During World War II, frankl's whole family was put into the famous Auschwitz concentration camp. In the end, his parents, brother and wife all died in the gas chamber, but it is a miracle that he survived. After World War II, Victor used his professional skills in medicine and psychology and the experience of surviving to help the people of Vienna gradually get out of the haze of war. Victor then came to the United States, where he served as a professor at Harvard University, Stanford University, Dallas University and Pittsburgh University, and taught meaning therapy at San Diego International University in California.
frankl is the founder of speech therapy, and his therapeutic theory is called the Vienna Third Psychotherapy School. The first two schools are S. Freud School and A. Adler School. After years of research, frankl has published 39 works and translated them into 34 languages. Based on his own experience in concentration camps, Living the Meaning of Life has become a best-selling book with a sales volume of more than 1 million copies, and has been selected as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential Books in the United States". From the perspective of psychologists, it makes a profound observation on people's psychological development in extreme environments.
The Meaning of Living Life was written by Victor frankl in just nine days after he was liberated from the concentration camp in 1945. It was first published in German in 1946 with the title "A Psychologist's Experience in a Concentration Camp", focusing on frankl's experience in a concentration camp. Three years later, when the book was reprinted in 1949, it was renamed "Say Yes to Life" and the content of meaning therapy was added. Once published, it became a bestseller, and the era when post-war nihilism prevailed touched and helped many people. In 1959, frankl reorganized and edited the original two editions and published the latest English version called Man's Search for Meaning. Now there are more than 2 versions of this book in the world, and many versions have appeared since it was introduced to China, such as Pursuing the Meaning of Life and Living the Meaning. As a domestic classic, Living the Meaning of Life was re-bound and published by Huaxia Publishing House in 214 to commemorate the 18th anniversary of Victor frankl's death.
Although the books are not thick, the rhythm of the books is particularly compact, and the content is also very heavy. Through the books, the author carries the philosophical thoughts about death and life to the readers. The book "Living the Meaning of Life" is divided into two parts. The first part mainly tells about Victor's main experience in the concentration camp, and this part also leads to the second part of the book, namely frankl's meaning therapy. In other words, if frankl didn't have the experience of the concentration camp as the background, then the meaning therapy behind the book wouldn't leave a deep impression and tell people the meaning of life.
During the Nazi rule in World War II, frankl's family was put in a concentration camp. After entering the concentration camp, frankl observed the psychological state of prisoners, which can be roughly divided into three stages: fear, indifference and recovery. Many behaviors in the concentration camp even exceed the conventional thinking of ordinary people. Frankl said in the book that the prisoners who just entered the concentration camp had no extra feeling of ignorance except extreme panic, and they didn't even know whether they were dead or alive the next second in the concentration camp. In this extreme environment, detainees will fall into a state called "temporary confusion", and even have hope for their future in the concentration camp, imagining that things will turn for the better, so that their future will not be too bad. Frankl, like other prisoners in concentration camps, after entering the concentration camp, the short queue time is arranged at will by the guards like selecting animals. Perhaps the cellmate who just talked to himself was taken to an unknown place by the guards in a blink of an eye.
In the cold winter, frankl, like other inmates, was inspected, selected and disinfected naked in accordance with the requirements of the concentration camp. After disinfection, there were only two things left in frankl's body, namely glasses and belts, and his clothes, books, shoes and bags were confiscated. But the only things left were superfluous to him. In order to alleviate hunger, frankl exchanged his belt for a thin piece of bread. Because of the initial inspection and disinfection, frankl deeply realized that everyone here is no longer a policeman, a doctor, a teacher or any other profession. When he comes to the concentration camp, everyone has only one identity-"prisoner". They no longer have a name, only a numbered number, and the code in frankl is "11914". Since entering the concentration camp and being separated from his family, the desire to reunite with his family has become the motivation for frankl to encourage himself and the source of his life.
