An Analysis of Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

In the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl, Frankl explores the many realms of faith while enduring the most rigorous of conditions as well as climate. Frankl explores his faith through his own suffering, his love for his beloved wife and lastly through the quintessential faith in concentration camp: the future. Frankl’s faith in the many assortments of his life as well as the extreme suffering he endures would, in my opinion, classify him as a Jew; for Jew’s have no specific icon to worship or have faith they also time and time again have dealt with the worst of suffering.

Frankl obtains faith through suffering; including his own suffering and the suffering of others around him. All of the prisoners around him as well as himself went through, things which we would consider unbearable, torture daily. It was as though Frankl had become prone to it to expect it everyday but was unsure about what it would be or when he just had naturally expected it to come.

“Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering” (p.89). Frankl felt as though the suffering he experienced was destined for him and he did not want to change his own fate; if his fate chose suffering he would have to suffer that day and have faith that soon fate would bring him a suffer-free day. Frankl used suffering as a way to get through the day, in a way that if he could outlast the torture of concentration camp what couldn’t he do? “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it” (p.

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95). Through Frankl’s time at concentration camp he has essentially dissected every angle of suffering, and realizes that suffering is merely confusion of your own feelings, and once that is conquered it is no longer suffering. Frankl believed that suffering brought meaning to his life; for it gave him something to focus on and to persevere through. “When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as a task; his single and unique task” (p.99). Frankl knew that it was his destiny to be in a concentration camp as well as his destiny to suffer; so he trudged on through the suffering and had faith through his suffering that it was his destiny to live as well.

Love also plays a significant role in Frankl’s faith throughout his stay in concentration camp. He talks about how he has “conversations” with his wife while he is incarcerated in camp; these conversations help Frankl to stay and continue to struggle on. These conversations give Frankl hope that he will one day see his wife again. “The truth–that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which a man can aspire” (p.57). Frankl reminisces, as well as having fake conversations and interactions. with his wife in order to boost his morale and one day aspire to seeing her and talking to her and leading a regular life with her again. Frankl has faith in them reunite one day which leads to Frankl’s true faith in something greater, considering he is not quite sure it will happen. “The salvation of man is through love and in love” (P.57). Frankl believes that through his love for his wife as well as faith in love he will reach salvation and be freed from the bind that he was currently in. Through Frankl’s beloved wife he will reach the salvation he has been striving for.

Frankl’s last faith: the future; Frankl strongly believed that, especially in concentration camp, faith in the future was essential to survival. For if you lost hope in the future you had nothing else to look to, for the current conditions of camp were so harsh that what else was there to look to. “The prisoner who had lost faith in the future–his future-was doomed” (p.95). Frankl even thought that one who lost faith in the future was even more likely to induce a disease including typhus. Faith in the future was the most essential faith to Frankl, because you could not be sure about anything except for that there was a future. Even though it may be a grim future a future was all the prisoners had to look forward to that they knew would be there. “It is a peculiarity of a man that he can only live by looking to the future…And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence…” (p.94). Frankl knew how key faith for the future was; for it was the sole thing that the prisoners could look to everyday while they were trudging through the snow of Auschwitz or while eating the single piece of bread they were rationed daily.

Frankl has an unheard of faith as well as tolerance for the most ridiculous of sufferings. Frankl has a faith through his sufferings, for he believes it was fate, he has a strong faith in his beloved wife, whom he carries on conversations with considering she is not present, lastly in the future, which he believes is the only way a prisoner can even come close to making it through concentration camp. Frankl’s belief in something higher as well as his incredible fortitude for suffering would make him a true Jew; considering that the definition of true would be classified as that.