How to Find Hope & Meaning No Matter What

Viktor Frankl’s mother, father, brother, and wife all died in concentration camps during the Holocaust. He was subject to dehumanizing treatment - malnutrition, abuse, cruel forced labor and unlivable conditions. And yet, he transcended it all and survived. Here's how:

“He who has a Why to live for, can bear almost any How.” Frankl's main philosophy is what he calls the "will to meaning". This is called logotherapy, which tries to take the person out of themselves to see their life in a broader perspective.

Frankl describes existential distress not as neurosis, but a sign of humanity because of the desire for meaning.  He insists there are 3 ways to find meaning:

1) Creating a project/work or doing a deed

2) Finding love and passion

3)  The attitude we take to unavoidable suffering

At the concentration camp Frankl was assigned to, only 1 in 28 men survived. They did so not by simply physically surviving, but by finding a reason to keep living. To stay hopeful, a they chose to see daily torture part of a bigger and deeply meaningful picture.

Frankl could tell those who would survive from those who wouldn't. The stages he saw in people were shock, then emotional detachment, then apathy. Those who succumbed to apathy didn't last. Those who coped with their reality with a grim glimmer of humor survived.

Frankl's support mechanism was thinking of his wife. Even without the knowledge of whether she was alive or dead, he would imagine conversations with her and continue surviving knowing how they needed one another.

He recognized that no matter the circumstance, you always have a choice of how to react in each moment. He gave up everything, but never released his ability to choose his thoughts. And when he could choose his actions, he chose to use them to help fellow prisoners.

Suffering is the result of life not matching your own expectations. Frankl recommends asking instead what life expects of us, and taking responsibility for meeting those expectations on a daily basis regardless of circumstances.

A key concept is that success can be whatever you decide it is. Even if it is simply accepting that suffering is your task at hand for now. Frankl accepted suffering, but still chose to love.

" The salvation of man is through love and in love.” - Viktor Frankl

Follow me, @theologian for more Memos like this. If you liked this Memo, I also recommend this Memo on Eichmann in Jerusalem which also deals with mental survival strategies during the Holocaust.