In an Era When the World Shakes Simultaneously—What Frankl Discovered That No One Can Take Away

Before noon on a Saturday, when I open the news, conflicts continue in various parts of the world, and natural disasters occur one after another.
"An era of simultaneous global conflicts and natural disasters"I feel as though we are living in an era of such upheaval that this phrase is fitting.

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who survived the most grueling site in human history: the Nazi concentration camps. Having lost his wife and parents in the camps, and while being subjected to extreme hunger, cold, and violence himself, he discovered a single truth there. In his masterpiece, 'Man's Search for Meaning,' Frankl wrote the following:

In a place where his clothes were stripped away, his name taken, his family lost, and even the guarantee of tomorrow's life stolen, what Frankl discovered was the 'last freedom' that no one could take away. You cannot choose the situation itself. However, how you face that situation—that attitude alone remains yours until the very end.

Are these not words that resonate deeply with us today as we face war and natural disasters?

Much of what is happening in the world now is something that cannot be stopped by the power of any one of us alone. However, the 'mental posture' of how we face it is something that no one can take away.
The words from the Universal Gate of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Chapter 25, which I quoted at the beginning, come to mind once again.

I do not think this passage teaches that suffering will magically disappear. Rather, is it not that in the midst of a relentless reality where immeasurable suffering presses upon one's body, the 'power of Avalokiteshvara's wondrous wisdom' works from within to overcome it?

It is in the very midst of suffering that the power of salvation (or the power to survive) appears. The freedom Frankl discovered in the concentration camp and the power of Avalokiteshvara's wondrous wisdom—it feels as though these point to the same abyss of the human spirit, despite having completely different eras and backgrounds.

Precisely because we live in an era where the world is shaking simultaneously, there must be something we can do. Even if we cannot change the situation, we can choose our own attitude. Even in the midst of suffering, there is always a place where the power of wisdom can work.

Believing this, I want to walk through today quietly, yet with steady steps.
Let us think and move forward.
Just as the wisdom of the Buddhas is profound and immeasurable.