‘Man is ultimately self-determining.’ ‘Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be.’
‘Everyone has his own specific vocation in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.’
— Viktor Frankl
Logotherapy
Invented by Victor Frankl, the term ‘logotherapy’ comes from the Greek’ Logos,’ meaning. According to gnostics and ancient philosophers, logos is:
the divine reason implicit in the cosmos
According to Frankl, Logos is ‘deeper than logic’ and thus beyond rational comprehension, as we’ll cover later.
Logotherapy is recognized as the third Vienesse Psychotherapy School. It focuses on helping people find existential meaning, the strive for which it views as our main driving force. This is an essential characteristic distinguishing it from psychoanalysis and Adler’s individual psychology. Logotherapy operates on the concept of ‘will to meaning,’ whereas the two other on ‘will to pleasure’ and ‘will to power.’
Frankl doesn’t identify himself as a psychoanalyst. He calls himself a psychotherapist of his own school, Logotherapy, which he defines as ‘existential analysis.’ The central theme of existentialism is:
To live is to suffer; to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. If there is a purpose in life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering and death.
A Reason to Live
Such a reason cannot be given externally. You must determine it for yourself, taking full responsibility, whwe’lle’ll examlatewe’llInllIn psychoanalysis, you lie on a couch, opening up about things that may be uncomfortable and (somewhat) disturbing. In Logotherapy, you may sit erect, actually hearing such things.
A common approach Frankl utilized is asking:
“Why wouldn’t you commit a suicide?”
Answering it helps you extract one (or multiple) reasons, forming your actual life purpose and shifting your perspectives and, essentially, your life. And as long as it is meaningful to you, this can be:
- A thing/things to accomplish;
- A person to be with;
- An experience(s) to have;
- Art or work to create, etc;
The Future
Unlike psychoanalysis, Logotherapy is far less retro-and-introspective. It focuses on the future. Namely, your meaning and purpose to be fulfilled in it. It is a future-oriented and meaning-centered approach. Although, it ascribes a crucial role to the past, which we’ll deal with in a moment.
Logotherapy, Frankl explains, makes us conflicted with and reoriented toward our life’s meaning. This improves our ability to overcome negative feedback loops, neuroses, and whatever conditions we may have. So, rather than reinforcing them, it defocuses, discharges, and (eventually) breaks down those.
Will to Meaning
“Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must be fulfilled by him and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does he achieve a significance that will satisfy his own will to meaning.”
“(…)some authors contend that meanings and values are nothing but defense mechanisms, reaction formations, and sublimation. But as for myself, I would not be able to live merely for the sake of my ‘defense mechanisms,’ nor would I be ready to die merely for the sake of my ‘reaction formations.’ Man, however, is able to live and die for the sake of his ideals and values!
— In Search for Meaning. P.80
After multiple studies, Frankl found that about 80% of people needed an ideal, meaning, or purpose to live for. About 80 had one they would actually die for.
Unmasking
Now, seldom does such a purpose stem from ‘camouflaged’ inner conflicts. In such cases, some ‘onion layer peeling’ might be helpful. On the contrary, these are exceptions, not the rule. When the person’s authentic part is unveiled, the ‘peeling‘ must stop. Otherwise, the only unveiling is the therapist’s ulterior motive to demean one’s authenticity and strive for meaning.
“Unmasking (…) should stop as soon as one is confronted with what is authentic and genuine in man, e.g., man’s desire for a life that is as meaningful as possible. If it does not stop, then the only thing that the ‘unmasking psychologist’ really unmasks is his own ‘hidden motive’ — namely, his unconscious need to debase and depreciate what is genuine, what is genuinely human, in man…”
— In Search for Meaning. P.81
Crisis and Frustration
Stressing the ‘pleasure principle,’ psychoanalysis considers unconscious motives and sexual frustration as the root cause of neuroses. Existential analysis recognizes those as byproducts of failing to find meaning and responsibility. It calls that existential frustration regarding one of three things:
- Human’s actual mode of being;
- The meaning of existence;
- Striving to find tangible meaning in your life.
Besides typical psychogenic ones, Logotherapy treats so-called noögenic (or noölogical) neuroses. Also coming from Greek, the term noös means mind. Noögenic neuroses don’t stem from unreconciled drives and instincts (usually of the past) but (real) existential problems of the present. Hence, their treatment isn’t through psychotherapy but by delving into one’s specific condition.
Ikigai
Inspiring, to say the least, some of Frankl’s case studies are also included in the best-selling Ikigai. One of those is of an American diplomat going through an existential crisis. For five years of psychoanalysis, they were mainly told to make peace with their father, as all his superiors were ‘father images.’
