9780807014271
Viktor Frankl
Notes
…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.
…it can be said that they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom – which cannot be taken away – that makes life meaningful and purposeful.
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how”
Nietzsche
We had literally lost the ability to feel pleased and had to relearn it slowly.
Striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.
A man’s concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease.
What matters is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.
…one should not search for an abstract meaning of life.
Man has potentialities within himself to be a swine or a saint. Which one is actualized is not determined by conditions but by decisions.
Avenues by which one arrives at a meaning in life:
- Creating work or doing a deed
- Experiencing something or encountering someone
- Turning personal tragedy into triumph