4.25 ⭐

GENRE - MEMOIRS / SPIRITUALITY

Today is 02/02/2022 a unique day which will never be repeated and what a wonderful book to complete on this day.

Victor E Frankl in this book has emphasized on finding a meaningful life and the notion that Pain and Suffering = Sucess and Triumph, no man can bypass Pain and Suffering he says.

The first half of his book is all about his experience as a prisoner at Auschwitz and various other Jewish extermination camps across Nazi German occupied territory in Europe. The rest of the book consist of his experience with his patients as Victor E Frankl was also a Neurologist and Psychiatrist at the University of Vienna Medical School.

The first part of the book is heart wrenching as Dr. Victor explains the atrocities the prisoners faced in the camps and how he overcame his fears over death and found a meaning to his life which triggered his want for survival.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend all of you to read it atleast once in your lifetime, Man's search for Meaning is a higly recommended book also drawing reference in various books like Who will Cry when you die, Ikigai to name a couple also Victor E Frankl is a notable writer and his works have been studied and researched worldwide

In Man's Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl begins his description of life in Nazi concentration camps (including Auschwitz) with the premise that life in the camps represents a provisional existence. In what must have seemed hopeless circumstances, is there any point in searching for meaning for one's life? Frankl does not dwell on the atrocities, but he does detail the mindset of his fellow prisoners facing what most of them knew was their death (as well as the death of their loved ones). Using his experiences as a guide, he outlines his ideas about logotherapy while finding reason to hold to a 'tragic optimism.' There are other essential books detailing life in concentration camps (I'm thinking especially of Primo Levi's Life in Auschwitz), but Frankl's is an important work which should be read by those who seek to understand how concentration camp prisoners faced their ordeal.

کتاب از دو بخش تشکیل شده. فرانکل در بخش نخست خاطراتی از زندگی خود در زندان آشویتس را نقل می‌کند و در بخش دوم به توضیح مبانی «معنا درمانی» می‌پردازد.
در بخش نخست سه مرحله‌ی زندگی روانی زندانیان به همراه نمونه‌هایی از اتفاقات زندان آشویتس تشریح شده. این سه مرحله عبارتند از:
یک)مرحله‌ی ورود به زندان و ضربه‌ی روحی
دو)مرحله���ی روزمرگی و بی‌احساسی
سه)مرحله‌ی آزادی و بی‌اخلاقی بیمارگونه
این کتاب را در پادگان آموزشی و درابتدای دوران سربازی مطالعه کردم و شباهت‌هایی میان رفتار سربازان و فرمانده‌ها با زندانیان و زندانبان‌های آشویتس یافتم. شاید بتوان مراحل روانی سربازان در پادگان‌های نظامی را با الهام از الگوی این کتاب، تحلیل کرد. در واقع بیشتر جذابیت کتاب برای من به خاطر همین موضوع بود.
نکته قابل ذکر دیگر این که کتاب در سال 1946 نوشته شده و در آن زمان ایده‌ای تازه در مقابل روانشناسی فرویدی محسوب میشده است، اما امروز و با گذر زمان ارزش علمی خود را تا حدودی از دست داده و احتمالا کتاب‌های به روز تر و غنی‌تری در این حوزه وجود دارند. از نظر ادبی نیز کتاب در سطح بالایی قرار ندارد. شاید اهمیت کتاب در تاریخ روانشناسی، ضدیت با نازیسم و معرفی مفاهیم مهم معنادرمانی به زبانی قابل فهم باعث شده کتاب همچنان شهرت بالایی داشته باشد. گاه گاه در متن کتاب با مفاهیم تامل‌برانگیزی روبرو می‌شویم که مطالعه ی کتاب را بی‌ثمر نمی‌گذارد.

الإنسان يبحث عن المعني ...كتاب للطبيب النفسي فيكتور فرانكل و هو يعتبر مؤسس مدرسة فيينا الثالثة في العلاج النفسي بعد مدرستي فرويد و إدلر...

دكتور فرانكل مش بس طبيب نفسي و لكنه واجه ظروف صعبة جداً حيث كان معتقلاً في معسكرات الإعتقال النازية خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية و فقد كل من والده،أخوه وزوجته الذين لقوا حتفهم في هذه المعسكرات...