A few interviews with Frankl made clear the person needed a new occupation. Eventually, they switched professions, getting out of the crisis. According to Frankl, that person never required any kind of therapy, as they weren’t really a patient. Let me know your thoughts.
Conflicts
“Not every conflict is necessarily neurotic; some amount of conflict is normal and healthy. In a similar sense, suffering is not always a pathological phenomenon; rather than being a symptom of neuroses, suffering may well be a human achievement, especially if the suffering grows out of existential frustration…”
“Existential frustration is in itself neither pathological nor pathogenic. A man’s concern, even his despair, over the worthliness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease. It may well be that interpreting the first in terms of the latter motivates a doctor to bury his patient’s existential despair under a heap of tranquilizing drugs. It is the task rather to pilot the patient through his existential crises of growth and development.”
Logotherapy enables us to increase awareness of the hidden logos within. Yet, it doesn’t restrict that to unconscious drives and instincts. It actually includes existential realities and potential meanings to be fulfilled.
Tension
The search for meaning (often) generates tension, which Frankl views as an indispensable prerequisite of mental health. Furthermore, it can be said that the latter (actually) fuels the desire for the former. On many occasions, Frankl quotes Neitzshe’s saying:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost anyhow.”
One of those includes reflecting on re-writing the manuscript while in Auschwitz. The tension this created helped Frankl overcome his typhus fever and, basically, live to see the day of freedom. However, this wasn’t unique to him; it was (actually) a common trait among camp survivors. They anticipated something to accomplish in the future after their release. So, it wasn’t inner equilibrium but rather this same tension that proved crucial to their survival.
The search for meaning (often) generates tension, which Frankl views as an indispensable prerequisite of mental health. Furthermore, it can be said that the latter (actually) fuels the former. On many occasions, Frankl quotes Neitzshe’s saying:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost anyhow.”
One of those includes reflecting on re-writing the manuscript while in Auschwitz. The tension this created helped Frankl overcome his typhus fever and, basically, live to see the day of freedom. However, this wasn’t unique to him; it was (actually) a common trait among nearly all camp survivors. They anticipated something to accomplish in the future after their release. So, it wasn’t inner equilibrium but this same tension that proved crucial to their survival.
The tension is between what you’ve already achieved and what you want to accomplish in the future. Presumably, it’s pretty different from the equilibration and reconciliation stressed not just by psychoanalysis but by various mystical schools. It actually implies struggle and dissatisfaction with your current situation and improving it.
Esotericists should question the typical emphasis on the Middle Pillar, which is basically the one of stasis, as opposed to those of function, which can help with the tension. Also, those deeming Chessed and Geburah as dangerous (or evil), while they are (actually) the primary forces for initiating change and overcoming the stemming from Saturn entropy and randomness of life. Let me know your thoughts.
“I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium or, as it is called in biology, ‘homeostasis’, i.e., a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”
— Man’s Search for Meaning. P.83
Called nöo-dynamics, this is the existential dynamics of a field in which one pillar is you and the other:
- Your goal(s) to achieve;
- Meaning to fulfill;
- Better life to live, etc.
Such a perspective gives us purpose and direction, whereas lacking it makes us prone to entering existential vacuums.
Existential Vacuum
People enter existential vacuums due to their disconnect with their primal nature guiding them toward what they should be doing. One scenario is doing what others do and keeping up with the Joneses. Another—what others want them to do. Frankl regards the first as ‘conformism;’ the second as ‘totalitarianism.’ Either way, existential vacuums result in boredom.
A classic example is the so-called ‘Sunday neurosis.’ During the week, people are preoccupied with different tasks, keeping themselves busy and basically distracted. Such a busyness provides a sense of structure and security. Yet, when Sunday kicks in, their life’s (actual) lack of substance becomes apparent, causing desperation.
Another example of struggling with boredom is those preoccupying their minds with meaningless sex. Also, obsessing with making more money, even when that doesn’t add any more value. Regarding the first, Frankl notes one’s (overall) interest in sex drops when one starts living their true meaning. The second he calls the lowest form of Adlerian ‘will to power.’ Let me know your thoughts.
Success and Happiness
Speaking of this, unlike standard self-help advice, Logotherapy offers a (somewhat) counterintuitive approach toward happiness and success.
“Don’t aim at success — the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. (…) success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen, not by caring about it.”
The key is following your conscience and actually stop caring. If you really do, you’ll enjoy long-term happiness and success.
Finding Meaning
As covered, your life’s meaning cannot be ascribed by a doctor or anyone else. It must be discovered by you, as it’s unique to each. As Frankl says:
“What matters (…) is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of one’s life in a given moment.”