On the first night of entering the concentration camp, frankl asked a cellmate who had come to the concentration camp earlier, where the person assigned to the left went. The prisoner pointed to the chimney hundreds of meters away and told him that "it should be found there." A string of flames emerged from the chimney, which was the chimney of the crematorium. Once the partner around him, step by step towards death, including frankl, the new prisoners fantasy come true, instantly feel that death is approaching. Frankl was very scared when he heard the news, but in the eyes of the old prisoner, what unfinished manuscripts, what gold and silver wealth, what love and hate, the most important thing at the moment is to live. In the concentration camp, every prisoner has nothing but his body. When you have almost lost your life and nothing to lose, you are no longer afraid of death. After the first few days, the new prisoners in the concentration camp were not even afraid of the gas chamber.
How to live and see his family in good health has become the primary problem that Victor thinks about every day. One day, frankl suddenly learned from an old prisoner that if he wants to live in a concentration camp, he must be energetic and healthy every day. According to the old jailer's words, although frankl needs to do manual labor for more than ten hours every day, he still keeps his face flushed and shaves every day, and works with a straight back. Even if his feet are blistered, he can't limp. Otherwise, once the guards find that he is weak, he will be sent to the gas chamber and incinerator immediately. So frankl used an almost superhuman behavior to look optimistically at the perspective different from that of people around him. With only a piece of bread a day, lack of vitamins, lack of sleep and many other unfavorable factors, frankl and his cellmate still survived, and even their intestines and stomach were healthier than before.
After the stage of fear, the prisoners in the concentration camp entered the stage of indifference. After going through the stage of fear, at this time, they have no feelings for anyone who died, their hearts are numb, and they are gradually accustomed to the death around them. Compared with the first stage of prisoners' panic about the death of people around them, at this stage prisoners only care about whether the shoes and clothes on the dead are more perfect than their own. After entering the stage of indifference, we will gradually find that more and more people are indifferent to death, and even want to greet death quickly through strikes. At this time, the prisoners gradually became sneaky, and nothing could impress them. On the contrary, they thought that being sick was a good job and a lucky thing.
Why do prisoners become so cold and lifeless? In fact, this is a self-protection mechanism that they naturally produce in extreme environments. It is precisely because people can't get rid of this bleak state that they wrap themselves in a cold shell, so that their feelings will be delayed to avoid being stimulated by the outside world. At this time, the only issue that people are interested in is to discuss the food problem together, temporarily fill the hungry stomach with fantasy, or even the only piece of bread every day. The prisoners will discuss how to finish it. In this state, prisoners prefer to escape from reality rather than make a decision, rather than change, only to obey fate. Compared with other prisoners, frankl firmly believes that he must go out and get together with his family every day. It is this belief that inspires frankl all the time.
After the period of indifference, the prisoners gradually recovered from the brink of dying. However, after relaxing from the state of extreme tension, most people don't believe that they are free, just like dreaming, and they don't feel any happiness at all. As Victor introduced in the book, the period from Christmas in 1944 to New Year's Day in 1945 was actually the period with the highest death rate of prisoners in concentration camps. There is only one reason, that is, it has been rumored since the turn of autumn and winter in 1944 that the Soviet army will capture Berlin in Christmas 1944, the Nazis will retreat, and World War II will end. As a result, Christmas arrived in 1944, and the wish failed. Until New Year's Day in 1945, there was still no good news of the victory of the war.
friends who are familiar with history must know that on May 8, 1945, Soviet troops captured Berlin, Germany, and the Nazis were defeated, and the European battlefield of World War II came to an end. It was only five months from New Year's Day in 1945 to the victory of the war. However, most prisoners in the concentration camp were frustrated and shattered again and again because of the news of the victory of the war, which made them more and more desperate, seriously weakened their resistance and led to many deaths. The prisoners who were devastated by the high-pressure environment in the concentration camp gradually lost their ability to feel happy, but this feeling needs to be found again. As we all know, after diving, divers will be hit hard and even life-threatening if they quickly float from the deep sea to the surface after decompression, so the correct way for divers will generally decompress first and then slowly float to the surface. Those who are also lucky enough to come out of the concentration camp are devastated by high pressure for a long time. If they are not gradually released under reduced pressure, unexpected consequences will probably occur after coming out.
