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Man's Search for Meaning
Good flow, easy to read, easy to get into. Insightful. Deep in meaning. Have read it twice, enjoyed each time. Will reread every few years. Helpful.
Man's Search for Meaning
I was far more interested in the first half than the second half. I heartily agree that purpose trumps pleasure every time!
Man's Search for Meaning
Everyday one seeks meaning in their lives as they walk their journey in sunshine or through a wilderness of chaos. Meaning may be framed as giving purpose to our endeavors to understanding personal suffering. Meaning is as unique to each creation of God. Their are no easy answers or textbook formulas to follow in this search for meaning. As grace and faith are gifts, so is intuition a gift from the holy spirit that leads us to recognize a pattern in our lives that exemplifies a spiritual meaning. What is valuable from this meditation is the realization of 'who am I' - both tangible and intangible. Others are present in our lives so we can see ourselves in their reflection.I pray that I may open my eyes, ears and heart for the answer to be found.
Man's Search for Meaning
It's a pretty easy read. Offers some good insight into concentration camp life in WWII. It seems a bit simplistic but I enjoyed the overall logic behind the theory.
Man's Search for Meaning
I read this in college as required reading many years ago. I have read the section on Logotherapy many times since. Very inspiring.
Man's Search for Meaning
What makes "Man's Search For Meaning" such an enduring masterpiece, and, if such can be said, my preferred literary rendering of the holocaust experience, is that Frankl is able to concretely draw out meaningful truth and positive prescriptions for action from the deepest declivity of despair. Other works, including the deservedly revered "Night", give way at points to nihilism, cynicism, and bitterness, understandable in such devastation, but noticeably absent in Frankl's response. The humanity with which Frankl transcends the total assault he endures is more than laudable - and is the enabling and empowering turn in his destiny."We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." (86)"Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." These words frequently came to mind after I became acquainted with those martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost" (87)"But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete." (88)These are the ultimate lessons - the wisdom, which in fact, can only emerge from the crucible of such suffering. Who is more deserving of our respect and attention than those who endured a challenge which so few survived to report? The wisdom articulated in this book is thus rare as it is hard-won, and we, the more fortunate, should heed the contents of this slender, accessible, and powerful record.