A lesson from Viktor Frankl

 


These past months have been nothing but hard and have left us all very tired. For many, this is not the first time feeling anxious or alone, nor is it the first time you lose someone close. Prolonged uncertainty has only heightened some of these emotions and exposed us to new ones. It is impossible not to feel powerless and incapable, especially when you want to help and lead the call to action - yet, your good intentions can have dire implications and place someone else’s life at risk. And even when you have followed the protocols laid out by the health authorities, you are still afraid that you might cause some harm.

At first, being home meant more time to connect with ourselves, but as time passed the opposite happened and some of us started to disconnect. Different moments in my life have demanded introspection in order to understand the present and regain the courage to go forward. I find myself going through the motions again, only this time with less clarity about what is next; the gap between reality and what I look forward to has only widened.

I have read about other moments in history were dark times forced humans to look beyond their immediate reality. Looking for answers, I remembered reading about Viktor Frankl and his book Man’s Search for Meaning. Imprisoned in Auschwitz, Frankl became aware of what he called “the last of human freedoms” – the freedom Nazi captors could not take away. He challenged the assumption that human beings are invariably shaped by their surroundings:

The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. … Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. […] 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.

As a psychiatrist to the inmates, Frankl emphasized the importance of identifying a purpose in life or some future goal, and continuously imagining that outcome. The incessant quest for meaning according to Frankl, sustained those who survived. While I have not experienced (probably never will) the unimaginable and the countless indignities that Frankl and the other inmates did, I realize the importance of exercising self-awareness and projecting your future goals on a continuous basis. This pandemic may dictate the environment around us, but it should not limit our internal power that allows us to exercise our options. It is hard to be free mentally when we are limited physically, but we must make the effort to choose our attitude regardless. As Frankl once said, it is the last things that can be taken away.

What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that 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.

Let us use this time to reach out to those who love us. Remind them that you are here for them. Spread joy and positivity!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We Are Reaching for the Stars While People Are Starving on Earth

Image
And I can't stop thinking about it. I grew up in Latin America. I have lived in Canada, the UK, the United States. I have sat in rooms with policymakers, economists, and executives talking about the future of energy, of markets, of technology. I have also walked streets where that future feels very, very far away. And somewhere in the middle of all of it is my mother's voice. She had a particular way of moving through the world - eyes open, always. She didn't let us look away from things just because they were uncomfortable. She pointed out the woman on the corner. She asked questions at the dinner table that had no easy answers. She installed something in us - a kind of awareness that I didn't always know what to do with when I was young, but that gets louder with every passing year. Lately, it's deafening. The most extraordinary and most unsettling moment of our lives I work in economics. I follow macro trends for a living. I track what's happening in ma...
Read more

El Verdadero Significado de la Vida: Reflexiones sobre la Sabiduría de José Mujica

Image
  En una sociedad obsesionada con el éxito material, las palabras del ex presidente uruguayo José Mujica resuenan con una claridad impactante: "Vivimos en una civilización que nos dice que triunfar en la vida es ser rico. ¿Por qué se confunde ser con tener? El único milagro que hay es haber nacido". Estas palabras son más que una simple declaración; son un llamado a la reflexión profunda sobre el propósito de nuestra existencia en un mundo que a menudo nos empuja hacia una búsqueda superficial de la felicidad a través del consumo y la acumulación de riquezas. Mujica nos recuerda que el verdadero milagro reside en el simple hecho de haber nacido, en la extraordinaria casualidad que nos trajo a este mundo. Sin embargo, una vez que nacemos, ¿cuál es el propósito de nuestra vida? Esta es una pregunta que a menudo pasamos por alto en nuestra búsqueda constante de éxito y estabilidad financiera. Pero, como señala Mujica, si no nos hacemos esta pregunta, el mercado se encargará ...
Read more

Living in a World of False Perfection: A Reality Check

Image
In the hustle of daily life, it’s easy to lose sight of the hardships many people face. For those of us living in the developed world, it’s all too common to become desensitized to the realities that others confront – our own lives often feel far removed from them. Between the routine of a 9-to-5 job and the comforts of modern life, it’s easy to forget that for many, even meeting basic necessities is a struggle. The Trap of the Rat Race The relentless rat race pushes us to constantly strive for more – more success, more money, more status. We chase these things because society tells us they define our worth. But in this pursuit, we forget to appreciate what we already have. Over the last two months, I’ve had the opportunity to travel through Latin America, where I grew up, and was reminded of the stark realities many people face daily. Growing up there, I was always conscious of how hard life can be for the majority. What many in developed nations take for granted –   a decent ...
Read more