ones meaning in life; It is more important to listen to ones conscience commands than to pursue success and happiness; Becoming conscious of responsibility fills ones life with reason Love is salvation and moral behaviour should be given a preference in ones attitude towards existence. During the period in Nazi Camp, Viktor Frankl observed many prisoners who died when underwent less suffering and hardships than those who survived. The surviving people tend to be among those who could envision their future notwithstanding their present troubles. In common, people who attempted to overcome the disaster of the Nazi camp had a strong desire for it since they believed in meaningfulness of their lives. "We had to learn ourselves, and furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us," Thus, it is important for us to be ready to resist any hardships we may come across in our lives. Also the moral strength here lies in our ability to estimate ourselves and adequately respond to any challenge.


Here, self-estimation implies self-criticism and self-sacrifice. These truly vice features people are expected to posses by life itself in order to survive difficulties. "We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, but instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life, daily and hourly." More than that, people should learn to evaluate life just as it is. The truth is that we all live different lives, with their own joys and problems, hardships and pleasures, sorrow and happy moments. There is no point in arguing that one life is easy and happy whereas the other is hard and meaningless. Life of every individual consists of various moments and each moment should not come in vain, but be significant and purposeful. "What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment." As it has already been said, the ways people live their lives are very different.


This means that the every of us fulfils different task and sets different purpose. Finally we all perceive wise laws of the Universe and discover already known universal truths. Viktor Frankl says that this comprehension may go through either personal deeds (committed mistakes, as I understand it), or through realizing a value (probably, a kind of an intellectual experience), or through sufferings. "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) by suffering." However, while choosing ones gaol it is necessary to set the right priority and to distinguish things of major and minor importance. Viktor Frankl noted that many of us are apt to confuse primary and secondary aims and this may result in choosing a wrong direction in ones life and naturally, it may cause such feelings as disappointment, disillusion, dissatisfaction, depression. The author of Man's Search for Meaning: Experiences in the Concentration Camp: mentioned, that the majority of mankind is likely to define the main purpose of life as happiness, success, wealth and so on. Frankl says that such things are minor and can not be perused as goals of life.


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Essay Tags: concentration camp, moral strength, frankl, viktor, meaning of life

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