Man’s Search for Meaning

Hello everybody,

Now I will share with you my criticisms about the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” that I read freshly. I talked about the book about life and a friend recommended it. While I was in a very depressing mood about the meaninglessness of life, I naturally reflected this mood in our conversation. Based on this recommendation, I bought the book as the first thing and started reading it. The language of the book is quite simple and fluent, but I had a hard time reading the book. The reason for this was my pessimistic mood. I finished the book by reading just one page some days. I absolutely loved the book.

After this long introduction, let’s move on to the subject of the book. The book actually comprises three different parts. The first part, which was the part that I had trouble reading, comprised the author’s memories in the Auschwitz camp during the second world war.

Author Viktor Emil Frankl is a neurologist and psychiatrist, but even these qualities did not save him from being imprisoned in Auschwitz camps. For this reason, the book also carries an autobiography feature. It is very difficult for the imagination to create these events. If you have read Yevgeny Zamyatin’s book "We", you will be familiar with the fact that people don’t have names but are just numbered. There was a similar situation in A Clockwork Orange, which is also one of my favorite books. When our anti-hero Alex went to prison, they gave him a serial number. After that time, they were just numbers. I could accept that because they were dystopias. However, here, too, the prisoners taken to the prison camp are given a number. This event affected me a lot. One of the hardest things that can be done to devalue a person is to take away one’s self. Of course, they didn’t end up with just that. Reading about the physical tortures endured gave me chills. But human beings can endure physical pain to some extent. How long can it last psychologically? What kept these people alive? As the author states, the way I endure these terrible physical and psychological tortures was to have a purpose to keep him alive. Sometimes this is a child waiting for them, or the conclusion of years of hard effort. Although this purpose is unique for everybody, the way to resist this pain is to have a purpose.

In summary, in this chapter, we read about the author's experiences in this terrible situation, how he was able to resist, and his observations on prisoners like himself. Another situation that impresses me here is that we see that people are only divided into good or bad, regardless of language, religion, or race. Sometimes we can see that even an officer in an Auschwitz camp can actually be a good person.

In the second part, what is Logotherapy, which is the founder of the author, is discussed. This chapter was easier for me to read. yes, it was more technical, but those terrible Auschwitz memories were harder to read. Logotherapy is derived from the Latin word **"Logos" ** which means "meaning". As I mentioned in the first chapter, the author believes that what keeps people alive is meaning. With this therapy method, he tries to add meaning to people's lives or to find meaning in life. When psychology is involved, it is not possible to mention its name. Sigmund Freud. Here the author shares the differences and commonalities between Freud's method of psychoanalysis and his own Logotherapy.

I have many more comments about the book, but since I realized that the article is too long, I end my article here. After finishing this book, I often think about what keeps me alive? What is my purpose in life? Maybe things will be easier when I find that meaning.

Stay with "Meaning"