Man's Search for Meaning

Logotherapy is underpinned by the humanistic paradigm, as its key concepts recognise human individuality and freedom, as well as their need to fulfil their potential and find meaning. To understand the connection between humanism and logotherapy, it is important to first take a look at what humanism is, and how it came about. Humanism, often referred to as the “Third Force” of psychology, emerged in the 1960’s in response to what some psychologists considered the shortcomings of behaviourism…

Healing happens when one was given time alone to think. In the novel, Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, the protagonist Cole Matthews is a violent teenager who was put on rehab isolation for his actions. Cole Matthews characteristics has evolved from negative to positive. Gradually, Cole Matthews changes throughout the novel and tries to help those were once effected by him. Cole Matthews started off as a belligerent teenager who has anger issues. Coming from a broken family where his…

circumstance, Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is affected by his surroundings in similar ways. Throughout The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway uses Santiago’s surroundings to influence him and his decisions in specific ways. The old man’s location, including his homeland and where he lives, affects Santiago’s journey in the novella. The boy also affects Santiago and his decisions whether or not to be alone. Finally, nature, such as animals, plants, and weather, has and…

The philosophers of old explored the meaning of human existence, and modern philosophers are no closer to finding the answer. Most people consider the presence of the human condition to be a sort of existential trap, in which humanity is doomed to live out an eternal cycle of suffering. However, in reality, it is more like a path all people must walk in order to achieve their potential. In order to grow, a person must experience each individual section of the human condition, whether it be…

The Double Meaning on Blindness in “Cathedral” Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” presents some of the poet’s minimalist approaches in storytelling and language that focuses on middle class people facing consequences and small revelations in their ordinary lives. Carver makes sure that his concept on blindness plays a crucial role in his short story’s characters and give a sense of optimism and awareness to the reader. People who are blind don’t seem to see the environment around them, but they’re…

stands for God’s love for a person and that of a person’s love for God. The main unconditional love is assertion “That God so loved the world”, therefore God loves the world enough to suffer for all without preconditions. In Christianity people find meaning when they put their trust in God, instead of in materialistic items, they find a deep sense of peace and serenity that overpowers the evils, disappointments and worries of life and fear of…

The Ugly Utopia in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) At the end, John says "I ate civilization. It poisoned me"(Huxley 255). The dystopian society refers to the anti-utopian one. It symbolizes an ugly place in which the government controls everything and people have no freedom to think or create. The society is also controlled by technology and science. In a dystopian society people are also afraid of the outside society. In addition, dystopian society is a hierarchical society in…

To Be a Man, or Not To Be a Man, That Is the Question In the featured text The Book of Man, the author William J. Bennett, explains his opinion about what a man should be and how a man should live. According to Bennett, man’s role in today’s society is being distorted. The author claims that the lack of foundation in religion makes men become less moral than they used to be, and this may be the reason why gays flaunt their sexuality challenging traditional masculinity. Avoiding the traditional…

The defining aspect of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1602) is the human struggle for a cohesive sense of identity in a world of relentless pressure and immorality. Hamlet charts its protagonist’s ontological search for meaning as Renaissance humanism and Christian Providence generate conflicting values. Hamlet’s loyalty to his father compels him to take decisive vengeance, but it is deeply entwined with a personal complexity that remains unresolved as Hamlet confronts its moral implications. His…

are living is delusive. “The pattern of ordinary life, in which so much stays the same from one day to the next," the authors write, "disguises the fragility of its fabric." It aims to demolish contemporary beliefs about progress, industrialism and man’s place on the planet. The human future, it seems to the authors, must lie in "un-civilization". The most useful response is not to await disaster in the hope that the difficulties will magically…