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Frankl is a man in search of meaning summary. Your environment does not determine your actions

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This review does not aim to provide a complete retelling of Frankl's book. It is intended only for those who alreadyafter reading book, trying to understand its diverse material and form a general idea of the psychology of meaning and existential psychology. Moreover, the purpose of this work is not to highlight the therapeutic side of Frankl’s views. The abstract was prepared as a summary of the monograph for the course “Fundamentals of Psychology Methodology”.

But if someone still decides to turn to this development without reference to the works of Frankl himself, I advise you to still read the second chapter of the second part and the last chapter of the book, because they contain rich factual material, which does not seem appropriate to present here.

Worldview methodology:

Potentialism and kaleidoscopism

Main thesis Frankl grabbed from the existentialists (moreover, the French ones, to whom he scrupulously refers): only existence that transcends itself, only human existence that goes beyond itself into the “world” in “which” it “exists” can realize itself, whereas, making itself and, accordingly, self-realization its intention, it only loses itself (p. 70).

Potentialism states that a person has a number of opportunities to which he strives. But! The point is not in the desire for the possible, but in the desire for what should be, for necessity, for the very thing that is needed at the moment. Opportunities are always transitory. But only one possibility at this moment is worthy of implementation: it is necessity. This opportunity will be fixed forever in the centuries, while the rest will fade into oblivion (such is the responsibility on a person).

Kaleidoscopism – an extreme version of subjectivism (p. 72). Through a kaleidoscope, only the kaleidoscope itself is visible. From this point of view, a person sees only his own “project of the world.” So: the project of the world is not a subjective project of the subjective world, but a subjective fragment of the objective world. “All knowledge is selective, but not productive” (p. 110).

There is a double intense field in which all human life takes place:

Tension between what is and what should be;

The gap between the subjective and the objective (p. 74).

Determinism and humanism. Liberty

Man is free.

His freedom is limited (statues of liberty and responsibility).

The root of pandeterminism lies in a lack of discrimination:

reasons and subjective grounds;
necessary and sufficient conditions;
efficient and final cause.

1 -> For example, a somatogenic disorder such as paranoia is not always the basis for a person’s inadequacy. The subjective basis is even more weighty: a person who is losing a loved one will not normally agree to take an antidepressant in order to eliminate the “physical cause” of sadness, because the medication will not get rid of the subjective basis.

2 -> a necessary condition is just a prerequisite.

A person is free to:

Heredity (twins can become a criminologist and a criminal);

Inclinations;

Wednesday (p. 107). The decisive role here is played by personal position.

Determinism simply has no basis. But it is necessary to remember that “being free is only a negative aspect of a holistic phenomenon, the positive aspect of which is being responsible” (p. 88).

main idea : everything human is conditioned. But only where it rises above conditioning does it become human. Human freedom is not a fact, but an option. This is not omnipotence. Freedom is impossible without responsibility. Far from what and by whom? before conscience!

Conscience by its nature: 1) unconscious; 2) logical and intuitive. Conscience reveals what is due. It has an individual essential orientation. In this it is similar to love and aesthetics. In this sense, the ethical, erotic and pathetic are similar (p.99). In this way it is far from moral in the widely accepted sense. The categories of morality “good and bad” are outdated. Conscience is one of the constituent parts of unreflected spirituality.

Meaning and value

Only a neurotic person gets rid of tension. Tension is necessary for life. That is why meaning at the moment does not coincide with being. This is its meaning, so to speak J

The meaning changes from person to person and within a person from one day to the next. This is not relativism, but uniqueness, individualism. And subjectivism and relativism undermine idealism and enthusiasm. There are no universal meanings, but similar ones exist, for example, among people belonging to the same society. This values - universals of meaning that crystallize in typical situations faced by society or even all of humanity. There is a kind of hierarchical order of values, so their contradiction is apparent and solvable. (An example of a husband who bequeaths his wife to survive in a concentration camp at any cost. Thus, he places the value of life above the value of marital fidelity).

Meanings are discovered, not invented (p. 292). And they are sought by conscience.

Universal meaning today is universal value tomorrow (p. 294). In conditions where universal values are in decline, the value of conscience increases.

There are three types of values:

The values of creativity, consisting of creation;

The values of experience, which are manifested in our sensitivity to the phenomena of the surrounding world;

Attitude values (the triad of pain, guilt, death), which consist in a person’s attitude to the factors that limit life. The latter are the highest. (pp. 173-174).

Psychotherapy and religion

Basically, psychotherapy should take a neutral position in relation to religion.

On this last point, psychotherapy and religion differ significantly. The therapist must work with a person regardless of his religious affiliation.

Nevertheless, religion provides a powerful charge of values and semantic aspirations that save a person in the modern world.

God is a partner in our most intimate conversations with ourselves (p. 91). In this sense, the transition ahead is not to a universal religion, but to a highly individualized religion, which allows for an internal, intimate dialogue with God.

General scientific methodology:

Parallels with Soviet psychologists (p. 19):

In the general methodological pathos of the approach to personality, F. turns out to be like-minded by Vygotsky. Construction of apex psychology in opposition to deep psychology. “Only the peak of man is man.”

In understanding the place of man in the world, Frankl follows the same path as Rubinstein. The inextricable unity of man and the world, primary in relation to their attributive properties.

The idea of the role of objective activity in the formation of personality is like that of A.N. Leontiev. “I not only act in accordance with what I am, but I also become in accordance with how I act.”

Pluralism of science and unity of human sciences

The pathos here is that man is a unity. This gives rise to “dimensional anthropology” (p.48).

The word "dimensional" comes from the word "dimension". There are two basic laws:

The same object, projected from its dimension into dimensions lower in relation to it, is displayed in projections in such a way that different projections may contradict each other (Fig. 1)

Picture 1, illustrating the first law of dimensional anthropology. Cylinder-man m.b. considered in the biological and psychological planes, and it will look different.

Not just one, but various objects, projected from their dimensions not into different, but into the same dimension lower in relation to it, are displayed in their projections in such a way that the projections turn out to be contradictory, but multi-valued.

Figure 2 illustrating the second law of dimensional anthropology. Thus, a genius person can be considered both creative and schizophrenic.

“Thousands of years ago, humanity created monotheism. Today we need the next step. I would call it monanthropism. Not faith in one God, but the consciousness of one humanity...” With. 319.

It is important to remember that “superior/inferior” is not a subordination, but only points of view. The higher dimension is only more voluminous and nothing more.

