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2020 was the year our whole word suffered.
below i'll quote in full an excerpt from "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
The Meaning of Suffering:
below i'll quote in full an excerpt from "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
The Meaning of Suffering:
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy...
into a triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement.
When we are no longer able to change a situation -- just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change ourselves.
Let me cite a clear-cut example:
When we are no longer able to change a situation -- just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change ourselves.
Let me cite a clear-cut example:
Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died 2 years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now, how could I help him? What should I tell him?
Well, I refrained from telling...
Well, I refrained from telling...
him anything but instead confronted him with the question, "What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?"
"Oh," he said, "For her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!"
Whereupon I replied,
"Oh," he said, "For her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered!"
Whereupon I replied,
"You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering -- to be sure, at the price that now you have to survive and mourn her."
He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left my office.
He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left my office.
In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.
Of course, this was no therapy in the proper sense since, first, his despair was no disease; and second, I could not change his fate; I could not revive his wife.
Of course, this was no therapy in the proper sense since, first, his despair was no disease; and second, I could not change his fate; I could not revive his wife.
But in that moment I did succeed in changing his *attitude* toward his unalterable fate inasmuch as from that time on he could at least see a meaning in his suffering.
It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life.
That is why man is even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning.
That is why man is even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning.
But let me make it perfectly clear that in no way is suffering *necessary* to find meaning.
I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering -- provided, certainly, that the suffering is unavoidable.
If it were avoidable, however, the meaningful thing...
I only insist that meaning is possible even in spite of suffering -- provided, certainly, that the suffering is unavoidable.
If it were avoidable, however, the meaningful thing...
to do would be to remove its cause, be it psychological, biological, or political. To suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.
--FIN--
--FIN--
let's pour one out for 2020 and find meaning in 2021.
happy new year.
happy new year.
