Viktor Frankl’s Meaning Through Suffering For the duration of human existence, there have been shared characteristics that are innate to humans. These characteristics are centred around giving meaning to one’s life and questioning one’s existence. These questions of existence have been pondered by all of humanity, from some of the greatest thinkers to the average human being. In the preface to the 1992 edition of Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning (2006), he supports the idea that all humans question their existence and states: “for a book whose very title promises to deal with the question of a meaning to life, it must be a question that burns under their fingernails” (p. xiii). Frankl was a Jewish man who survived the incomprehensible
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When he was just a young lad, Frankl was a victim of sexual exploitation (Frankl, 2000 p. 31). The family maid showed both Frankl and his brother her body and let them take off the lower half of her clothing. During these occasions she even encouraged them to touch her genitals while she pretended to sleep (p. 31). Because the maid had sternly warned Frankel and his brother not to tell their parents about these inappropriate sexual encounters, he became afraid (p. 31). Frankle (2000) recounts that he even became afraid after having done something wrong, aside from sexual wrongdoings (p.31). This experience shaped and skewed Frankl’s views of sex as he grew older, and it took him some time to reshape the way he viewed sex (p. 31). Eventually, Frankl developed healthier understandings of sex and marriage and found love of his own in Tilly (Frankl 2000). Tilly and Frankl were married for a very short time before being sent away to concentration camps (p. 86). During their short time together, they became pregnant, but, according to Frankl (2000), “Jews were forbidden to have children,” (p. 87) and so they were were forced to terminate the pregnancy (p.
When he was just a young lad, Frankl was a victim of sexual exploitation (Frankl, 2000 p. 31). The family maid showed both Frankl and his brother her body and let them take off the lower half of her clothing. During these occasions she even encouraged them to touch her genitals while she pretended to sleep (p. 31). Because the maid had sternly warned Frankel and his brother not to tell their parents about these inappropriate sexual encounters, he became afraid (p. 31). Frankle (2000) recounts that he even became afraid after having done something wrong, aside from sexual wrongdoings (p.31). This experience shaped and skewed Frankl’s views of sex as he grew older, and it took him some time to reshape the way he viewed sex (p. 31). Eventually, Frankl developed healthier understandings of sex and marriage and found love of his own in Tilly (Frankl 2000). Tilly and Frankl were married for a very short time before being sent away to concentration camps (p. 86). During their short time together, they became pregnant, but, according to Frankl (2000), “Jews were forbidden to have children,” (p. 87) and so they were were forced to terminate the pregnancy (p.