Man's Search for Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

Dialectic Journals

1. "Man is a being that can get used to anything."

I think this means if a person is put through domething for a long enough time that they can get used to it no matter what. People in concentration camps for example were starved and beaten and made to do hard labor all day. At first the prisoner thought it impossible to do since they were sed to eating more than watery soup and a chunk a bread, but they adapted and went forward to do it. I think part of the reason for doing this is to show that they are not as weak as the Germans wanted them to be. I agree with him because people through out history have gone through some very though stuff but got used to it and succeeded in the ended.

2. "The salvation of man is through love and in love."

I think this means the only way someone can get through something as difficult as a concentration camp is knowing someone loves them on the out side of the camp or they love someone outside of the camp. The thought of someone outside waiting for you give you the determination to never quit and keep pushing forward. Frankl wrote this because he had his wife in another camp and they loved each other dearly and that was his motivation to keep going and not let the Germans bring him down. I agree it really helps knowing you have something to look forward to on the "outside". You can make yourself think "ok I only have a little bit more to go and I can go see Her and everything will be ok." Thinking like that will help keep your sanity and motivation higher than anyone thought possible in such conditions.

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

I agree with this statement because you do not know what you would be thinking when a robber is pointing a gun at you and is demanding all the money. All these "tough" guys say they would not give them the money and fend the robber off. But in reality almost everyone of us would open the vault and follow any directions given to us. I think he wrote this because people were mad at the cook for giving his friends scoops of soup from the bottom of the pot. But Frankl was thinking about this and admitted h would most likely do the same thing in that situation. I also think most of us would do that in the situation because we strive to be accepted by our friends and doing things like that would make them "like" us more. It is a sad and pathetic truth but most of us do it time and time again, but at the time it makes us feel happy and most men do things for instant joy instead of a long term happiness.

4. "No one has the right to do wrong, even if wrong has been done to them."

I agree no matter what has been done to you, you should not go back and do something wrong because you feel you "deserve" it for all the wrongs committed to you. It is like the old saying " Two wrongs don't make a right" meaning if someone hits you and you hit them back it does not make it right just because you both hit each other. Frankl wrote this because people in concentration camps were going out and committing

crime just because they felt it ok because they just got out of a extermination camp and felt at liberty to do whatever they wanted to. This of course is wrong and the only thing it will get you is thrown into a legal prison of the country that your in.

5. "Love goes far beyond the physical person of the beloved."

I think this means you do not have to have that person with you at all time or even alive to love them as much