What can one say about the book Man’s Search for Meaning, that is a cult in itself? That talks about an experience that most of us would even dread to imagine. And what do you say of a man that not only lives through that experience but goes on to analyze it for the rest of us to read and learn?
Man’s Search for Meaning is the story of a psychiatrist. Who had to spend three years in a concentration camp, faced death every day. And saw people being subjected to worst possible tortures. He had a reason to live. He wanted to write the book that he had almost written before he entered the concentration camp. And it is this desire that he says helped him go through the torturous years.
He introduces the concept of logotherapy. Which is nothing but finding a meaning for your life, a purpose to pursue? He, in fact, keeps repeating “If a Man has a “Why” to live, he will go through any “How”. The book, the classic tribute to Hope from Holocaust definitely makes a soulful reading. It made me think is this why many people turn to God when they lose everything else in life or when they no longer have reasons to pursue. Think of people post their retirements. Do the people in the business of religion know this? And they give the purpose of serving God. Or searching for themselves as a purpose. And people find solace once they have a purpose in their hearts and minds?
Read it to be grateful for the life that you have. Read it to understand what drives us eventually. And read it because that is the easiest way to learn the lessons that this book carries.
I loved this book, for some reason I think the struggle in life itself is to find a purpose to life. Or for some people, struggling is a purpose of life.