Hello,
Welcome to another post from Serfdom Road.
Last week’s article was my take on Man’s Search For Meaning, by Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor E. Frankl (b. 1905, d. 1997).
In the 2004 edition of the book, Frankl delves further into his “therapeutic doctrine” - logotherapy.
This is where we will begin this article.
What is Logotherapy?
Logotherapy focuses on the future.
It is a meaning-centred psychotherapy - how can the patient add meaning to their life, from today and into the future?
More importantly, how can adding meaning to the patient’s life cure their neuroses (depression, anxiety etc.)?
Firstly, logotherapy is derived from the Greek word logos - meaning in English.
It is the will to meaning, as opposed to the will to pleasure (Freudian School), or the will to power (Adlerian School), that Frankl believes is the driver behind our will to live.
Will to Meaning
For each of us, the meaning we find in life, or that we add to our own lives, will be unique, moment to moment.
The meaning (or importance and value) we want to fulfill in our lives, can only be achieved by the individual.
Only then can the meaning an individual wishes to fulfill achieve any significance - don’t follow the crowd, follow your heart.
If however, an individual finds meaning in “making a lot of money” (a will to power), this would be considered a pseudovalue - a value that is not true to the genuine human being underneath.
Instead, “making a lot of money” should be a consequence, rather than a primary objective in life.
If you can add value to the lives of others, through invention, creativity, or simply sharing knowledge, you are sure to be rewarded handsomely.
At the time of writing, there are currently 7.9 billion potential customers for you, and it has never been easier to reach them all.
Existential Frustration
An existential frustration or crisis, is one in which an individual is distressed about; existence itself, the meaning of existence, or finding a concrete meaning in their personal existence (the will to meaning).
An existential frustration can also result in many neuroses.
However, for Frankl, an individual that suffers any distress from an existential crisis, is not necessarily in need of any form of psychotherapy.
Not every conflict in the mind is necessarily neurotic, it can be normal and healthy.
Truly, most existential crises, or despair over one’s worthwhileness to live, is a part of our growth and development as a human being, on a journey to find meaning.
It is this tension, between what one has already achieved, and what one still ought to accomplish, that is the cause of most distress, or even mental health issues, in our lives.
But it is not our goal to live in a tensionless state. We must always live with that tension, if we are to grow and develop.
This tension, is actually a call for you, to fulfill some potential meaning in your life.
Never live within your comfort zone; always live on the edge.
For if you do not, you will always be haunted by that inner emptiness - that pain telling you there is much to be done.
Existential Vacuum
Frankl developed the idea of an existential vacuum - the void within you, that you feel when you believe there is no meaning in your life.
For some, they are so unaware there is no meaning in their life, and this is the cause of their own existential vacuum, they turn to alcohol, drugs, sugar and other vices, that offer only short term relief.
Even though Frankl wrote Man’s Search For Meaning decades ago, he describes a society, much like our own today, where there is no human instinct to tell an individual what to do, no traditions to tell an individual what they ought to do, and where all an individual wishes to do is to conform - or worse, what others wish an individual to do - totalitarianism.
Perhaps, then, the best prevention of totalitarianism, is for each individual to find meaning in their life.
Sunday Neurosis
For most, the time of the week that our own existential vacuum is felt at it’s greatest, is probably on a Sunday.
You’ve just finished a busy week, had an exciting Saturday, and now you’re left with nothing to do on a Sunday, except contemplate your own existence - or just think, “My life is sh*t!”.
This feeling you may feel on a Sunday, or any other day, is not because you have a bad boss, you hate your job, or your life is boring. It is because you have no meaning in your life.
There is nothing about you that can greatly distinguish you from everyone else.
This nothingness in your life is often compensated through the will to power (e.g. the pursuit of money), or the will to pleasure (e.g. drugs, alcohol, sugar etc.) - with often damaging consequences, and an ever-growing pit of despair.
Call to Action
Every country is on a path to serfdom - or if you prefer, totalitarianism.
If you want to help move humanity onto a different path, then perhaps Frankl’s advice can help - find meaning in your life.
As Frankl has proven, with his time in Nazi concentration camps, even in the most miserable of circumstances, it is possible to still find meaning in life.
Think about how you can find meaning in the following ways:
Creativity, innovation, or helping someone
Experience beauty, nature, or meet interesting and insightful people
Love
I do not expect anyone reading this to suddenly know exactly how to reduce their own existential vacuum - this is only a prompt.
I hope to add more detailed guidance in future posts.
For now, I’ll end similarly to how I started last week’s post, with the following advice… go for a walk!
I hope you have found this article insightful and helpful!
Please feel free to comment below.
Kind regards,
Le Libérateur
If you like Serfdom Road, please subscribe and share!