The famous Jew, Victor Frankl, talked about his experiences in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. When he was brought before the Gestapo, they stripped him naked and then, noticing that he was still wearing his gold wedding ring, one of the soldiers said, "Give it to me." As he removed his ring, this thought went through his mind: "They can take my ring, but there is one thing nobody can take from me - my freedom to choose how I will respond to what happens to me."
On the strength of that, he not only survived the Holocaust, but also developed his whole psychiatric system called Logotherapy, which states that "when you find meaning in everything, then you can face anything." He survived the horrors of the Holocaust because he was sustained by an inner conviction that he would come through it, and be able to use the suffering to good effect. His system of Logotherapy is now being used to help thousands who have mental and emotional problems. It is founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one's life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans.
The following list of tenets represents the basic principles of logotherapy:
• Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
• Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
• We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.
It is clear that same things can happen to individuals, but they have different effects on ones because each person has different responses which depend on his inner attitudes. Hence, harsh blows of life can make the some people bitter whilst in others it has the strengthening and refining effects. So it is not so much what happens to us, but what we do with it that is important. For Christians, we have the additional resources to rely on – the strength and grace from God, and the meaning of life He gives us under His grand purposes on this earth.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Facing trials & finding meaning to life
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
"There's nothing more calming in difficult moments that knowing there's some one fighting with you." — Mother Teresa
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I also read with interest your sharing on the famous Jew's logotheraphy who said, 'nobody can take from me - my freedom to choose how I will respond to what happens to me.' In the same vein, we Christians can also say, 'there is one thing nobody can take away from me - my freedom to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord'. When we experience crisis or hard blows, like major illness, loss of loved ones, loss of a home, loss of a job, I am sure we can still find meaning in life. But I believe that it will take a lot from a person to practice logotheraphy - strength of character and tenacity to hold fast to the tenets. Most of us are generally affected by external circumstances and we're unable to see beyond it, even Christians fail in their faith when confronted by trials & tribulations.
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