In Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning there are many important lessons that can be taken from it. While reading the book there was a few that stood out. Obviously I cannot fully understand the brutal life of living in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany but I can make some comparisons to my life. Frankl talks often about how the prisoners who can escape to a better world in their head were the ones who often survived. I think this has to do with the idea that they could find something to look forward to when they got out.
First, Frankl noticed in the camp that the ones who said they often had no will or meaning to their life were the ones who often died quickly after. Sometimes I do this in my life but obviously not to the extent of my own life. If I am going through something that is extremely difficult I will look forward to something that I enjoy. I especially experience this throughout the wrestling season when I feel that I can’t go on. Frankl talks about how more people die around Christmas and New Years because they want to see their family and they fear that they are dead therefore they have no meaning in their life anymore. He says that once they feel like everything is gone then they will struggle to live. For Frankl, his driving force throughout his time in Auschwitz was his wife. The love for his wife is what he said kept him alive regardless if she was dead or alive
Also, Back to the inmates that played with the idea of killing themselves while at the concentration camps. There were a few ways they would end their life which include touching the electrical fence and hanging themselves. This was a common in the camps because of the prisoner’s lack of self-worth. I think this is because they feel that they are doing nothing good and they think the hope of being freed is long gone. The prisoners think that if they end their own life then they will be better off. This truly shows how brutal and harsh the Nazi concentration camps really were. While I was reading I tried to make a comparison to Frankl’s life but it is hard for me to think about living on the most minimal diet imaginable. That is one thing that was especially meaningful to me. Reading it made showed me how much I take for granted. For example, got meals everyday, and a roof to live under. Even the most basic things were abruptly stripped away from Frankl and many like him.
Overall I enjoyed reading a firsthand account of life inside Auschwitz. Not only was it interesting to hear about Frankl’s story but to learn about the history of World War II. Some of the lessons I took away from it I can apply directly to my everyday life to some extent. The title Man’s Search for Meaning directly ties into what Frankl speaks about throughout the book describing how we must find something to push ourselves through difficult times. The deep reflection and thought that I had is what I enjoyed most about reading A Man’s Search for Meaning.
Prisoners of Our Thoughts is for people who are dealing with the crisis in meaning. Those who are struggling with understand what life means, people who are curious or worry about if they are making the right choices in with their life’s. The book does meet needs of the audience its speaking to, by giving the adapted core principles of Frankl and their work in meaningology that gives logical explanations and specific examples to outline the deeper meaning in our personal and work lives.
A very noticeable theme in the book is that there’s meaning to everything in life doesn’t matter how big or small there’s meaning to it in our personal or work lives, but it’s up to you to decide if that does have meaning. With the use of Frankl’s principles and the authors work in meaningology they are able to establish this in the book.