الكتاب مقسم إلي جزئين ...الجزء الأول بيتكلم فيه الكاتب عن تجربته الشخصية في المعتقل وبيحلل نفسيا كل ما يمر به أي سجين مستنداً طبعاً لملاحظات كثيرة للمسجونين وخبراتهم وما عايشه بنفسه من تجربة قاسية ومؤلمة ..أما الجزء الثاني فهو بيتكلم بإيجاز عن أفكاره ونظريته للعلاج بالمعني اللي ممكن نختصرها في مقولة نيتشة
"من يمتلك سبباً يعيش من أجله فإنه يستطيع غالباً أن يتحمل بأي طريقة وبأي حال.."

الكتاب الصراحة مفيد جداً ..و أنا أعتبرته ميكس بين أدب السجون و علم النفس ..مكتوب بإسلوب بسيط ومش معقد...
الجزء الأخير يحتوي علي بعض التحليلات والمصطلحات العلمية اللي كانت صعبة وجافة شوية
بس هو عموماً جزء صغير لكن معظم الكتاب كان فعلاً سلس..

الكتاب حيخليك تقف مع نفسك و تفكر في حاجات كتير بطريقة إيجابية وحيخليك تؤمن إن طبيعي إننا نضايق و نمر بظروف صعبة و إن المعاناة جزء طبيعي من حياتنا ومهماً حصلك كفاية إن يكون عندك حد بتحبه وبيحبك أو حاجة بتؤمن بيها أو هدف نفسك توصله ودة لوحده كافي إنه يعطي معني لحياتك ويخليك تحبها و تتمسك بيها...

شكر واجب لصديقي العزيز محمد قائد علي ترشيح هذا الكتاب الرائع..
بالتأكيد ينصح به...

Reading about the holocaust awakens me to the varying sides and degrees of human nature.

"Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths. Is it surprising that in those depths we again found only human qualities which in there very nature were a mixture of good and evil? The rift dividing good from evil, which goes through all human beings, reaches into the lowest depths and becomes apparent even on the bottom of the abyss which is laid open by the concentration camp."

It is easier than we may think to get controlled by the barbaric aspects that exist within us. It’s almost incomprehensible that the holocaust took place in such recent history, at a time -- by relative, historic standards -- that contained comfortable living situations, educational access, and plenty of opportunity. Reading about the holocaust reminds me that we are simple and easily manipulated; that we can easily shut off our conscience and our ability to empathize, and do unimaginably horrible things to fellow, innocent, human beings. This is not a positive testament to human nature.

"From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two - the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people. In this sense, no group is of "pure race" - therefore one occasionally found a decent fellow among the camp guards.

But then I see that goodness can still exist, even when one has every reason not to act on empathy; even when a simple, helpful act for another can threaten one's own life. Nazi's that showed compassion for prisoners were often killed, yet some men were brave and caring enough to help his fellow man. This gives me hope.

Here's a specific story from the book that highlights this:

"I remember how one day a foreman secretly gave me a piece of bread which I knew he must have saved from his breakfast ration. It was far more than the small piece of bread which moved me to tears at that time. It was the human "something" which this man also gave to me - the word and look which accompanied the gift.” This kind of act was not unusual for this specific SS commander, and was not forgotten by the prisoners, either. In fact, the kindness was returned: When Frankl’s camp was being liberated, 3 young Hungarian Jews hid this commander in the Bavarian woods as the other SS commanders were being gathered by U.S. troops. The 3 men would only give up the SS commander under the condition that no harm come to him. And, not only was he taken in unharmed, but he was later given the role of supervising the collection and distribution of clothing among the villages. Had this man not acted on compassion, he would have been caught and suffered a difficult fate. But sometimes -- no, not enough -- but sometimes, the good do win out. This is a positive testament to human nature.

Frankl gives an honest, modest account of his holocaust experience. But he helped a lot of people make it through -- he gave people hope through his psychiatric knowledge, insights, and wisdom. Through the process he became a firm believer in logotherapy, which he explains in detail in the second half of the book.

According to logotherapy, one must find meaning in life, and if one finds meaning, he or she can make it through anything. Or, as the Nietzsche quote (which Frankl was fond of), says, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." In regards to logotherapy, Frankl states, "It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. That is why man is even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning."

Again and again those that had meaning were more likely to survive. Frankl was reminded of this at the start of every New Year, when the deaths in the camp drastically increased. According to Frankl, there was one main variable involved with this: loss of meaning. A number of prisoners kept themselves going by imagining themselves out of the camp in time for the holidays, which they hoped to spend with their loved ones. They pictured it in their minds and it kept them going through many grueling days. When the holidays came and went, they no longer had that image to strive for and were crushed. They gave up hope. They gave up meaning. They gave up life.