And what does the person look like there? as a creature capable of self-transcendence, i.e. to go beyond one's limits, and to self-detachment. This is its unity despite diversity (p. 77).

In this case, self-transcendence can be read as the desire for meaning is the basic human desire to find and realize meaning and purpose (def. p. 57). Things like happiness, satisfaction, self-actualization, self-realization, health, conscience are just side effects of achieving meaning. A man in his own senses free And responsible. Responsibility is understood in two ways:

1) we are responsible for something (values and meanings),

2) in front of someone (internally “You”, conscience, God).

Specific scientific methodology and psychotechnics:

Existential and humanistic therapy

F. here highlights only one point: “pure communication” as the quintessence of humanistic psychology, as its main method.

In fact, communication through language necessarily contains three sides:

self-expression;
addressing someone;
content of communication, information component.

At the same time, the “intentional referent” (Husserl) is perhaps the main thing. Without it, dialogue becomes a mutual monologue, and a person does not realize self-transcendence. It is on “dialogue without logos” that the practice of meetings is based. It satisfies only neurasthenic desires for attention, like sensual intimacy on an impersonal level. And existential privacy is no less important than sexual intimacy. A person must dare to be alone (not alone in a crowd, but generally alone) in order to think. Philosophizing is not a pathology (as Freud thought), but a healthy attempt to solve one’s problems, specifically human ones.

The movement of communication and sensitivity groups comes down to a reaction to social and emotional alienation. But responding to a problem should not be confused with solving a problem (p. 330).

Moreover, some groups foster hyperreflexivity, which gives rise to neurosis. "Re-discussion."

Psychologist in a concentration camp

In the chapter “Psychologist in a Concentration Camp,” F. examines, based on personal experience and scientific data, the dynamics of a person’s mental life in KL.

He identifies three main stages:

Primary reaction phase . It can be briefly described as “entry shock” (p. 132).
Adaptation phase . A person gets used to everything. Apathy arises as a protective mechanism of the psyche. Self killing no longer seems appropriate. Regression to the primitive phase of the drive for self-preservation. They dream of bread, cakes, cigarettes and a warm bath. In addition to apathy, agitation and aggression . A shift from the cyclothymic to the schizothymic type (and this is already a characterological change!). An indefinite temporary state -> a feeling of loss of the future. This leads to the impossibility of setting goals and objectives. And spiritual decline leads to physical death.
Release phase . Liberation is experienced as a dream. F. compares this moment with the danger of decompression sickness (p. 145).

Psychiatry: In the camp, complex neuroses are alleviated. Physical conditions lead to memory impairment, decreased libido, and apathy. Many symptoms persist long after release. Often symptoms, incl. neurotic, manifested themselves only 6 months after release. Young people remain at the level of development at which they found themselves in KL.

Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy is possible in CL. First of all, by example. The task is to preserve spirituality. And a person’s spirituality lies in his self-transcendence: his outward focus.

Theory and therapy of neuroses

Modern psychotherapy is faced with amazing phenomena:

Existential vacuum – despair in the face of external success.
San Quentin (fulfillment despite failure) - either life has meaning, in which case the meaning does not depend on its duration, or it has no meaning, in which case it would be pointless to continue it. This is logic that helps a death row inmate (description of the phenomenon pp. 304-306).

These two moments clearly demonstrate how important meaning is in modern life. “Modern” is an important word, because we will talk not only about classical, but also about nooneuroses.

Noogenic neurosis – one that is caused by a spiritual problem, moral or ethical conflict. For an example of therapy for such neurosis, see ss. 314-317.

Applicable to them existential analysis– psychotherapy based on the principle of awareness of responsibility.

Often, when the will to meaning turns out to be frustrated (one of the causes of noogenic neuroses), the will to pleasure turns out to be not only not its derivative, but also its replacement. The will to power can become the same surrogate. This also includes the phenomena centrifugal leisure- leisure, which avoids in every possible way spiritual workload and posing problems of meaning. Noogenic insomnia is when dreams begin to show frustration of the will to meaning.

F. suggests two main methods treatment of noogenic neuroses:

1) paradoxical intention;

2) dereflection.

Also, F. distinguishes three pathogenic patterns response:

fear of waiting (phobia). Here, paradoxical intention helps to relieve the fear generated by the symptom. An aunt with tremors, who is asked to compete in tremors, calmly drinks coffee after a couple of minutes. Those. it is necessary that the patient wants the realization of what he fears. see ss. 346-347. At the same time, it is necessary to bring humor here.

obsessive-compulsive neuroses. Here in the PI method it is necessary for the patient to realize what he is afraid of. ss. 348, 357.

Sexual neuroses. In these cases, people are too eager for pleasure or make sexual intercourse their duty. The methods are the same. Dereflection: for example, shifting attention from one’s own feelings to giving pleasure to a partner. PI: for example, delay of coitus in case of potency disorders; an attempt to reduce sexual intercourse with premature ejaculation. ss. 351-354.

But in addition to relieving the syndromes, the existential psychotherapist must point out the cause of the neurosis - the loss of meaning, the frustration of the will to meaning. It should give the main impetus to the patient’s search for it.

The problem of life and death

To be human means to be conscious and responsible. A person's life should be meaningful. Human life is valuable in itself. Therefore, euthanasia and rational suicide are a utopia. No matter how hard life is, there are always opportunities to realize relational values, even when all other values are unavailable.

The greater the responsibility, the more unique the person and the situation in which he finds himself at each moment. The principle of irreversibility confirms that it is the finitude and mortality of a person that makes his existence meaningful.

You need to approach any situation as if you are living for the second time and in a previous life you have already made a mistake similar to the one you are about to make now (pp. 192-193).

Human life in its responsibility is free from both biological and social predetermination. There is also psychological predetermination, the so-called. neurotic fatalism. It also needs to be overcome on a personal level. There is no given destiny; a person realizes himself.

Labor problem

It is not the work itself that is important, but how a person performs it.

D.b. the opportunity to reveal your individual uniqueness outside the world of work.

"Unemployment neurosis." Apathy. (not depression).

"Sunday Neurosis" The desire for centrifugal entertainment. The thing is that a person who has no meaning strives to live faster. And on weekends the running stops.

But both neuroses are associated with position person. There are people who are not susceptible to unemployment neurosis, despite the lack of work.

Three approaches should be taken to unemployment:

1. somatic – treatment of physical manifestations of neurosis;

2. social assistance in finding a job;

3. psychotherapeutic assistance.

