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Man's Search for Meaning

Book by Viktor E. Frankl · 9 quotes · Search For Meaning, Mans Search For Meaning, Suffering

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Man's Search for Meaning Quotes

“لقد استحوذت علي آن ذاك فكرة مهيمنة: فلأول مرة في حياتي أرى الحقيقة كما يتغنى بها الكثير من الشعراء، وكما ينادي بها الكثير من المفكرين على أنها الحكمة العظمى: الحقيقة هي أن الحب هو الهدف الغائي والأسمى الذي يمكن أن يطمح إليه الإنسان. ثم أدركت معنى السر الأعظم الذي ينبغي أن يفصح عنه الشعر الإنساني والفكر لإنساني والإيمان الصادق: أن خلاص الإنسان هو من خلال الحب وفي الحب.”

“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize value is creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”

“(...) can life retain its potential meaning in spite of its tragic aspects? After all, 'saying yes to life in spite of everything,' (...) presupposes that life is potentially meaningful under any conditions, even those which are most miserable. And this in turn presupposes the human capacity to creatively turn life’s negative aspects into something positive or constructive. In other words, what matters is to make the best of any given situation.”

“[Viktor E. Frankl] joked that in contrast to Freud's and Adler's "depth psychology," which emphasizes delving into an individual's past and his or her unconscious instincts and desires, he practiced "height psychology," which focuses on a person's future and his or her conscious decisions and actions...His goal was to provoke people into realizing that they could and should exercise their capacity for choice to achieve their own goals.”