Comparing Man's Search For Meaning And The Denial Of

For some, life without meaning is equivalent to death. Does this mean that if life has no true meaning, why bother living if the end result is dying? The meaning of life is discussed in both Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, and The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. Both books illustrate how enduring suffering, letting go of objects and accepting death allows and motivates humans to feel meaningful. Man’s Search for Meaning includes Viktor’s real life experiences from concentration camps from a psychological perspective, while The Denial of Death takes an interesting view of mental illness and the anxieties man faces from life.
First, in both Man’s Search for Meaning and The Denial of Death, enduring and overcoming suffering is …show more content…
Becker looks at mental illnesses and neuroses as a result of lost courage to face the fact of mortality. Depression is described as a “failure of courage” (Becker 210) that causes the depressed person to want to hide from the idea of life and death. Viktor Frankl mentions depression in his section on Logotherapy in Man’s Search for Meaning when he talks about how existential frustration in his patients can result in mental illness like depression. Ernest Becker deconstructs the idea of dependency and that when man gives up hope to find a meaning, he will see himself as incapable and will then fall into the state of depression. Becker says that man is dependent on the concrete idea of having an end purpose but when faced with the mere fact of dying, his courage is lost to seek that meaning. Becker views many mental illnesses as the anxiety of life, and not having a lasting meaning. As well as the anxiety of death, dying without feeling fulfilled. He explains that overcoming the fear of death will lead to a more productive and joyful life. Ernest Becker describes this as ‘death