Pathological isolation at work has the same roots as passion for entertainment, sports, games, sex, and all sorts of bloody things.

Even if you have a job, you should never stop there. The coincidence of meaning with being is the absence of meaning.

The problem of love

A person’s self-transcendence manifests itself not only in orientation towards meaning, but also towards another person.

There are several levels of personality:

In accordance with these levels, several levels of attachment of a person to a person can be distinguished. Love is the ability to say “you” and “yes” to someone (p. 96). Love does not blind, but opens up additional possibilities of perception. Those. love appears only at the level of the spiritual core, the personality itself, completely and completely.

Where sexuality is possible, love will desire and strive for it; but where renunciation of sexuality is required, love will not grow cold.

This is a blueprint for healthy love that includes all three levels of relationship.

	Sexual attitude	Erotic attitude
orientation	Physical signs	Character, typological features	Spiritual core of personality
	We will replace it with any object, even a surrogate object (masturbation)	Replace with a similar object	Indispensable, individual
duration	Ends with sexual intercourse	Longer lasting	Eternal. in the sense that he dies with the lover.
attitude	Weapons of detente.	Possession. "I fucked a woman." Jealousy. Rivalry. They stem from the fact that individuality and exclusivity are not visible. Partners are replaceable.	Intentionality. Cognition. Unlocking hidden opportunities and value.

Love is just one way to fill life with meaning. Not the best. (p. 252)

Pure eroticism is a contraindication to marriage. But love is not a guarantee of a successful marriage.

Loyalty : Readiness for love is determined by two factors:

Ability to choose a partner

The ability to remain faithful

For this there is adolescence - a period of learning. In general, love guarantees fidelity by the very exclusivity of the object of love.

Development : 3 stages:

Sexual urge;

Sexual instinct;

Sexual desire. There is an increase in selectivity.

Neuroses :

Offended guy. The emphasis shifts from injured eroticism to sexuality (p. 275).

A type of humility. They never achieved an actual erotic relationship with their partner, being stuck in the sexual phase. They consider themselves incapable of love and do not believe in love. Sort of like Don Juans.

The inactive type is all sorts of onanists and masturbators. If you put him in a group and let him fall in love, everything will be fine.

Therapist : 3 approaches:

Somatic point of view: neither abstinence nor sexual intercourse is contraindicated at a certain physical maturity;

Psychohygienic point of view: the therapist should oppose sexual relationships without love, psychological connection between young people, cat. mature physiologically, but not psychosexually, contraindicated;

The point of view of sexual ethics: a psychotherapist can neither encourage nor abstain from sexual intercourse, he can only give a definition. information, balance of pros and cons, provide choice without limiting the patient's responsibility.

Frankl Viktor Emil (1905-1997) - Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist of existential orientation; creator of logotherapy.
V. Frankl tried to answer that there are existential needs of a person, he believed:
“Man is not here on this planet to observe and reflect himself, he is here in order to, knowing himself, sacrifice himself, so that, knowing and loving, he gives himself.”
Along with A. Maslow, K. Rogers, S. Bühler, R. May, S. Jurardou, W. Frankl formulated methodological positions Humanistic psychology in the following parcels:
1. A person is whole.
2. Not only general, but also individual cases are valuable.
3. The main psychological reality is human experiences.
4. Human life is a single process.
5. A person is open to self-realization.
6. A person is not determined only by external situations.
The meaning is not subjective, a person does not invent it, but finds it in the world, in objective reality, while the meaning requires its implementation. The ultimate cause is always purpose and meaning, and this statement must in our time be justified from a scientific position.

Man, according to V. Frankl, is not tied to the environment and instincts, but is open to the world. Human existence is characterized by overcoming the boundaries of the habitat of the species Homosapiens. “A person strives and goes beyond, into the world, and really achieves it - a world filled with other people and communication with them, meanings and their implementation” (p. 54).
The purpose of human existence is not the restoration and preservation of a sense of inner existence for the purpose of fulfilling drives and satisfying needs in reality, but in their basic human desire to find and realize meaning and purpose. The realization of a person’s meaning and purpose is his self-actualization in the external and internal world through passion for his work.
If for Z. Freud the principle of pleasure leads to a release of tension, complete homeostatic satisfaction reduces the individual’s desires to zero, then Charlotte Bühler believes that pleasure has a focus on creating purpose and value.
According to V. Frankl, the pleasure principle ultimately destroys itself. The more a person strives for pleasure, the more he moves away from the goal. “The very desire for pleasure underlies many sexual neuroses. Orgasm and potency are disrupted when they become a goal. This especially happens when, as often happens, excessive desire is combined with excessive attention.<..>Normally, pleasure is never the goal of human aspirations. It is and should remain the result, or rather, a side effect of achieving the goal. Achieving a goal creates the cause of happiness , happiness flows from her automatically and spontaneously. And therefore there is no need to strive for happiness, there is no need to worry about it if we have reasons for it.<..>Success and happiness must come on their own, and the less you think about them, the more likely it is” (p. 55-56).
A person’s desire for meaning and purpose is the goal of human aspirations and a prerequisite for this is a certain degree of power, for example financial capabilities. If there are insurmountable obstacles to the desire and fulfillment of meaning and purpose, then a person is either content power (social status), or aims for pleasure.