Reading this book helped give me perspective into my own life, and insight into the power that exists within us all. While reading, I tried my best to fathom the great pain and suffering that those in camps went through, and I tried to understand how they endured it. Starvation, unrelenting work, freezing conditions in the winter, dehydration in the summer; and not just physical pain, but imagine watching neighbors, friends, and family members die. What happens to someone's mind, body, and heart as he or she goes through such drastic, painful, hopeless, and desperate situations? How does one continue to go on? What kind of strength does one tap into and where does it come from? It seems impossible, yet many people survived and went on to live enriching lives.

Reading about, and gaining a grasp of this awesome power within us is inspiring: the capabilities of the human; the depths of our courage and perseverance. “We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation - just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer - we are challenged to change ourselves." Human potential at its best, indeed.

While reading Man's Search for Meaning, I could not stop thinking: why can't I be a psychologist now? By the time I reached page 103, I wanted to highlight passage after passage, or at least add them to my favorite quotes on Goodreads to preserve their impact forever.

Frankl divides his inspiring book into two parts. The first describes his experience living in Nazi death camps and how he dealt with the doom and decay that always surrounded him. He laces his story with astute, dispassionate observations about his emotions and the suffering of those around him. The second section explores a type of therapy that arose from his time in the death camps: logotherapy. Logotherapy focuses on helping people find meaning in their lives, to give them a greater sense of purpose and to push them past the obstacles they face. He writes that people can discover meaning in three different ways: 1) by creating a work or doing a deed, 2) by experiencing something or encountering someone, and 3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering (this last option is only meaningful when the first two are unavailable).

Overall, I would recommend this book to those interested in psychology, or those who want to read an inspiring tale by someone who survived the Nazi death camps and used his experience to transcend himself. Frankl veers into the spiritual side in the second portion of the book, which might perturb a few people, but for the most part he keeps his ideas open to everyone. For the rest of the review I'm just going to write down all of the book because it was so good a few of the quotes about logotherapy that stood out to me, so I can reference them later on. Feel free to read or skip.

(about man and meaning) "As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he 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 becoming responsible. Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence."

(about transcending the self) "By declaring that man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this constitutive characteristic 'the self-transcendence of human existence.' It denotes the fact that being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself - be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence."

(about how we mistakenly use money and sex to replicate meaning) "Moreover, there are various masks and guises under which the existential vacuum appears. Sometimes the frustrated will to meaning is vicariously compensated for by a will to power, including the most primitive form of the will to power, the will to money. In other cases, the place of frustrated will is meaning is taken by the will to pleasure. That is why existential frustration often eventuates in sexual compensation. We can observe in such cases that the sexual libido becomes rampant in the existential vacuum."

Of course I would love to include a few more passages, but I want to avoid writing down the entire book. Perhaps I will purchase a copy, then.

I started reading "Man's Search for Meaning" thanks to a recommendation that appear on another book called 30 Days- Change your habits, Change your life: A couple of simple steps every day to create the life you want. Despite being one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, I had never heard about it but after reading the first pages, I quickly understood the reason for its fame. Man's Search for Meaning isn't a common story, is a true story. A collage of experiences, thoughts, and theories of a psychologist who survived in one of Nazi concentration camps. Although there are hundreds of books about the Holocaust, this story is really different; it isn't a dramatized story but a lucid and almost impartial story filtered through the eyes of psychology and neurology. It might seem a dark and miserable book but on the contrary, it's more a flame in the darkness that bright strong, a song of hope and strength. I recommend this book to all readers, without exception, I think it's a book that everyone should read and re-read to understand the true meaning of our lives.

