A review by maiamountain
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Incredibly profound. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with every concept there were certain parts that will stick with me and that I believe I could apply in my daily life.




••••••••my notes••••••••

-to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering

• if there is a purpose in life there must be a purpose in suffering and dying, but no man can tell another what it is

-‘he who has a why to live, can bear with almost any how’

-success, like happiness, cannot be pursued, it must ensue

• it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself / byproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself

-a man who has nothing in this world may still experience bliss in the contemplation of his beloved 

• love goes far beyond the physical person of the beloved 

-if you can’t see the end of a provisional existence u can’t see an ultimate goal in life so you cease living for the future

• think why we can’t follow habits when we don’t have an end goal in mind

-emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it (like how we do in meditation)

-live as you are living already for the second time, and as if you have acted for the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now

-not freedom from conditions but freedom to take a stand from conditions

-what man becomes, within the limits of environment and endowment, he has made out of himself

-happiness can’t be pursued it must ensue 

-3 main avenues in which one arrives to meaning in life:

• creating a work / doing a deed
• experiencing something / encountering someone (meaning can be found in love)