(Written in January 2007)
I’ve been reading Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning.” His description of the experience of prisoners in the Camps is painfully resonant with an abusive childhood — all the dehumanizing practices — the brutality, the unfairness, the unpredictability, the refusal to acknowledge the prisoner as human. Reminds me of that hideous book mother had about how a child’s will must be broken. Horrifying. But so far I’ve found his comments about having to find meaning in the suffering helpful. In the suffering not in denial of it. Some people found meaning in their unfinished work, or a person they loved — and this helped them hold on. Interestingly, one thing that helped Frankl was imagining the work he would do describing the psychological effects of experience in the camps. But really, the only one that works for me is the understanding that by bearing my suffering with dignity I am helping bear the suffering of the world.
Viktor Frankl: “As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word each man is questioned by life, and he can only answer to life by answering for his life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. Thus logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence.” p109
OR: “As each situation in life represents a challenge to me and presents a problem for me to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, I should not ask what the meaning of my life is, but rather I must recognize that it is me who is asked. In a word each of us is questioned by life, and we can only answer to life by answering for our lives; to life I can only respond by being responsible. Thus logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence.”