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What Does Man's Search For Meaning Mean

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What Does Man's Search For Meaning Mean
Man's Search for Meaning written by Viktor Frankl has two parts to it. The first section describes Frankl's experience in a concentration camp and the second section describes his view and opinion on logotherapy. Frankl talks a lot about existentialism in this book, such as his sections on the existential vacuum and the existentialist idea that you must find your own meaning, however he also uses a lot of buddhist principles. The buddhist principles that Frankl talks about in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, are the need for suffering,, the idea that only once you have suffered can you find fulfillment, and the involvement of the idea of truth in all of this. On page 67 Frankl writes, "If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must …show more content…
If there are so many interchangeable ideas between religions and philosophies how can anyone say what is the truth of everything? Everyone has their own different perspective and by saying that there is one ultimate truth, that is taking away the right of others to make their own decisions about what is true or not. Frankl expresses this when he writes, "Thus far we have shown that the meaning of life always changes, but that it never ceases to be" (115). For many, including buddhists, truth lies in their beliefs. Even people who follow the same religion have different beliefs about what is and what isn't. Therefore, according to Frankl, it is possible for something to be truth to one person that is a lie to another. He writes later on the same page, "finding a meaning in life is by experiencing something—such as goodness, truth and beauty —by experiencing nature and culture or, last but not least, by experiencing another human being in his very uniqueness;—by loving him." Each person must find their own truth. In Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl discusses the subject of logotherapy, and of finding meaning in your own life. There are existential principles, Buddhist principles, and Christian principles in this book, as well as a smattering of other religions and philosophies, as long as you look for them hard enough. There is no one truth, no one meaning, other than what each person finds for themselves, and that is the main argument that Frankl is trying to make, and that suffering is perhaps the best or the most effective way to find that meaning or

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