Spanish version:
Empecé a leer "El hombre en busca de sentido" gracias a la recomendación del libro "30 días". Pese a ser uno de los libros más influyentes del sigo XX nunca había oído a hablar de él pero al empezar a avanzar a través de sus páginas rápidamente entendí el porqué de su fama. El hombre en busca de sentido no se trata de un relato común, sino más bien una agrupación de vivencias, reflexiones y teorías de un psicólogo superviviente de la masacre de los campos de concentración nazi. Pese a que hay cientos de libros que tratan el tema del holocausto, este relato es francamente diferente, no dramatiza en las situaciones penosas sino más bien las desgrana, las analiza y las filtra a través de los ojos de la psicología y la neurología. Lo más brillante del libro es la esperanza y las enseñanzas que hay en él, podría parecer un libro oscuro y miserable pero es todo lo contrario, es una llama en medio de la oscuridad, un canto al crecimiento interior y a la fortaleza de espíritu. Creo que no puedo evitar recomendar este libro a todos los lectores, sin excepción del género literario que os guste, es uno de esos libros que todos deberíamos leer y releer para comprender el verdadero significado de nuestras vidas.

I followed Viktor Frankl diligently in his journey from the gas ovens of Auschwitz into the hospitals of Vienna after he beats the 1 in 20 odds of his surviving a German concentration camp. He writes that the single most important self-determinant in his survival was his deep inherent conviction under the worst of all possible conditions that life has meaning: even here under constant risk of typhus, wearing the recycled prison garb of those who had been sacrificed to the ovens, starving, freezing, beaten, demonized and dehumanized. If one can still find meaning here and survive because of it, then under better conditions meaning should be possible to find. Frankl believes that there are three sources of meaning: 1) one's work 2) other people whom you love 3) rising with dignity and integrity from a hopelessly tragic diminishment. He found that in the camps the survivors had a positive attitude, which reinforced their search for meaning and gave them hope in a hopeless situation. In Vienna hospitals he debunked theories of Freud and Adler with "logotherapy" which helps others to find the meaning in their lives and heal from thoughts of suicide, psychoses and neurotic behavior. "Logos" is Greek for "meaning" and if you can find it in your own life, then essentially it seems you are as invincible as Frankl, who not only survived Auschwitz but also lived into his 90's, is the living proof of his own thesis. Ultimately, when asked what was the meaning of his life, he wrote that the meaning of his life was to help other people find the meaning in their lives. He is an existentialist but he has a positive outlook on life unlike, for example, Camus or Sartre or the usual champions of this dark philosophy, which sprang out of the widespread, bombed-out wreckage of WWII. He writes that the Nazis proved what man was capable of and Hiroshima proved how high the stakes are. So the search for meaning is important therapy not only as it heals individuals but also because it has a healing and uplifting effect upon humanity as a whole and may well be one approach to saving the human race from its own self-destruction. Frankl had a visa and train ticket out of Vienna before the Nazis rose into power but decided to stay there to help his aging parents who had no such respite. Like Frankl, his pregnant wife and parents were taken to the camps and on the first day after he came home to Vienna he learned that all three had been lost there. He wrote "The Search for Meaning" in only nine days and described how his positive attitude and search for meaning enabled him to survive. He describes how this process of autobiography helped him to begin his own healing, a term which he describes as "autobibliotherapy." By virtue of writing down one's findings in the search for meaning, one serves to find meaning in one's own life and to help others find it in their lives. He prescribes no formulas and believes that every individual must find his or her own meaning in life despite diminishments and suffering and death which accompany every life. With incredible, calm clarity he writes that for everyone "suffering and death are necessary to complete life." He believes that suffering clarifies the meaning of life and, while he doesn't believe we need to bring it upon ourselves, the average life generally provides sufficient circumstances for us to know that suffering is an inevitable aspect of life. So why not learn from it? As Nietzsche wrote: "Suffering is the origin of consciousness." He is not advising us to bring it upon ourselves as a form of sadomasochism but to rise above it with heroic integrity and see it as an opportunity to learn from it. He believes that such life lessons ultimately hold the keys for understanding and overcoming the diminishments of life itself. He writes that man always has a choice of action in reacting to the circumstances no matter how dire they may be. So it seems that readers, when they read great books, are searching for meaning and this search has healing powers for them. Further, it seems that when writers search for meaning in creating their work, they have an opportunity to experience the same healing benefits of autobibliotherapy. So keep reading and writing the good stuff for all the good it can do to you and by all means, read this brief, brilliant book by an Auschwitz survivor as it has life altering implications for you: this book will change your outlook on life and may well, thereby, save it through mastery of the art of living.

