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How to find the meaning of living when all that is left in life is suffering January 16, 2025 ✅This book is the first one I have read in "100 Books in 300 Days". Have you ever thought about the meaning of life in the dead of night? Today, I would like to share with you Viktor Frankl's "Living the Meaning of Life". This book is like a beam of light, illuminating the hearts of countless people wandering in the darkness. Who is Frankl? He was imprisoned in Auschwitz and suffered unimaginable torture. There, life is as fragile as an ant, and will disappear if you are not careful. However, with his strong spiritual power, he transcended physical pain, pioneered logotherapy, and found hope for countless people to be reborn in desperate situations. In the first half of the book, Frankl tells his personal experience in the concentration camp in plain but shocking language. In that cruel environment, the good and evil of human nature are infinitely magnified. For concentration camp prisoners, "living without knowing why" meant giving up the last hope of survival. "The meaning of life" has become the key to life and death, "living with vigor" is the basic attitude to maintain life, and "love", "art" and "humor" are the glimmers of hope that illuminate the darkness. Most people failed to survive those dark years, but those who survived, apart from luck, more importantly, they never gave up their desire for life and completed their own spiritual redemption in the midst of suffering. As Nietzsche said: "He who knows what to live for survives." In the second half, Frankl elaborates on his "logotherapy." He believes that the main cause of mental disorders such as depression, aggression and addiction is "the lack of meaning", and that the "sense of nothingness" prevalent in modern society stems from the "loss of tradition". In today's era of rapid technological development, this phenomenon is becoming more and more serious. So, how to get the "meaning of life"? - Take responsibility: Individuals must be responsible for their own lives and cannot escape. The true meaning of life lies within the world, not within a closed system within. - Finding balance: Mental health requires a certain tension, that is, the tension between tasks completed and tasks to be completed, or the gap between the current state and the ideal state. Finding a balance between "laying flat" and "high pressure" can help maintain mental health. - Three ways: You can discover the meaning of life by creating a certain job or undertaking, experiencing a certain thing or facing a certain person, and adopting a certain attitude when enduring inevitable suffering. The discovery of the meaning of life comes from active communication and experience with the world. The meaning of life cannot be found by self-isolation. Just like Prigogine's "dissipative structure theory", the "entropy reduction process" from "disorder" to "order" occurs in an open, non-linear, non-equilibrium environment. Therefore, we must establish an open mind, take the initiative to break the balance, find a new fulcrum for contact with the world, learn and comprehend through positive experiences, achieve the "unity of knowledge and action", and continue to grow in pain. Frankl's psychology is more about looking up at the stars and exploring meaning, value and goals. His optimism is "tragic optimism", an optimism that remains despite a profound understanding of the tragedy of life - pain, death and guilt. Think about it, he was able to remain optimistic even after going through the hell on earth in the concentration camp. What reason do we have for not facing life optimistically? When we are young, we are always pursuing some seemingly illusory things, such as the meaning of life and a free and romantic life. As we grow older and are polished by life, we become more determined to pursue the ideal life. Frankl used his own personal experience to teach us how to live out the meaning of life. Here, share some golden quotes from the book: - Frankl discovered that there are three possible ways to find meaning in life: work (doing meaningful things), love (caring for others), and having the courage to overcome difficulties. - Suffering itself is meaningless, but we can give it meaning through our reactions to it. In the midst of suffering, a person may remain brave, self-respecting, and selfless. - Don't just think about success – the more you try to succeed, the easier it is to fail. Success, like happiness, can be encountered but not sought. It is a natural product, a derivative of a person's unconscious devotion to a great cause, or a by-product of his dedication to others. - Love is the highest goal pursued by human beings throughout their lives. I understood the true meaning of the great secret conveyed by poetry, thought, and faith: the salvation of mankind is through loving and being loved. If you are at a low point in your life, I hope this book can wake you up and arouse the strength deep within you. Please be sure to save yourself from the fire and water in this world thousands of times without hesitation.

It only took me two days to read it for the first time. My understanding is relatively rough, but I have a certain understanding of logotherapy. The understanding of suffering coincides with my thoughts in a sense. Suffering is a condition for finding the meaning of life, but it is not necessarily a necessary condition. For individuals, specific analysis of specific problems shows that for some people, suffering is precisely the necessary way to transcend the prison of thought and break through cognition. It plays a decisive role in reshaping the individual's life philosophy. To a certain extent, it broadens the horizons of development and has a guiding role in life. This book is worth reading again and again for people living in suffering, constantly trying to figure it out and comprehending, and confirming it one by one with their own actions, so as to truly seek truth from facts and integrate knowledge with action. If you are interested in this book, I recommend you to read "The Cage of Thinking". This book is an expansion and application of Frankl's thought, and has a very good interpretive significance for understanding Frankl's thought itself.

