Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Charlie’s Rating – 10/10
Here is the one sentence review of this book written by Viktor himself – “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Whoa. Couple of things to chew on here…
- Anytime a Holocaust survivor has something to say, we should listen.
- We all know Frankl is right.
- Life doesn’t happen to us, rather, it is how we respond to what life brings us determines everything.
This book is a hard read. The Holocaust is a hard subject. It is still hard to fathom all these years later because in reality, it wasn’t that long ago. Frankl’s book is a hard read for many reasons, but man it is good. The message is spot on.
We are not in control of anything except one thing – our attitude. And from our attitude, we can find meaning to life. Through his personal narrative and insights, I believe he states that individuals can endure suffering (even to most extreme like he did) and find purpose by cultivating inner strength and embracing responsibility.
There are maybe 10 events in the book where Frankl should have lost his life, but each time there was a “reason” why he was not selected. It was interesting to read situation after situation and I can’t help but wonder if his positive attitude was the reason. It really makes me scratch my head to be honest… When you combine the knowledge of the Law of Attraction with the idea of accepting responsibility and staying positive, it makes good sense that Frankl lived through the terror and was able to tell his story, and give his reason’s why he thinks it all happened the way it did. Kind of mind twisting.
Humans really can do amazing things. Frankl is no different than any of us. He just decided to never give up the last human freedom – his choice to remain resilient, positive, have faith/hope and keep control over his attitude. Pretty good lesson here to learn!