V. Frankl in his book “Man in Search of Meaning” writes:
« Meaning not only must, but can also be found, and in a person’s search for meaning, his conscience guides him. In a word, conscience is an organ of meaning. It can be defined as the ability to discover that unique and unique meaning that lies in any situation (p. 38).
About the meaning of death
“How often do we hear arguments that death ultimately makes life completely meaningless... If we were immortal, we could calmly postpone each of our actions for any time.... Life surpasses itself not in "length " - in the sense of self-reproduction, and to the "height" - by realizing values - or to the "breadth" - influencing society... The existence of a person is a responsibility arising from the finitude of his life....
About the meaning of life
A person is responsible for realizing the meaning of his life.
. “From all that has been said above, it is clear that life never ends on its own and that the reproduction of life is never its meaning; rather, life acquires meaning in other, non-biological spheres: intellectual, ethical, aesthetic, etc.” (p. 196).
About the meaning of suffering
Frankl identifies three groups of values that a person encounters: creativity (work), experiences (love), relationships (suffering). “As long as the cause of our suffering is something that should not be, we remain in a state of tension, as if torn between what actually is on the one hand, and what should be on the other. And only in In such a state, we are able to preserve our ideal in our imagination” (p. 223).
The point of inevitable suffering is that it must be accepted and can be turned into something meaningful, to turn the verdict of fate into an achievement. "Suffering is just one aspect of what I call" tragic triad"of human existence. This triad consists of pain, guilt And of death"(p.302).
The meaning of suffering is that it should not be in an existential vacuum, but in the fulfillment of a person’s life meaning, despite even failure (even at the last moment in the face of death).
[Existentialvacuum- this is a feeling of inner emptiness that forms in a person as a result of flight or abandonment of life goals, unique meanings and personal values according to Frankl “The Experience of the Abyss”].
“A person can rise above himself, grow above himself - even at the last moment - thus bringing meaning even to a lost past life” (p. 305). Suffering “can be meaningful if it changes you for the better.”(p.306).
About the meaning of labor
There is no doubt about the meaning of labor, since labor and human affairs arise from the awareness of the responsibility of one’s life task. or missions. “If there are cases when the chosen work does not bring satisfaction to a person, then the person himself is to blame, and not the work. Work itself does not make a person necessary and irreplaceable; it only provides him with the opportunity to become one.” (p. 233).
About the meaning of love
The uniqueness of a person lies in the uniqueness of the relationship between “two”, that is, the intimate community of one person with another. A person is provided with “manna from heaven” - “the path of love, or more correctly, the path of being loved. Without any personal contribution, without any effort or labor - by the grace of God, so to speak - a person receives what is possible only when realizing its originality and uniqueness.<..>Love is not deserved, love is just mercy,...it's magic. ...love significantly increases the completeness of the perception of values” (p. 245).
Love according to Frankl is a touch to someone else’s “I”, to the personality of a loved one, to three ways of relating to her. "The most primitive approach concerns the outermost layer: this sexual attitude. The physical appearance of another person turns out to be sexually arousing...<..>Stands a step higher erotic attitude"(p.246) .
Erotic attitude is transmission of sexual emotions, artistic depiction of sex and nudity.
. "Erotics penetrates into the next, deeper layer, enters mental sphere another man. This attitude towards a partner, considered as one of the phases of the relationship with him, corresponds to what we call “strong infatuation.” The physical qualities of a partner excite us sexually, but at the same time we are “fascinated” by other mental qualities - his advantages. An enthusiastic person is no longer just in a state of physical excitement; rather, he himself is excited psychological emotionality - it is excited by the special (but not unique) mental organization of the partner, say, by some specific traits of his character. So, a purely sexual relationship is aimed at the physical essence of the partner and is not able to go beyond this level.
The erotic attitude, the “attitude of infatuation,” is aimed at the physical essence of the partner (to convey sexual emotions, artistic depiction of sex and the naked body), but it does not penetrate the heart of the other person. this is done only at the third level of relationships: at the level of love itself. Love (in the narrowest sense of the word) represents the final stage of the erotic relationship (in the broadest sense of the word), since only it penetrates most deeply into the personal structure of the partner. Love represents entering into a relationship with another person as a spiritual being. Spiritual intimacy partners is the highest attainable form of partnership" (p.246-247).
Spiritual closeness This when people have similar interests and life goals, are interested in the same books, and evaluate people and events in approximately the same way. And sincere closeness This the ability to feel and share each other's experiences.
"The spiritual intimacy of partners is the highest achievable form of partnership. For the one who loves, it is no longer enough to arouse the corresponding physical and emotional state - it is truly affected only by the spiritual intimacy of the partner. Love is thus entering into a direct relationship with the person of the loved one, with its originality and uniqueness.
The spiritual core is the bearer of those mental and physical characteristics that attract an erotically and sexually inclined person... This other person “has” a loved one, and what he himself is... one of a kind, irreplaceable and incomparable with by whom" (p.247).

About conscience
“Conscience is one of the specific human manifestations, and even more than specifically human, for it is an integral part of the conditions of human existence, and its work is related to the main distinctive characteristic of human existence - its finitude. Conscience, however, can disorient a person. Moreover, until the last moment, until the last breath, a person does not know whether he has really realized the meaning of his life or only believes that this meaning has been realized” (p. 38).
Origins conscience go to the unconscious. In this sense, conscience can also be called irrational; it is illogical or, more precisely, logical and intuitive. Intuitive in nature and Love, because she, too, sees something that does not yet exist. Unlike conscience, however, love reveals not what should be, but what does not yet exist, what could be. Love sees and reveals the possible value perspective in the beloved. She, too, with her spiritual gaze, anticipates something: those not yet realized personal possibilities that lie in a loved one.
But conscience and love are equal to each other not only in the fact that both of them deal not with reality, but only with possibility; not only in the pre-obvious feature that both can act only intuitively. ...Both conscience and love deal with absolutely individual being (p.97-98).
About fate
Suffering and grief are a part of life, like fate and death. None of them can be taken out of life. without destroying its meaning.<..>For only under the blows of the hammer of fate, in the crucible of suffering, does life acquire its content and form.
Thus, the fate that a person experiences has a double meaning: he must shape it, where possible, and - where necessary - accept it with dignity, endure it.<..>
At the same time, a person must beware of the temptation to lay down arms prematurely, to give up, too easily mistaking the situation for fate and bowing his head before his merely imaginary fate. Only when he no longer has the opportunity to realize his values. Only when he has no more opportunity to realize creative values. When there really are no means at hand to influence fate, then only the time comes to realize the values of the relationship (“stay spiritually alive” so as not to fall into apathy), then only the time comes for him to “take on the cross” (p. 227).
About boredom
“Schopenhauer famously noted with regret that human life “dangles between anxiety and boredom.” In fact, both are full of deep meaning. Boredom is a constant reminder. What leads to boredom? Inaction. But activity does not exist to escape boredom; rather, boredom exists so that we escape from inaction and properly evaluate our meaning” (pp. 224-225).

Literature:
1.Frankl V. Man in Search of Meaning: Collection M.: Progress, 1900.

Victor Frankl. Man in search of meaning

I saw the meaning of my life in helping others see meaning in their lives.

V. Frankl

Sigmund Freud’s judgment is widely known, which he expressed in a letter to his follower and admirer Maria Bonaparte: “If a person thinks about the meaning of life, then he is seriously ill.” His other statement is no less famous: “In my research into the huge building of the human psyche, I stayed in the basement.” The attempts of his followers to rise to the “upper floors” inevitably led to a critical reassessment of the classical heritage.