The sun is slowly rising up ushering the dawning of a new day. The mother and the father are sipping their first cups of coffee. Their schooling children are rising up from their bed. The mother attends to her children’s daily routine. She bathes, feeds them their breakfast and makes sure that their things are all in their individual school bags. Para Kanino Ka Bumabangon? (translation: Whom Do You Wake Up For?) is heard as a voice over. This is Nestle’s TV ad for Nescafe coffee but it sends a very clear message: n  that each of us has our own reason for living and this reason is the meaning of our life, our existence.n

In a nutshell, this is what Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997) an Austrian Jew, neurologist, psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor, is saying in this 1946 originally-published book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He says that the life of each one of us has its own meaning. That meaning cannot be generalized. His theory of logotherapy which is a form of Existential Analysis, can be used to determine one’s meaning for living or even suffering. Using his horrendous experiences at Auschwitz concentration camp, which he narrated in the first part of this book, he said that he and the other survivors kept themselves alive by imaging and looking forward to their lives after the war. Those who felt hopeless and they could not picture themselves reuniting with their families after the war, perished. As if they had no longer any reason for living and thus they chose to die rather than to survive.

He also said that we should not ask for the meaning of our life. Rather, we should ask what life wants from us.

I have read several books about the holocaust. I have seen and liked Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and read and liked Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark, Imre Kertesz’s Fatelessness, Elie Wiesel’s Night, Victor Klemperer’s I Will Bear Witness and of course Anne Frank’s Diary of the Young Girl. That’s why the first part of this book did not shock me anymore. However, there are some parts here that were new to me like Frankl’s heavy interactions with the Gapos, co-inmates but they have leadership positions and also he, as a doctor, had a chance to escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp together with another doctor. This was the first time I heard that a prisoner could well, almost successfully escape the camp.

The second part of the book is more on clinical analysis and theories about logotheraphy which Frankl pioneered. It is similar to psychotherapy but this one is more forward-looking. It is a type of existentialist analysis that focuses on a will to meaning as opposed to Adler’s Nietzchean doctrine of will to power or Freud’s will to pleasure. Rather than power or pleasure, logotherapy is founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one's life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans. (Source: Wikipedia).

And this striving to find a meaning is the reason why we wake up each morning. Ikaw, para kanino ka bumabangon?

TO COMPOSE a brief synthesis of Viktor Frankl’s lucid insights on a prisoner’s self-transcendence over the inhumanity of the Holocaust is the purpose of this brief essay.

From 1941 until 1945, the Jews were held captive and systematically massacred in the concentration camps under the Nazi territories. The covert methods of this genocide included starvation, heavy manual labor under severe conditions, torture, hanging in the gallows, then mass murders, gas chambers, and crematoriums—methods that, by the final stages of the war, had already decimated approximately 11 million people.

Upon captivity, all possessions were taken away from the prisoners, names replaced by numbers, not a strand of hair left unshaven on their bodies. They were forced to toil like animals, despite their serious malnourishment, and slumber in abominably small bunk beds like stacks of corpses.

Nothing was left of the prisoners’ lives but their hope for liberation and their nakedness to the inevitability of death surrounding them. But amid the gamut of terrors, for three years, Frankl, who was a psychiatrist before the occupation, investigated the camp’s psychology and secretly jotted down notes on scraps of paper that served as the manuscript for his own psychotherapeutic theory: that is logotherapy (logos is Greek for meaning).

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning—an autobiography about his Holocaust experience and an introduction to the concepts of logotherapy—Frankl postulated that “the sort of person a prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, not the result of the camp influences alone.”

Numerous prisoners, after recognizing the impossibility of surviving under the camp’s environment, either ran into the electrically charged fences to commit suicide or simply awaited death to come over their beds. They found no meaning in prolonging their unjustifiable suffering.

But Frankl observed there were a few prisoners who “never lost their ideals in the depths of degradation” and possessed a humor that offered necessary self-detachment and reprieve from the conditions. They endured their suffering honorably and remained as though undaunted in the face of the camp’s thoroughly abject reality.

These odd behaviors, however small in number, Frankl concluded, suffice as proof that the “work of choosing” and the “will to meaning” become the “soul’s weapon in the fight for self-preservation.” As long as there is a deep sense of meaning that fortifies the spirit, an individual can suffer without despair and not become subject to decay.

Logotherapy presupposes that man’s inherent will to meaning and freedom of choice are the authors to his own personality: “Man is more than psyche. […] Man is a self-determining being, man decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.”

The antithesis of surrendering to the machinery of the base instincts is the discipline of making conscious decisions in each moment. Between stimulus and response is a space of freedom that is solely determined by the individual’s volition.