Like making the right move in a chess game, this meaning is highly peculiar to your journey’s current stage. You can only identify it based on the situation, which usually changes. Similarly, Thelemic and Ikigai scholars stress that the so-called Pure Will and Ikigai transcend career paths, occupations, and even reincarnations.
Every situation presents a problem to solve. Each solution unfolds that meaning. Ultimately, it’s not the person but life itself asking the question all must answer. The way to respond is by being responsible, which Logotherapy calls the essence of human existence.
This unique meaning can be found in three different ways:
- Creating work or doing a deed;
- Experiencing (or encountering) something/someone;
- Our attitude toward unavoidable suffering.
While the first is accomplishment(s), the second can be experiencing goodness, truth, and beauty in culture, art, nature, etc. Or by (actually) loving another person.
Logotherapy acknoledges genuinely loving a person as the only way to really know them. By doing so, you see their full potential, which is yet to be actualized. You help that person realize it by making them aware of what can be done.
Supreme Meaning
Frankl recognizes the existence of a dimension beyond rational comprehension and finite capabilities. One holding the ultimate meaning of existence and suffering. As covered:
“Logos is deeper than logic.”
— In Search of Meaning. P.97
The key to grasping this isn’t enduring the meaninglessness of life. It is learning to bear with its unconditional meaningfulness rationally. Let me know if you agree.
Second Life
“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first as wrongly as you are about to act now.”
Being Logotherapy’s categorical imperative, this encourages us to take ownership. It implies:
- Perceiving the present as the past;
- Increasing awareness of life’s limitations and
- Being mindful of the finality of what we make out of it.
It (basically) forces us to determine for what and to whom we’re responsible while revealing all potential meanings.
Transitoriness
Logotherapy views potentialities as transitory, existing (only) for a limited time. By actualizing them, we turn them into realities stored in the past, where they become eternalized and preserved from transitoriness.
In the past, Frankl explains, nothing is irretrievably lost, and everything is irrevocably stored. This fosters making responsible choices and prioritizing which potentiality to actualize first, which next, and which to sacrifice.
“Man constantly makes his choice concerning the mass of his present potentialities; which of these will be condemned to nonbeing and which will be actualized? Which choice will be made an actuality once and forever, an immortal ‘footprint in the sands of time?’ At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.”
— In Search of Meaning P.97
Those living recklessly get depressed seeing another day gone. Those living responsibly make mindful choices. They look back on a collection of realities, experiences, love, accomplishments, victories, and overcоme obstacles.
Their collection only grows with each day, eternally preserved in the (solidified) past. They are not jealous of the youth having more time and potential. They know they’ve been making the most out of theirs. And such a person thinks to themselves:
“Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.”
— In Search of Meaning P.97
As the author also says:
“having been is the surest way of being.”
Suffering
Like Stoicism, Logotherapy empowers us to change, regardless of circumstances, moving from victimhood to victory.
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the unique human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation (…) we are challenged to change ourselves.”
— In Search of Meaning. P.90
Apparently, this doesn’t help us avoid pain or feel pleasure but (actually) find meaning. When it’s for a meaningful cause, people can endure suffering and pleasure deprivation.
However, suffering is by no means essential to meaning. It is just that meaning is always possible, even when suffering is unavoidable. If it isn’t, the meaningful thing would be to remove the suffering first. As Frankl says:
“To suffer unnecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.”
— In Search of Meaning. P.92
We may be removed from what we love, but the possibility of undergoing some suffering is (pretty much) inescapable. Either way, Logotherapy encourages us to not lose hope but to seek the meaning that was and (always) will be there.
When in the camps, Frankl recognized for most prisoners, the question was:
“Will I survive?”
…for him, it was:
“Does all this unreal suffering has meaning?”
If it hasn’t, he concludes survival also doesn’t have. Part of the circumstances, including getting his hands on paper, mobilized the author to re-write the confiscated manuscript and basically live. It was a challenge to live, which he embraced (fully).
Self-Actualization
Logotherapy views self-transcendence as the foundation of self-actualization. The reason is that human beings are (always) directed toward something external, whether a meaningful goal, purpose, or another human being. The more we give ourselves to that, the more we self-transcend and self-actualize.
Personal Experience
If you think about it, this is pretty accurate. At some point, the purpose might be quitting addiction(s) and then mastering something meaningful to you. At another, getting jacked and improving your health. Then, learning to content-create or code, actually keeping a meaningful relationship after decades of meaningless sex, and perhaps building a business. What you’ll find is that living like that makes self-actualization inevitable even without ‘self-help.’
Nevertheless, Logotherapy massively influenced some of the biggest in the genre. From Tony Robbins to Mark Manson, and many more like the mentioned IKIGAI scholars. And that is not just my opinion but (actual) fact. You know what to do. And thank you for your time.