Viktor Frankl, having become interested in psychoanalysis in his youth, was not content with wandering around the “basement” and eventually created his own theory, his own school, diametrically opposed to the Freudian one. In contrast to the skeptical position of the Viennese patriarch, it was the search for the meaning of life that Frankl called the path to mental health, and the loss of meaning was the main cause of not only ill health, but also many other human ills. Frankl's most famous book is called Man's Search for Meaning. This is probably how its author could be described.

Between Freud and Adler

Viktor Emil Frankl was born on March 26, 1905 in Vienna, where already at that time a psychological circle, the prototype of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, met on Wednesdays in Dr. Freud’s apartment. The members of the circle could still be counted on one hand, but it already included the ironic skeptic Alfred Adler, who 6 years later would leave the ranks of the Freudians with a scandal to found his own school. The Interpretation of Dreams had already been published, but almost half of the first edition was still gathering dust on the shelves, unclaimed, and critical arrows were raining down on Freud and his followers.

However, by the time Frankl reached adolescence and was faced with acute problems of professional and personal self-determination, psychoanalysis had already become an influential movement and received wide recognition. While still a schoolboy, Frankl became interested in Freud's ideas and entered into personal correspondence with him. Freud favored the young man; under his patronage, an article by 19-year-old Viktor Frankl was published in 1924 in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. However, the young man was no less interested in the ideas of the “renegade” Adler, who created the Second Viennese School of Psychotherapy (the first was rightfully considered Freudian).

Having not yet completed his education, Frankl joined the Adlerians. This stage of his scientific biography was marked by publication in the International Journal of Individual Psychology. However, the cooperation did not last long. In 1927, due to obvious disagreements with his colleagues, Frankl left the Society for Individual Psychology. However, these years did not pass without a trace. They left their mark on all of Frankl’s subsequent work: in almost all of his works both Freud and Adler are present - as explicit and implicit opponents.

Freud and Adler already belong to history; subsequent development has left them far behind... Stekel successfully defined the state of affairs when he noted, explaining his attitude towards Freud, that a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant can see further than the giant himself. After all, although an individual may admire Hippocrates and Paracelsus, there is no need for him to follow their prescriptions or surgical techniques.

Psychoanalysis speaks of the pleasure principle, individual psychology speaks of the desire for status. The pleasure principle may be designated as the will to pleasure; the desire for status is equivalent to the will to power. But where is that which is most deeply spiritual in man, where is man's innate desire to give his life as much meaning as possible, to actualize as many values as possible - somewhere that I would call the will to meaning?

This will to meaning is the most human phenomenon, since an animal is not preoccupied with the meaning of its existence. However, psychotherapy turns this will to meaning into human weakness, into a neurotic complex. The therapist who ignores the spiritual side of man and is therefore forced to ignore the will to meaning denies one of his most valuable virtues.

Having gone through the First and Second Viennese schools of psychotherapy, Frankl embarked on the path of creating his own - the Third. This is what the doctrine he created would later be called. But more years of experience had to pass, years of the most difficult trials in life, before youthful ideas took shape into a coherent concept.

Immunity against nihilism

Frankl wrote about his youthful outlook: “As a young man, I went through the hell of despair, overcoming the obvious meaninglessness of life, through extreme nihilism. Over time, I managed to develop an immunity to nihilism. Thus I created logotherapy."

Frankl proposed the term “logotherapy” back in the 20s, and subsequently used the term “existential analysis” as an equivalent term. “Logos” for Frankl is not just a “word”, as it is usually understood in the Russian tradition. (Thus, the founder of domestic psychotherapy, K.I. Platonov, used the term “logotherapy” in the meaning of “word treatment” - as opposed to drug and surgical treatment, that is, as a synonym for psychotherapy; in this meaning the term was not widespread. In some domestic works on correctional In pedagogy, the term “logotherapy” refers to a set of psychotherapeutic methods and techniques aimed at overcoming speech disorders.)

Frankl relies on a broader understanding of the Greek basis: “logos” is the “word” not just as a verbal act, but as the quintessence of an idea, a meaning, that is, it is the meaning itself. This interpretation clears up many misunderstandings when interpreting the Gospel text: “In the beginning was the word...”

Having received his doctorate in medicine in 1930, Frankl continued to work in the field of clinical psychiatry, and by the end of the 30s, in the articles he published in various medical journals, one can find the formulation of all the basic ideas on the basis of which the edifice of his theory subsequently grew - logotherapy and existential analysis.

Back in 1928, Frankl founded the Youth Counseling Center in Vienna and headed it until 1938. From 1930 to 1938 he was on the staff of the Neuropsychiatric University Clinic. In the practical sphere, since 1929, he has been developing the technique of “paradoxical intention” - a psychotherapeutic inversion method aimed at reinforcing the patient’s fears and achieving a therapeutic effect according to the principle of “by contradiction”. In 1933, he carried out an interesting study of the “unemployment neurosis”, which (unfortunately!) has enduring significance, but is rarely mentioned today. "IF THERE IS A WHY..."

Victor Frankl. Man in search of meaning

I saw the meaning of my life in helping others see meaning in their lives.

V. Frankl

Between Freud and Adler

Immunity against nihilism

The annexation of Austria to the Nazi Reich for the Jewish part of the country's population (and Frankl belonged to it) meant certain death. Shortly before the Anschluss, he had the opportunity to emigrate to the United States, but he rejected it: the invitation received from America did not apply to his relatives, and Frankl considered it unacceptable to abandon them. (Probably, in the science of the soul, differences in worldview affect all areas: Sigmund Freud, who emigrated with his wife and daughter, did not show any concern for his sisters, and they all perished in concentration camps.)

Fortune gave Frankl several years of respite. By a lucky coincidence, the Gestapo man who arranged for Frankl to be sent to the death camp turned out to be his former patient and crossed him off the list. But in 1942, Dr. Frankl was remembered again. And how could we not remember the head of the department of the Vienna Rothschild Jewish Hospital! The furnaces of Auschwitz and Dachau required fuel, and Viktor Frankl was to become one of the millions of logs in their hellish flames.

He, however, survived. Here both chance and pattern came together. It was an accident that he was not included in any of the teams heading to death (they were heading not for any specific reason, but simply because the death machine needed to be powered by someone). The pattern is that he went through all this, preserving himself, his personality, his “stubbornness of spirit,” as he called a person’s ability not to give in, not to break under the blows falling on the body and soul. In the concentration camps, his view of man was tested and confirmed, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to find at least one psychological theory of personality that would have been personally suffered to such an extent and paid such a high price.

