Finding meaning and purpose in our lives -- importance of hope and idealism

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• published: 12 Jan 2011
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Man's Search for Meaning (1946) -- written in 9 days -- by Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) is an absolute must-read for all of us -- over 9 million copies sold; more than half of those in the U.S. Dr. Frankl concluded that philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had it right: "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." Viktor Frankl's 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning http://www.phoenix5.org/books/Frankl/FranklAbout.html This video is from a 1972 lecture in Toronto, Canada; this and other full-length recordings of him can be see here: http://logotherapy.univie.ac.at/ === In 1925, a year after graduating and on his way towards his medical degree, he met Freud in person. Alfred Adler's theory was more to Frankl's liking, though, and that year he published an article - "Psychotherapy and Weltanschauung" - in Adler's International Journal of Individual Psychology. The next year, Frankl used the term logotherapy in a public lecture for the first time, and began to refine his particular brand of Viennese psychology. Frankl married in 1942, but in September of that year, he, his wife, his father, mother, and brother, were all arrested and brought to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt in Bohemia. His father died there of starvation. His mother and brother were killed at Auschwitz in 1944. His wife died at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. When he was moved to Auschwitz, his manuscript for The Doctor and the Soul was discovered and destroyed. His desire to complete his work, and his hopes that he would be reunited with his wife and family someday, kept him from losing hope in what seemed otherwise a hopeless situation. After two more moves to two more camps, Frankl finally succumbed to typhoid fever. He kept himself awake by reconstructing his manuscript on stolen slips of paper. In April of 1945, Frankl's camp was liberated, and he returned to Vienna, only to discover the deaths of his loved ones. Although nearly broken and very much alone in the world, he was given the position of director of the Vienna Neurological Policlinic -- a position he would hold for 25 years. He finally reconstructed his book and published it, earning him a teaching appointment at the University of Vienna Medical School. In only 9 days, he dictated another book, which would become Man's Search for Meaning. Before he died, it sold over nine million copies, five million in the U.S. alone! === Viktor Frankl interview, undated http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmKta5tymPY (3:19 minutes) Viktor Frankl interview, 1990 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J1KYnd5X0I (4:09 minutes) === From the movie Life is Beautiful - Guido and his son Joshua are taken to a concentration camp, and to keep up Joshua's spirits he tells him its a game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y9aKqawdUQ === Life is a state of mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bow1ZJTV4L4 (4:46 minutes) This is the ending from the movie Being There (1979) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jF9uqN2RU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcPQ9gww_qc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U88dFqUw2o8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuP6KbIsNK4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dQ643WzTPs === This clip is from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr6itOBLVQA