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Quote by Viktor E. Frankl

Work

Man's Search for Meaning

This seminal work delves into the author's experiences as a psychiatrist and prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, offering insights into the human capacity for finding meaning and hope amidst extreme suffering. more

Author

Viktor E. Frankl
Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor E. Frankl was a renowned neurologist and psychologist, born on March 26, 1905, and died on September 2, 1997. He was one of the founders of existential psychology and is known for his experiences in Nazi concentration camps and his book 'Man's Search for Meaning'. more

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“Standing before this building, I learn something about fear. I learn that it is not the idle fantasies of someone who maybe wants something important to happen to him, even if the important thing is horrible. It is not the disgust of seeing a dead stranger, and not the breathlessness of hearing a shotgun pumped outside of Becca Arrington’s house. This cannot be addressed by breathing exercises. This fear bears no analogy to any fear I knew before. This is the basest of all possible emotions, the feeling that was with us before we existed, before this building existed, before the earth existed. This is the fear that made fish crawl onto dry land and evolve lungs, the fear that teaches us to run, the fear that makes us bury our dead.”

FearPaper Towns
Book:Paper Towns
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“But if we are all God’s children, why does God spend so much time in history ordering one branch of his universal family to wipe out another branch? Why did his love for his Jewish children have to be expressed by the extermination of his Palestinian children? Why did he later abandon his Jewish children in favour of his Christian children and encourage his new favourites to torment their older siblings? Why did he order his Muslim children who worship him as One to persecute his pagan children who worship him as Many? Why is there so much violence in religious history, all done by groups who claim God is on their side? Unless you are prepared to believe that God actually plays favourites like some kind of demented tyrant, then there are only two ways out of this dilemma. The obvious one is to decide that there is no God. What is called God is a human invention used, among other things, to justify humankind’s love of violence and hatred of strangers. Getting rid of God won’t solve the problem of human violence but it will remove one of its pretexts.”

GodReligionHistoryViolenceBible
Book:A Little History of Religion
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