Any attempt to restore the prisoner's inner strength presupposes, as the most important condition for success, the search for some goal in the future. Nietzsche’s words: “If there is a Why to live, you can endure almost any How” - could become a motto for any psychotherapeutic and psychohygienic efforts... Woe to those who no longer saw either the goal or the meaning of their existence, and therefore lost any point of support. Soon he died.

March 26, 2005 Victor Frankl, the Viennese neurologist and psychiatrist, founder of the 3rd Vienna School of Psychotherapy (after Freud and Adler), would have turned 100 years old. V. Frankl's life was tragically marked by two and a half years in a concentration camp and the loss of almost his entire family under the Nazi regime in Germany. The psychological analysis of the experience carried out by Frankl in the book “... in spite of everything to say Yes to life” made this book one of the most famous in world psychological literature. Frankl devoted his life to a large extent to overcoming reductionism in psychology, psychotherapy and medicine. He thought especially a lot about the problem of meaning, which he brought to existential psychotherapy. The technique he developed of “paradoxical intention” became world famous.

Biography moments

Viktor Frankl was a true Viennese, he was born in Vienna and loved his home city. Here he studied medicine, and after the war received a doctorate in psychology. When the Nazis came to power, he remained in Vienna, refusing an exit visa to America, preferring to share the fate of his family. After the end of the war, at the first opportunity, he returned to Vienna and stayed here forever. For 25 years he headed the neurological department of the Vienna Polyclinic and died in Vienna on September 2, 1997. From Vienna Victor Frankl traveled to different countries of the world many times. He gave scientific reports at more than two hundred foreign universities; he visited the USA alone more than a hundred times.

Viktor Frankl lost his first wife in a concentration camp. He met his second wife Ellie, who worked as a nurse at the Vienna Clinic, after the war. They had a daughter, and then two grandchildren appeared.

In presenting this biographical information, we would like to pay tribute to the memory of the great man who, having created logotherapy and existential analysis, remained in history as the founder of the last Austrian school of psychotherapy. Viktor Frankl became a historical figure during his lifetime. He personally communicated with the most prominent psychotherapists, psychologists, philosophers, including S. Freud and A. Adler, R. Allers, G. Allport, L. Binswanger, M. Buber, R. Cohn, J. Eccles, M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, F. Kunkel, A. Maslow, I. Moreno, F. Perls, K. Ragner, K. Rogers, R. Schwartz, I. Yalom, P. Vaclavik, I. Volpe and others.

Frankl's personal purpose

Who was Viktor Frankl? Let's try to peer into the mosaic of episodes of his biography - perhaps they will set the contours of his portrait and allow us to feel the presence of this gifted person. We understand that any verbal description cannot replace a real meeting, but we will still try to imagine the past in the hope of getting closer to Viktor Frankl.

Let's start with the generally accepted opinion about Frankl. What is the basis for his high authority and the respect with which he is treated throughout the world?

In my opinion, Frankl's significance has, first of all, two essential reasons. One of them is his unshakable faith in meaning, which allowed him to survive. Frankl lived despite all the losses and pain, each time overcoming the despair that arose. His “saying “Yes” to life” turned out to be hope for millions of people, added courage to them, and gave them guidelines. He himself was an example to many and embodied the human desire to resist meaningless suffering, intending from a position of humanity to use the greatness of the human spirit in this. To turn to those spiritual forces that make up a person, which everyone carries within himself and on which human dignity is based, and to mobilize them - this was the greatest professional aspiration Viktor Frankl. The fact that this endeavor was based on his own biography only made logotherapy even more compelling for many people.

What also impressed me about Frankl was his rejection of the idea of collective guilt. Especially considering that a similar position was occupied by a man who lost his entire family in a concentration camp and barely survived himself. Not only in the post-war period, but also until the end of his days, Frankl warned against declaring everyone guilty, since this could only cause retaliatory hatred and play into the hands of the neo-Nazis, which would again lead to a rollback. On the contrary, Frankl believed that it was important to allow the manifestation of the good and valuable in people, it was important to remind them of the humanity in them, opposed to horror and fear. Frankl sought goodness because he was deeply convinced that only goodness would be counted. Perhaps this was a consequence of the deep impression that the personality of the Chief Rabbi of Berlin, Leo Baeck, made on Frankl, who said in his “Prayer for National Reconciliation” in 1945 in a concentration camp: “... and only good should now be valued, not evil.” . Only good is enduring and only good is worth living for.

Good contains authenticity, incorruptibility, the future, it is responsible and positive, and it is the most reliable foundation for existence. Frankl defended this every time, he addressed people with this, and he sought to implement this. In his commitment to goodness, Viktor Frankl remained completely himself. He opposed reductionism as a "physician of the soul", turning to religion and philosophy. Reductionism, then generally accepted in psychotherapy, took the forms of biologism, psychologism and sociologism. In Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, the emphasis was placed not only on the biological origin of man and his psychological mechanisms. A person has a “spiritual dimension” - a dimension of his freedom, responsibility, striving for meaning, which he often perceives dimly, detachedly or does not notice at all. This reduces a person to the level of a “hominid”, which is why he does not have enough strength for spiritual protection, and sometimes even for survival (this is the experience of a concentration camp). Frankl created logotherapy to counteract the reductionist denial of the main thing in a person and prevent the occurrence of spiritual despair.

Both of these aspirations that Viktor Frankl lived with were accepted and understood by the general public. He combined them into the category “meaning,” which is understandable for life practice even at the everyday level. The life of Viktor Frankl is a “teaching of life.” She rises like a monument against meaninglessness. The tragic page of Frankl's life unexpectedly acquired its own special meaning. What a former camp prisoner says has weight. This man is believed. He must be believed because it is impossible to argue with such a person.

Viktor Frankl as a figure

A closer acquaintance with Frankl, reading his books, and attending his speeches create an impression of him as a person who had a penetrating mind, clear thinking, and clear definition of concepts. His active spirit was combined with excellent rhetoric, commanding attention and instantly captivating. The weight of his speech made you think, the firmness of his voice was convincing, the vitality in his gestures could ignite. He always spoke freely, without hiding behind formulations or constraining himself with them. Already the first words of his lectures and reports evoked the feeling that the Convinced, Genuine, Overcome, Great One was speaking here. When they listened to him, they heard exactly him.