In fact, I chose to read this book because I accidentally saw it on a recommended book list on the Internet when I was feeling uncomfortable, depressed and trapped recently. Just like the title of this book, how to live out the meaning of life is the ultimate proposition that everyone is thinking about. But the more difficult the period of life, the more depression and depression in the heart, the more one can understand people's thinking about the meaning of life at the moment. In fact, after reading this book, it is difficult for us to understand and appreciate the suffering that the author experienced through his life in the four concentration camps, because the author never wanted to share the horror and bloody scenes of life in the concentration camps with readers. Instead, he used a very calm tone and a psychiatrist's perspective to show the suffering and death in the concentration camps. I think if I didn't have absolute optimism and the pursuit of the meaning of my life, I wouldn't be able to achieve the transcendental state of experiencing such suffering and dealing with it with a smile. The author believes that the way to obtain the meaning of life is to experience suffering, but the author also says that this is not the only way. If you create suffering artificially in order to obtain the meaning of life, you are definitely not a hero, but a masochist. But after experiencing objective and passive suffering, life can indeed find the meaning of life. As the author of the book said, "The most important experience for a prisoner who can return home alive is that after he has endured so much suffering, he no longer fears anything except God. That experience is an incomparable and wonderful feeling." The book can actually teach people in difficult situations a lot of insights. He tells those who have suicidal tendencies that as long as a person is alive, there will be hope for everything. He lets people in trouble know that life is like going to the dentist. You always feel that the most uncomfortable moment has not yet arrived, but in fact it has already passed. He made those who have experienced hardship understand that all experiences, especially those of suffering, will be the most valuable asset in your future life. "No one in the world can take away what you have experienced." All our experiences, all our thoughts, all our sufferings will not disappear. They have been integrated into your blood and coexist with you. In addition, in this book, I read the author's views on freedom and responsibility in life more than once. The author believes that freedom and responsibility are two sides of the coin of the meaning of life. Freedom is the negative side, while responsibility is the positive side. This view is also thought-provoking and meaningful. To the end, this is a book worth recommending to everyone, especially when you are confused and troubled in life, the light of the meaning of life in the book can illuminate the darkness in front of you!

I have absolutely no knowledge of the history of the Nazi period, but through the autobiography of the author of this book, I now have a deep understanding of the torture suffered by the people in the concentration camps. I even had nightmares every day for a few days while I was reading. In fact, the second half of psychoanalysis is not very clear. A simple understanding is that you have to find your own purpose in life, and the purpose is mostly to realize your own responsibilities.

Quite beneficial. Our mainstream value is nihilism, and the world is not real. So how to find the meaning of life in an unreal world? First, work and career. Second, love. Third, endure suffering. The most important meaning of life is to have a sense of responsibility. Doing what you do now is the meaning. Completed on July 30, 2024.

This book shocked me very much. It is really admirable that the author Frankl can still love life so much after experiencing so much suffering. He mentioned in the book that "anything a person possesses can be taken away, but the last freedom of human nature, which is the freedom to choose one's own attitude and lifestyle in any situation, cannot be taken away." This sentence deeply inspired me. We cannot change the suffering in life, but we can choose to face it with a positive attitude and find the meaning of life. Highly recommended!

A great book, especially suitable for reading when you feel confused in life, or when you are feeling down or depressed. The meaning of life is worth discovering and experiencing in a lifetime!

Human meaning has immediacy, and the great significance at a certain time will become your mission.

In the past two years, I have been stuck in internal strife. I have always felt that I have done nothing, can't find the meaning of life, and my work and life are the same. Every time I come to the year-end summary, I fall into deep self-doubt and self-denial. I came across this book accidentally and while reading it, I healed myself. Logotherapy was very helpful to me. I hope that in 2025, I will not be coerced by the environment, achieve this year's goal of "change", and live an active life.

Because I am not a psychology major, it was a novel experience for me. I learned about the psychological activities of prisoners and gained some understanding of this group. Through this, we also found that we need to find the meaning of our existence, and use this meaning to make ourselves think positively about problems. It is very similar to the transcendent goal mentioned in Inferiority and Transcendence, and is deeply memorable.

I really want to know how to help others realize the meaning of their lives.

Helping others find the meaning of their lives is worth pondering.

Frankl's ideological realm is beyond my imagination and reach [Like][Love]

Live the meaning of life! Logotherapy [like] philosophical thinking, psychological healing.

It's a very good book. I want to ask, does the contradictory intention method really work?

This book provides a spiritual fulcrum for me who is currently confused. I am currently experiencing pain that I cannot get rid of, and perhaps I will never get rid of it in my lifetime. I need to use pessimistic optimism to guide myself and prevent myself from falling into the abyss. I can choose my attitude towards suffering, face life with more enthusiasm, and take every step of life well. I can completely control my own choices. I believe I will get better and better.

In this book I found my strength

The story is strong and contains some professional words. Overall it is pretty good.

Well worth reading

Live the meaning of life

Should watch it again soon.

In order to see his wife, children and children at home, this belief kept him alive.

The meaning of life is to take responsibility for your own life. To complete our own tasks in life and answer the questions that fate has given to us.

It's a bit esoteric, but it's interesting

I am not afraid of suffering, but I am afraid of being sorry for the suffering I have suffered.