Book Byte #116 "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Auschwitz and its lessons for spiritual survival.

?? Curious Quotes from the Author

“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”

“Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.”

“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.”

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'“

“Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it”

“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”

“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.”

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.”

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather 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 own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.”

“So live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”

“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.”

“For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”

“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”

“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.”

?? Cognition of the Book’s Big Idea:

Our ability to discover meaning in our lives is critical to our success and, in certain cases, survival. This does not have to be huge or existential; your own personal meaning based on your current circumstances would suffice.

???Fixing the Tech Industry

Meaning is something a lot of Tech Professionals have trouble with. It’s hard to have an affinity to Company Values when so many of the values are based on profit and Business Growth. The reasoning behind that is that while a Business may grow, you might not. It might leave you per say, alone, let go and abandoned while they go on to new heights and won’t feel a bit of remorse. So it becomes hard to connect with your company and a division starts to form, until it end with either you becoming bitter and at odds with the world or feeling refreshed and ready for your next new experience. Which one you feel is entirely up to you, your previous employer, family or friends have no magic wand to make you feel a certain way about it. This is power, you’re a free agent unto yourself to craft your life the way you see fit, you however cannot craft the consequences of your chosen actions. The more you make positive actions, the more positive consequences will enter your life.

??Collaborate with others with this Social Media Prompt:

How do you find meaning in the mundane, everyday activities of your life?