In Viktor Frankl's texts there is a love for clear stylistic formulations and brilliant verbal compositions. His keen mind expressed itself sometimes in a humorous, sometimes in a serious, but always in an entertaining manner. Viktor Frankl defined logotherapy as “the study of meaning, replacing its absence” and said that meaning must be found, but cannot be invented. This sharpening of attention contributes to a better understanding of the content. His wordplay was not mere flashes of wit. What sometimes sounded so easy and simple was always the result of a careful formulation process. In this he did not spare himself.

Viktor Frankl was convinced of the importance of his teaching and of his own mission. This helped his teachings to become officially recognized, but it also caused (especially in Vienna) a certain distance and some disappointment with his position. Frankl's conviction of his own importance was manifested, in particular, in the fact that he compared his scientific contributions with those of Freud. Referring to Freud's student Wilhelm Stekel, who said about himself and Freud that a dwarf on the shoulders of a giant can see further and more than the giant himself, Viktor Frankl also believed himself to see further than Freud and he reinforced his vision and understanding of existentiality by the fact that by the third “Copernican turn According to Freud, he also added his own, fourth “Copernican turn”. However, for all his conceit, Frankl and his family led a fairly simple and modest life.

Frankl's humor

Another feature of Viktor Frankl that is appreciated by his listeners and readers is his wit. He always knew how to be witty, but he got the greatest pleasure from those plays on words and those deep thoughts that accurately embody or describe the desired meaning. Frankl speaks out about this feature of his in his autobiography. There was almost no performance during which Victor Frankl would not make those present laugh. His lectures on the paradoxical nature of consciousness were for the most part real performances that caused laughter from the audience. Viktor Frankl was not afraid to insert jokes even into his books. I would like to reproduce a couple of them here as an example, since they were not published by him.

The first anecdote, in his opinion, demonstrates typically Jewish thinking. A Jew walks through Central Park in New York. Something soft suddenly falls on his head. He touches it and finds bird droppings in his hands. He looks angrily at the sky and, shrugging his shoulders, sadly says: “But they don’t sing for the Jews...” His favorite joke concerned boring scientific discussions. Little Max and his friend wanted to find out something from Max's grandmother. Having gathered their courage, they carefully ask her: “Grandma, please tell us how children are born?” In response, the grandmother began to talk about the stork. After exchanging glances with his friend, Max takes him aside and says: “Tell me, should we explain everything to her now or is it better to let her die stupid?”

Frankl loved such inserts and made it almost a sporting achievement for himself: for each situation or topic under discussion, choose a suitable anecdote that conveys its essence in a humorous form. For him, this was at the same time reflecting on the topic, working with it, looking at it from the outside and bringing life into it. Viktor Frankl also wittily talks about himself: “I have constantly found confirmation that aspirin works excellently when nightmares recur. For example, at one time I constantly saw my brother (he had long since died) seriously ill and lying near death. I kept waking up in horror. And finally I took an aspirin tablet. What can I tell you? In the next dream, my brother was already quite healthy. Then I saw in a dream that my wife was cheating on me. It was too much, so I took aspirin again. What can I tell you? In the next dream I cheated on my wife.”

Viktor Frankl as a person

If by some miraculous chance a closer acquaintance, a personal meeting with Frankl became possible, then through his witty and self-ironic remarks about himself one could suddenly sense (as if from a forest thicket into a clearing) his internally deep personality. He had a sensitive, sympathetic, sympathetic heart, which was shy and very carefully guarded. It manifested itself only in a few situations marked by an atmosphere of safety and goodwill. Frankl himself wrote about his capacity for compassion and that he, in essence, did not remember evil. An example showing the unknown Frankl: out of sympathy for one patient suffering from myelitis, at the end of each week, late in the evening, he brought edelweiss directly to her ward, which he himself picked during his mountaineering activities. He was a warm-hearted person, forced to be careful in the manifestations of his feelings, otherwise he could easily be offended. At times I sympathized with him when I saw how other people's pain and suffering could hurt his heart. Then he immediately had to do something to give relief to his soul. But he did not give her consolation, but, on the contrary, always tried to help another in his suffering, to help at least in a purely human way.

This deep sympathy was the basis of his profession as a doctor. He experienced the greatest pain if he had to observe or even if he believed that someone was losing either hope for a change in fate or faith in the meaning and value of life, that is, if someone was in danger of losing the sense of their last security. Therefore, for him, the highest goal was to give a person consolation - not medical, not philosophical, but going directly from person to person. His desire to console others had an impact on Viktor Frankl himself - sometimes so strong that in a number of situations he lost his sense of reality and found himself powerless, even encountering tactlessness in response. Active, practical help to others was of great importance for Frankl, and at the same time it was “internally deeply unacceptable” for him to think about himself. He sought to “not notice himself, to forget,” to lose sight of himself in order to remain completely himself. This is probably why his autobiography is so narrative and for the most part consists of observations, descriptions, reflections and individual stories. But there are almost no of his own feelings, little subjective experience, and personal relationships are succinctly presented. He willingly hid behind his thoughts, allowing others to judge him.

Such a strong expression of sympathy shows why the theme of human resistance to suffering runs through Viktor Frankl’s entire life. Logotherapy is a methodical attempt to transform suffering into something positive. Viktor Frankl turned to the negative only when the positive was already clearly visible in it or when this positive could be made visible. Otherwise, he preferred to sidestep conflicts, problems, or someone else's guilt. For example, he spoke of Heidegger's National Socialist past, but only to emphasize his repentance, adding: "Doesn't a genius have the right to make mistakes and admit them to everyone?" He talked about Eichmann, but only to illustrate what it might look like to overcome his guilt in such a case; he seemed to be giving Eichmann an imaginary opportunity to give a talk on the topic “How one becomes an Eichmann.” People could learn a lesson from such an event, and Eichmann himself would have the opportunity to see himself from the outside in this disgusting, warning-filled example. In the same way, he would like the camp doctor Mengele to finally realize that he was wrong and turn to him with the question: “What would you do in my place to correct what I have done?”

I got to know Frankl well enough to feel his deepest longing for comfort and security. For him, finding meaning and true values was always an opportunity to gain this security, and consolation was always the noblest task of man. That is why he so readily quoted the inscription that, by order of Kaiser Joseph II, was made above the entrance to the newly built public hospital: “Saluti et solatio aegrorum” - “For the healing and comfort of the sick.”

