Kosice Institute for Society and Health

English:
The term “The Will to Meaning“ is a keyword with Frankl. His thinking and his personality had been formed on the background of some events: his studies of medicine, the influence of the developing psychoanalysis and the philosophic sphere of the twentieth century. It is necessary to mention, at the same time, a borderline situation which he experienced during World War Two when he was taken to a concentration camp and – very important – the love for his first wife. The term “The Will to Meaning” and the whole concept of the existential frustration demand, as he sees it from his philosophical background, a deeper and clearer explanation. Frankl exceeds the boundaries of psychology in order to understand better the existence of man, the singularity of man, his liberty and how he himself puts it, “the noogene level of man´s nature”. He asks himself the existential question just like any human does. This question was first asked by Kierkegaard and after him others developed it, e.g. Husserl, Scheler, Heidegger, Jaspers, to mention the most important ones. Of course, there were others as well. With World War Two this question became a burning issue, which Frankl spread, radicalising it extremely. That was due to the experience of war, the experience of the degradation of man. In Frankl´s concept we can find the influence of the representatives of existentialism, especially of Scheler, whose book “Formalism in Ethics” Frankl always carried with him, of Jaspers, whose terms “The Borderline Situation” and “existential communication” he (Frankl) developed further, of Pascal, on whose transcendental dimension of man and his professions he based his findings, of Sartre and Camus, whose position concerning the absurdity of life and suicide he includes in the dialogue. In the depth of Frankl´s thinking we can see the philosophy of Aristotle, whose idea of the extinction of mankind is explained with the principle of entelechy linked with the teachings of Thomas Aquinas nota bene directly when he speaks about the eternal joy and the destination of man, or indirectly in the way of Maritain´s neothomistic integral humanism. In connection with Frankl´s way of thinking it is important to mention Dostojevsky´s optimistic life-illusion as well as Molinier´s tragic optimistim. In the field of psychology Frankl accuses psycho-anylysis of being in bondage to the naturalism of his time. He maintains that it fails to see the spiritual nature of man and his ability to decide of his own free will, that it reduces the conscience of man to the superego. Frankl rejects Freud´s reductionism. He thinks it isn´t enough to see the achievement of human life in favour of the community like Adler , and he is not satisfied with Jung´s view, who says that man sets himself a meaning, that he influences himself with the archetypes, e.g. of “the Sage”, of “the Meaning” or the archetype of the “Self”. He takes psychoanalysis for superfluous because the subconscious can heal the answer to the challenge for freedom and responsibility. As for the formulation of the term “The Will to Meaning” it must be said that in the philosophy which Frankl was confronted with it was en vogue to formulate similar terms. So we come across one with Schopenhauer, who uses “The Will to Life” or with Nietzsche, where we read about “The Will to Power”. In order to understand the term “The Will to Meaning” better, we need a broader explanation. There is the will, the striving, man´s effort for a meaningful existence. There is the endeavour to see, to organize and to explain individual impulses like meaningful unities, and this will does not only concern things which exist, but also those of the future. This meaning concerns the objectivity that has to be discovered. This meaning is relative because it concerns the person as well as a particular situation. At the same time it is transsubjective because it does not concern subjectivity or a private and personal outlook on life. Man does not give himself this meaning nor does he himself form it. Man is in search of this meaning. Giving somebody this meaning would lead to moralism. He discovers this meaning with his conscience, with urges him to cope with his fate at all costs. Man is never sure whether his conscience errs or not or whether somebody else´s conscience sees things better and more objectively. Therefore it is necessary to cultivate tolerance as well as to attempt to cultivate one´s own conscience. The question for meaning in life is posed – nearly a contradiction – not by man but by life itself. Life asks man with all its realities. Man´s answer is his willingness to accept responsibility. Man is capable of finding meaning in the present as well as in everything he has already experienced and those things that will happen in the future. This meaning is singular and cannot be repeated. This is due to the uniqueness of the person and the singularity of the situation in which the person lives. Meaning of life also implies that the individual needs time and a definite aim in the future also with respect to the object. The substance of human existence is situated in self-transcendency; being a human means being faithful to some aims, too, being led and relying on somebody or something, how man is realized, how he develops and how he will show himself. One motive for the fulfilment of meaning is the counterbalance to the tension between what man is and what man would like to be, the tension between reality and ideals, between existence and essence, between being and meaning. Man has some awareness of meaning, an idea of it or faith in meaning. Man believes in meaning, no matter whether he is aware of it or not. Faith in meaning depends deeply on the substance of human existence. This faith is independent of religious faith, although there is a connection between the two. Everything in human life has a deeper meaning. A spiritual dimension for man can be hidden in it. “The Will to Meaning” means the effort for the fact that this striving becomes a conscious part of the answer to the striving for Frankl`s “over-meaning” of a greater meaning. This meaning surpasses the possibilities of man, but it is nothing transcendental. Life can become meaningful through work if this work isn´t done in an egocentric way but is done to achieve something meaningful for others. There is also one meaning to life which can be obtained by an experience which elevates man, leading him to a social orientation or even enabling him to experience love, which is the most precious experience. However, meaning in human life cannot be acquired by work and experience alone, but also through the ability to suffer if the person is in a good and human position when the situation of suffering and pain occurs. Bearing something that cannot be delegated is an experience, too. It is possible to see a task or a meaning in life in any situation. This meaning gives the person the strength not to give up even in a severe situation. Failure of life, the lack of pleasure or of positive experiences are no signs of meaninglessness. If a person regards a feeling of happiness as a goal, he/she will try in vain because happiness is only a concomitant which comes with the fulfilment of meaning. Awareness of the transitoriness of life and the fact that we know we must die gives life a meaning and helps man to feel responsible. The balance of suicides committed because of missing solutions of life situations leads to fallacy. The possibility of error is given. Suicide does not solve any problem. Frankl sees noogene neurosis from the medical and the existential point of view, connecting it with the characteristics of the present. He sees symptoms of this neurosis in the positions of fatalism, of fanaticism, collectivism and the provisional being. Frankl sees further signs of this neurosis in the experience of a lack of meaning in life, the loss of this meaning, a life without a goal, the feeling of absurdity and boredom in life, the awareness of the existential vacuum or the suicide rate. Different factors exert their influence on the extent of experienced meaning and existential frustration, facts which can be shown by our survey of different groups of the inhabitants of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia. Faith has the most important influence. This has been shown in the comparison of groups of atheists with groups of people working in religious occupations (in order to internalize faith). Age has the most important influence, those between 30 and 39 being the least problematic group. Pensioners, especially those who live in old people´s homes, are the most problematic group. When we compared the group coming from former West Germany and Austria with the group coming from the former Eastern Bloc (the Czech Republic and Slovakia), we realised to our surprise that there was no considerable difference. The comparison of the group of those who work in religious occupations with people who work in other professions showed no differences either. In this context it is quite interesting that people with religious occupations do not live in a family community and have not experienced some of the human urges such as sex and personal liberty. The task of logotherapy is to give man an orientation towards God and to lead him/her away from being caught in the transitoriness of life towards absolute values. The search for these values seems to orientate man against his striving for happiness. Thus logotherapy shows man that he – although this seems to be a contradiction – in the midst of suffering finds happiness, actually a happiness similar to what the biblical Beatitudes express (Matt. 5:3-11).