Meaning through suffering

“Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind …”

This line from Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ captures the brutal reality of war. It compels one to ask: what is war? The answer may vary from one person to the next. For some, it may be destructive, but for others it means surviving through treacherous conditions. This sentiment resonates with the theme in Victor E Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ by Victor E Frankl, which sheds light to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps during World War II and a man’s pursuit to find meaning amid it all.

The book is written from Frankl’s perspective as he spent three years in Auschwitz, Dachau, and other concentration camps. The book provides insight into the power of hope during dark times. Frankl tells us that many people died from the lack of hope, rather than starvation. 

This book is divided into two major parts. The first details the harrowing experiences in a concentration camp, presenting the unimaginable hardship faced by the prisoners. The second part tells readers about the idea of logotherapy. It focuses on the man’s search for meaning, with three main motives: the creation of work, the experiencing of something, and most poignantly suffering itself. Through his book, Frankl primarily points out that suffering can be a great tool for growth and finding opportunities. 

As I turned each page, my heart ached. The description of hardship, starvation, despair and suicide is harrowing. Yet amid all the sufferings, Frankl conveys a deeper purpose: to endure everything with undiminished hope and love. 

Frankl introduces a moment of emotional connection through the description of his wife, ‘Her look was more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise,” a mesmerizing description that allows readers to explore the deep form of purity of the love between the author and his beloved. The calm blue cover of his mind recalls memories of her, clinging to the gossamer threads of the echoing memories. Although he knew nothing of her during his time in the camp, Frankl shares the idea of love that transcends distance, portraying love as strong as death. 

In another moving passage, Frankl describes the prisoners’ fleeting encounter with nature while being transferred from Auschwitz to the Bavarian camp. During the journey, they see the sun setting in the distance. This is when they realize, if only for the briefest of moments, how beautiful the world is (and can be), a beauty that they had long been denied. 

The art of living in the concentration camp was vastly different for the writer, as he presents the vision that suffering is the main reason for existence — without it, there is no motive. There is some sort of freedom in suffering, Frankl argues. He declares that in the bleakest of conditions, it is untainted hope that gives a person the power to endure, to survive.    

“Live as if you were living for the second time and have acted as strongly the first time as you are about to act now.” This line serves as a daily reminder for me to approach life with a great purpose. Life lies where the suffering is; without suffering, life holds no meaning. 

Frankl’s philosophy has profoundly shifted my perspective on life. It inspired me to live my life with intention, knowing that finding meaning and moving forward in the face of hardship is crucial. In the face of life’s inevitable challenges, Frankl’s work offers a beacon of hope, proving that resilience and the search for meaning can transform even the harshest realities into profound opportunities for growth.

Prakriti Thapa

BA IInd Year

St Xavier’s College, Maitighar