No discussion on the meaning of
life is complete without turning to Dr. Viktor Frankl. A distinguished
psychiatrist by profession, he spent three horrendous years at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during World War II. Name, fame,
wealth, social status, education, family background etc fell into a dust heap
at Auschwitz. A prisoner was just a ‘number’ in rags surviving on watery soup and a piece of stale bread. A bag of bones shackled to dehumanizing work until the inmate was too weak to be useful at
which point he was sent to the gas chambers. Is there any meaning or
purpose in such a wretched existence? Is there any virtue in ‘getting through’ such suffering? Frankl says there is, because unavoidable suffering is
‘attitudinal heroism.’ A condemned man trapped in terrible circumstances can
turn his suffering into an achievement by refusing to compromise on his dignity, decency and compassion. A man who
refuses to be brutalized by circumstances is a hero. What we become when faced with suffering is an inner
decision. We can either sink to the level of animals or rise above our
situation to grow spiritually and give a deeper meaning to our lives.
(Pic
re shared courtesy: www.wherenow.com,
Viktor E. Frankl; ‘Man’s search for Meaning’)
No comments:
Post a Comment