Loneliness and comfort

Perhaps the passionate desire for security was due to his own loneliness. Alone, he preferred to make decisions, even if they concerned the lives of other people. He probably made his decision to stay in Vienna in 1942 only in private with himself and God. He never mentioned that he discussed his decisions with his parents or the woman he loved. In general, dialogues were quite difficult for him. Thanks to his outstanding oratorical abilities, he was an outstanding lecturer and could instantly turn a dialogue into a kind of monologue with comments from his interlocutor. It was obvious that Frankl could never work in a team. The break with GLE was accomplished in precisely this non-dialogue manner. There was no preliminary dialogue, not even the intention to start it was voiced. Only a time for discussion about pressing issues was agreed upon, and only a written notice was sent three weeks before this date. In response to the proposal to exchange views, he, without touching on substantive issues, made a one-sided oral statement - there was no dialogue this time either.

Frankl preferred to settle matters himself, as they say, alone with himself and with his God. Based on this, he wrote back in 1950 that for an internal, intimate dialogue with God, the experience of loneliness is necessary: “... a person must be lonely, only then will he be able to notice that he is not alone and has never been alone.” There is a sense of depth in this his own loneliness, which provided the depth of his religiosity. Frankl's passion proved fruitful both for his personal beliefs and for the development of logotherapy. Logotherapy became for him a method that, through consolation and the search for meaning, takes a person out of a state of nihilism, loneliness and despair and leads him to greater security, and ultimately leads a person to God. In this regard, Frankl even referred to the popular saying that “Trouble teaches prayer.”

These deep and very personal motives, combined with Frankl's psychological characteristics, brought significant stress to his life. He, who so much sought security and consolation, had difficulty in dialogue with other people. The establishment of emotional relationships with close relatives turned into a kind of spiritual position of respect for them, which had rather a compensatory narcissistic character. In return, Frankl also expected respect as a substitute for feelings (which he greatly missed). It seems to me that this is why his desire to fulfill his duty, his traditional religiosity and his idealistic views are on the same plane.

Distancing from emotionality was reflected not only in his life, but also in his work. Emotionality, this key point of modern psychotherapy, plays almost no role in Frankl's logotherapy. His most famous technique, paradoxical intention, designed to overcome fears, was the first in the world to introduce humor into psychotherapy. Frankl’s already described partiality for anecdotes was reflected here. But humor here for some reason causes alienation and creates distance.

Frankl's self-righteousness could make him straightforward to the point of insensitivity. In confidential communication, he could tell a person something unpleasant and experience hidden joy at the same time. One day he told how he accidentally met a girl on the street with whom he had previously had a romantic relationship, and in a conversation with her he tried to find out if she had gonorrhea. Not without pleasure, he also talked about how once, after the wedding, he forced Tilly (his first wife) to go with him in a wedding dress to a bookstore, where a book with the title “We Want to Get Married” was displayed in the window; When the seller asked Tilly what she would like, she, blushing, answered: “We want to get married.”

Frankl found it difficult to talk about other people. He could not speak ill of them, and this also did not give him the opportunity to criticize them. He expressed his displeasure by not saying anything good to them. The lack of praise simply replaced criticism for him. Of course, this outward restraint hid many conflicts and made his position in relationships uncertain. He reasonably explained his timidity and fear of approaching a person, even through criticism, by saying that he values only the good in a person. Even a hint of feeling meant rapprochement for Frankl, and this was difficult for him. Frankl was embarrassed to talk about feelings, so he was more willing to talk about his thoughts, actions, achievements, and witty discoveries.

Frankl explained his professional success by the position that he was proud of - in any business he scrupulously followed the principle: first do the smallest things with the same thoroughness as the great ones, and then you can do the great things with the same calmness as the small ones. But this principle did not become a recipe for ultimate well-being. Frankl was not happy with his working style and was very angry with himself. One day I accidentally caught him in a similar situation, and he gave vent to his feelings in front of me, and then said with slight humor: “My style of work makes days like this unbearable.

I confess to you that if I could, I would break up with myself.”

Fearfulness and death

Frankl was a fearful person, which was reflected in his character and combined with his typical emotional detachment. His timidity caused him to be scrupulous to the point of pettiness and sometimes hypochondriac. He was especially afraid of being guilty. For example, guilty of the death of his first wife Tilly or of going against God because he “didn’t do what he should and could have done” after surviving the grace sent to him for 50 years. He spoke about this to Pope Paul VI during an audience. The fear of being guilty also tormented him in connection with the death of his father. In the concentration camp, he injected his father with an ampoule of morphine stolen for this purpose, which, perhaps, shortened his dying time by several hours - but so did his life. 40 years later, he very seriously, concernedly and with fear of guilt asked me (then still a novice doctor): could this be regarded as euthanasia from the standpoint of modern medicine? I guess? I was able to calm him down, saying that the administration of morphine for incipient pulmonary edema is considered adequate therapy, and from a medical standpoint, he treated his father competently, and in human terms, he made it easier for his father to fight death. True, from that I learned that a year later he asked the same question to one anesthesiologist... It is also known that in order to overcome his fear of heights, Frankl - and this is his paradoxical intention - began to practice rock climbing.

With his usual wit, Frankl writes in an unpublished manuscript about how he came to terms with his hypochondriacal fear, making it positive for himself: “I probably managed to get through all the hardships thanks to a little art of living. I have always recommended to others to act in accordance with the principle that I have made for myself: if something happens to me, then in my imagination I kneel down and wish to myself that nothing unpleasant will happen to me in the future. After all, there is not only a hierarchy of what is valuable, but also a hierarchy of what is worthless. And in such cases, you need to remember something. In the Thiresienstadt camp, in the closet, I once read something written on the wall: “No matter what, sit down and enjoy any shit.” At a minimum, you need to see the good. This is a must do for anyone who wants to master the art of living.”

Frankl could usually achieve positive transformation of his fears or overcome them with “stubbornness of fortitude.” But he was not a stranger to superstitions.

Concluding the conversation about Frankl’s characteristic timidity, we can also talk about the deep, resigned humility that he experienced regarding death. He considered happy the end when someone manages to fulfill everything in his life and, as he once wrote, receives death as a reward. But Frankl considered death to be an unpleasant thing that everyone has to experience and that can dull the joy of life. Although his theory saw death as an engine in the search for meaning, for him personally death remained a troubling uncertainty. However, Frankl tried to give a positive interpretation to this last act of inevitable departure that awaits everyone. In an unpublished memoir of his life, he wrote: “It’s probably a pity that life does not begin with death, otherwise the worst would not loom ahead. On the other hand, death is not at all the most terrible thing, because it is, ultimately, the stage after which nothing can be wrong anymore...”