Reading Notes | "Man's Search for Meaning" Understanding the Background of Existentialism

What does life ask of us?

I read Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." I picked up this book because I wanted to read it while learning about existentialism. While studying psychology, I became interested in the field of existential psychology, and through that, I learned about a person named Viktor Frankl.

I have a regular study group with friends from my NLP training, and one of them had recommended "Man's Search for Meaning." At the time, I just thought, "Oh, there's a book like that," but I didn't get around to reading it right away.

However, as I continued to learn about existentialism, I realized,
"Wait, this Frankl person is the author of the book I was told about before."
That connection is what led me to read it this time.

It was so painful I wanted to stop reading

The first thing I felt when I started reading was not a sense of learning, but a feeling of "pain." Although the theme is to describe the experience from a psychological perspective, it naturally depicts the experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Until now, I have tended to avoid learning about war or tragic events.

The more you know, the more painful it becomes.
It makes you feel sad.

So, there were parts I intentionally tried not to look at.
As I read through "Man's Search for Meaning," my thinking changed a little; I began to think that instead of avoiding it while remaining ignorant, there might be meaning in knowing itself.

Of course, it is impossible to easily understand what happened there. But I feel that there is a big difference between knowing and not knowing.

Auschwitz, the Nazis. Taking this opportunity, I would like to learn about them again.

The existence of humanity seen in extreme conditions

"Man's Search for Meaning" is not just a memoir of life in a concentration camp; because Frankl himself was a psychologist, it describes the psychological state of humans placed in extreme conditions.

What particularly caught my attention was the part about how when humans are pushed to the limit, they become unable to even feel emotions.

Getting angry.
Feeling sad.
Shedding tears.
Suffering.

In our daily lives, we sometimes feel that these emotions are "troublesome." But they are things we can feel precisely because we are living as humans.

Having emotions.
Having one's heart moved by something.

Perhaps that itself is proof of being alive.
I felt that those who went through such harsh experiences were teaching us, through their own lives, "what it means to be human."

Not what we expect from life, but what life expects from us

This book is not written about existentialism. But here and there, you can learn the ideas that form the basis of existentialism.

"It is not what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us."

You can also catch a glimpse of the background that led to this question through his experiences.

In my coaching and counseling sessions, I usually ask,

"What do you want to do?"
"What does your ideal future look like?"

I pose these questions. Of course, it is important to envision the future you desire. However, there are some people who say, "I don't know what I want to do" or "I can't think of an ideal."

At such times,

"What is life asking of you?"

I thought that this question could also serve as a gateway.

However, this question also requires caution, because when you hear
"what life is asking for,"
you might,

What your boss expects of you.
What your family wants from you.
The role expected of you by those around you.

You might end up searching for these things instead.

Rather than that,

"If your life has meaning, what is life asking of you right now?"

I believe it is important to face it as this kind of question.

Precisely because it is difficult to live true to yourself

in the modern age,

"Live true to yourself"
"Find what you want to do"
"Have a dream"

I see these messages often. Of course, those are wonderful things. But there are situations in life that you simply cannot change on your own.

Illness
Environment
Human relationships
Social conditions

You cannot make everything go exactly as you wish.

The environment of the concentration camp that Frankl experienced was a situation truly beyond his control.

That is precisely why the concept of 'meaning in life' that he discovered holds such great significance.

Even if we cannot choose everything, there is something that remains until the very end. That is the freedom to choose one's attitude toward the situation.

There is meaning in the very act of living

Reading 'Man's Search for Meaning' made me feel once again that,

We feel we must be useful.
We feel we have no value unless we produce results.

We sometimes judge ourselves in that way.
But is that really true?

One of the things Frankl taught us is,

'A person has meaning simply by existing.'

I believe that is what he meant.

Of course, how we respond to our own lives from there is left to each individual.

But first, simply being alive.
Welcoming this moment today.

Doesn't that in itself hold a very great meaning?

What is your life asking of you right now?

Frankl believed that the meaning of life is not something that exists as a single answer, but something that changes from moment to moment.

There may be people who do not have confidence right now.
There may be people who think they have nothing.

But everyone's life has meaning.
You don't have to find it immediately. There is a meaning that becomes visible precisely because it is this very moment. And it is okay for that to change at the next opportunity.

If you would like, please take a moment to think about it.

In this very moment, what meaning is your life asking of you?