A well-known Jewish psychiatrist from Vienna, gets deported into a Nazi concentration camp. Despite not being particularly fit, he survives the the horrors of the Holocaust and even manages to build himself a new life afterward, along with a whole new theory for treating his patients' mental disorders.



For the longest time, I was convinced that I had read a truckload of Holocaust-related literature, but turns out that none of the books I read actually detailed life in the camps. The Diary of Anne Frank, The Book Thief or Exodus seem to describe the actions leading up to imprisonment, or the aftermath, but the actual imprisonment... not so much. The Reader delves into a bit of prison life, but fairly superficially.

Reading through the episodes detailed by Dr. Frankl, I started wondering how I would have coped with such a situation. I started out convinced that I wouldn't make it past the initial selection stage, however as I progressed through the book, I began to doubt that outcome. Perhaps my continuous penchant for daydreaming would end up saving my life after all.



The second part on the other hand, where the author explains and exemplifies his psychiatric theory just didn't resonate with me. Obviously, it is not meant to be an exhaustive document, but the examples just felt too simplistic to me. Almost as if his patients had somehow managed to overcome their problems within a few dozen sessions. And who knows? Maybe they had... and I'm just a lost cause. *sniff sniff*

Then again, I'm not a professional therapist, nor do I have any plans to delve deeper into the subject, so perhaps I'm just not the right target audience for this type of literature.

Score: 3.3/5 stars

Plenty of interesting ideas to ponder, and I've also had some surprising revelations about what my idea of love may be. But on the whole, I feel like this book was wasted on me. Not in its entirety, but digging into it during one of my more awful bouts of reading slumps was perhaps not the best approach.

" الإنسان يبحث عن المعنى " – مقدمة في العلاج بالمعنى.. التسامي بالنفس

في كل مرة تفتح كتابًا، توقع أن يحصل لك شيئًا عظيمًا! كأن تولد من جديد .. و هذا ما حدث معي بالفعل، و تعتبر هذه ولادتي الثالثة في الحياة، فالانسان يسمو في كل مرة و يرتفع خطوة جديدة وتتبدل قناعته الأولى، فإذا ما كنت وصلت مسبقًا إلى معنى البحث عن النفس و تحقيق الذات، فإنني بعد كتاب "فرانكل" أخرج من سجن فكرة إلى فكرة أعمق!! ، من سجن الهدف و التوتر و السعي للاتزان إلى المعنى
" لا يمكن التوصل إلى تحقيق الذات إذا جعله الشخص كفايه في حد ذا��ه، و لكن يكون هذا ممكنا إذا نظر إليه كأثر جانبي للتسامي بالذات"
اتفق معه كثيرًا ، فإذا ما تحول إحقاق الذات لهدف، و بغية الوصول إليه بأي طريق، قد تؤدي إلى الضياع و عدم الشعور به حتى لو حدث و وصل إليه، يشبه ذلك من يريد السعادة كهدف، ثم يجد نفسه يأخّر حصولها في كل مرة بسبب إضافته لمعايير جديدة لسعادته!!

الكتاب مقسم لثلاث أجزاء كالتالي:
القسم الأول : خبرات في معسكر القتال :
و فيه يطرح فرانكل خبرته و ما عاشه هو ورفاقه داخل السجن، الحقيقة أن كل ما قرأته مؤلمًا، و يجرد الحياة الانسانية من الانسان نفسه! ، أنا التي آمنت دائمًا بعظمة هذا الانسان و أن الانسانية لا يمكن أن تسلب منه تحت كل الظروف الضاغطة عليه .. يأتي هنا فرانكل ليحلل تحليلاً دقيقًا و مدهشًا لثلاث أطوار يمر بها السجين و هي كالتالي :
* الصدمة الطور الأول لردود الأفعال النفسية
و ذكر بعدها أمر أثار دهشتي ألا وهو " رد الفعل غير السوي إزاء موقف غير سوي هو استجابة سوية "!!
* البلادة و الموت الانفعالي هما الطور الثاني لردود الأفعال النفسية
يذكر هنا أن الانسان يلجأ للبلادة كوسيلة للدفاع عن الذات وتخليصها من الألم النفسي، كما تفعل روح المرح أيضا
* الطور الثالث/ تحدث فيه عن سيكولوجية السجين بعد الافراج عنه ( فقدان القدرة على الاحساس بالسرور- اختلال الشخصية .. الخ )

صادفتني في هذا القسم :
فقرة شيقة عنوانها " خلاص الانسان هو من خلال الحب و في الحب "
يقول الحقيقة أن الحب هو الهدف الغائي و الأسمى الذي يمكن أن يطمع إليه الانسان!

