'W'HAT IS TO GIVE LIGHT MUST ENDURE BURNING'













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“In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering 
at the momen it finds a meaning, 
such as the meaning of a sacrifice.”

Dr. Victor Frankl in ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’


One book many must be reading today, when we are all locked down in our homes, is ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Dr. Victor Frankl.

Dr. Victor Frankl was a Neurologist and Psychiatrist. Being a Jew, he and his family were thrown into the Nazi Concentration Camps. While his family perished, he somehow survived the Holocaust, to tell us the remarkable lessons, later, in his path-breaking book – ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, and through his subsequent healing therapy called ‘Logo-therapy’.

Dr. Frankl’s book is about the ultimate triumph of human spirit. It’s about hope in the face of absolute darkness. Yes, to paraphrase its essence: “Man can be stripped of everything he possesses, but not his ability to choose his response… Between the stimulus and action lies man’s choice!”

Many may find this observation ridiculous. They may argue: “How can you not react – become angry and violent, sad and depressed, whatever that you call a ‘negative behaviour’ – when faced with these challenges?”

But, according to Dr. Frankl, this is what the true human spirit – which is nothing but the Spirit of God (Logo, in Greek, means God) – is all about. He recounts, “The sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influence alone.” He further reminds, “When we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”









What’s happening to all of us – the whole world – today? What is the situation are we all find ourselves in, now? Are we not feeling overwhelmed by the challenge, and are we not feeling hopeless and depressed? So, the options before all of us are the same, which the prisoners in the Nazi Concentration Camps had: to eat one another, or to help one another!

Every disaster – whether natural or man-made – leaves before us only these two options - “Find something to live by, or live for… Find some ‘means’ or find some ‘meaning’”!

I know, it sounds crazy. But, even crazier are the times we are faced with – aren’t they?

Dr. Frankl reminds us: “For the world is in a bad state; but, everything will become still worse unless each one of us does his best.”

Yes, such is the beauty and might of our choice – to survive to find only the ‘means’, or the ‘meaning’!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.:TruShotz

Video: Yanni

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