في الحرية و الاختيار يقول فرانكل " كل شيء يمكن أن يؤخذ من الانسان عدا شيئًا واحدًا و هذا الشيء الواحد هو آخر شيء من الحريات الانسانية – و هو أن يختار المرء اتجاهه في ظروف معينة، أي يختار المرء طريقه "

تحدث أيضاً عن المعاناة و أنها شيء نسي!
" إن المعاناة تغمر الروح الانسامية كلها و العقل الواعي بأكمله، بصرف النظر عما إذا كانت المعاناة كبيرة أم صغيرة _ مسألة نسبية"

في نهاية هذا الجزء المؤلم والشيق! و بطريقة فرانكل في ذكر القصة و التحليل معًا، نشأت لدي شخصية معهم! و أدركت الكثير مما سلطته عليّ لأعيش سجنًا معنويًا، ولحسن الحظ أن حديث فرانكل كان ينسجم مع الحياة كليًا، ولم يقتصر على سجناء المعسكر!
في نهايته كتب جملة هزتني وتوقفت عندها كثيرًا " لقد دعوت الله من سجني الضيق، فأجابني في رحابة الكون "
هل لي أن أقول أن الله أرسل لي هذه الكتاب لأغرق في رحابته! و أتوسّع من داخلي؟



القسم الثاني: المبادئ الأساسية للعلاج بالمعنى:
هنا يكرر الحديث مرة أخرى لكن بطريقة مدهشة و تأكيديه مفصلة و علمية أكثر
سأكتب ملخصًا بسيطًا يوضح ما ذكره، لأن مثل هذا الكتاب يُغرق فيه و لايسهل الحديث عنه!
* إرادة المعنى : إن سعي الانسان إلى البحث عن معنى هو قوة أولية في حياته
* الاحباط الوجودي: يذكر أنه يتولد من الصراعات بين القيم المختلفة- المعنوية الأخلاقية
احتفظت باقتباسات تنفي قضية الاتزان التي كنت أؤمن بها! و توضح أن فترات التوتر التي أمر بها طبيعة!
- ليس كل صراع بالضرورة عصابيًا فمقدار من الصراع سوي و صحي، و كذلك ليس كل معاناة حالة مرضية و هي بالتالي ليست عرضًا من أعراض العصاب، لذا فإن المعاناة قد تكون أنجازًا انسانيًا طيباً، خاصة إذا كانت تنشأ من الاحباط الوجودي.
_ ليس مايحتاجه الانسان هو حالة اللاتوتر و لكنه يحتاج إلى السعي والاجتهاد في سبيل هدف يستحق أن يعيش من أجله.
* الفراغ الوجودي: يقول أنه يتمثل في حالة الملل!
و منه يبدأ الانسان تعويض إرادة المعنى المحبطة بـ إرادة القوة/ اللذة
كما يوضح لنا طرق تمكننا من كشف المعنى في الحياة، و هي ثلاثة
1- الاتيان بفعل و عمل ( الانجاز/ التحقيق)
2- أن نخبر قيمة من القيم ( ويتحدث فيها عن معنى الحب )
3- أن تعيش حالة المعاناة ( معنى المعاناة)
يذكر ما قاله دوستويفكسي : يوجد شيئ واحد فقط يروعني و هو " ألا أكون جديرًا بآلامي "
فإذا كان الانسان يملك معنى لحياته فمؤكد أنه سيجد معنى للمعناته وآلاآمه!
" إن المعاناة تتوقف من أن تكون معاناة بشكل ما، في اللحظة التي تكتسب فيها معنى"



القسم الثالث: التسامي بالذات
و كانه مراجعة لكل السابق بمحاولة سمو الانسان بذاته و تجاوزها.


و أخيرًا هناك نقطة قيمة لصالح العلاج بالمعنى وهي [إ ن العلاج بالمعنى يرى في " الالتزام بالمسؤلية" الجوهر الحقيقي للوجود الانسان]
و هذه تعني أنه سيلفت نظرك لما يجب أن تفكر فيه، لكنه ابدًا لن يفرض عليك قرارته، فالأمر كله ينبع من داخلك، من أعماقك