Some people come out of concentration camps, and as former victims, they squander their freedom and happiness, turning themselves into oppressors and turning their former sufferings into excuses to do whatever they want. After someone is released from prison, he will deliberately and maliciously step on a few feet after passing through the wheat field. The colleague asked why, but this person gave an almost distorted truth: "My wife and children are all dead, and I almost died. What is it to step on a few wheat?" , the heart has been completely distorted. In addition, after returning to normal life, most people find that their families have been killed, and their own ideals have been shattered, and their lives have fallen into confusion and they can't find their direction. Reunion with his family is the only belief that supports frankl's successful exit from the concentration camp. When frankl left the concentration camp, he found that his family had already died in the concentration camp. Later, he did not feel depressed like other prisoners, nor did he emigrate to other countries like most Jewish psychologists. Instead, he chose to stay in Vienna and treat a large number of mental patients who needed help after the war.
During the treatment, frankl found that he could survive from the concentration camp. The firm belief of "reuniting with his family" has been supporting him from beginning to end, and helping the people out of the war after the war has also become the belief of frankl. It is precisely because of this kind of pain that not only transcends the purgatory, but also frankl combined his own experience with academics to create the logotherapy Law, which found the meaning of rebirth for people and left the most glorious witness in the history of human nature. Frankl told readers that in the logotherapy law, the key depends on three criteria, namely, engaging in a certain cause, loving someone and enduring inevitable suffering. Practicing the logotherapy Law, frankl was full of great enthusiasm for life all his life. At the age of 67, he still began to learn to fly a plane and got a driver's license a few months later. He climbed the Alps until he was 8 years old.
As we all know, philosophy has three famous questions-"Who are you, where are you from and where are you going?". The three questions of philosophy seem to be common and simple, but they guide and direct our work and life all the time. "Who are you, where are you from and where are you going?" In short, convey the meaning of "goal" to each of us. As a review of life in Frank Victor's concentration camp, Living the Meaning of Life attracted people's attention once it was published. The "Meaning Therapy" founded by Victor is regarded as the third Vienna psychotherapy school after LucianFreud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology.
The Meaning of Living Life was first published in 1946. At that time, just after the Second World War, people's livelihood was depressed, the economy collapsed, and people were confused about their future lives and lacked a sense of faith. How to restore people's confidence, restore social order and restore the national economy as soon as possible became a major problem facing the country and society at that time. After the publication of the book, it caused a great sensation in society. As a medical psychologist, Victor, in addition to helping people get out of the haze of war, often receives many people's questions about self-development. For example, an elderly man was heartbroken because of the death of his wife, and even once thought of suicide. Victor asked him, "If you die, how will your wife live?" The man said directly, "If I die, my wife will definitely live a happy and healthy life every day." Next, Victor told the old man that he should make himself happy and set a goal to live a healthy life.
Just because of asking for help, Victor found that the reason why he survived from the concentration camp was the firm belief of "reuniting with his family". On the contrary, those who did not survive from the concentration camp or were confused and indifferent in their daily life were all due to the lack of self-life goals. The philosopher Nietzsche once famously said, "If you know why you live, then you can live". People who lack goals in life make themselves more and more like walking dead. Based on this, Victor developed three standard logics, namely, engaging in a certain career, loving someone, enduring inevitable suffering and meaning therapy, which helped more and more people find their goals, directions and meanings in life again.
Living the Meaning of Life was born in the postwar society in the forties and fifties of the 2th century. At that time, people were confused, had no direction and pursuit, and lacked social beliefs. On the contrary, drugs, bars, dance halls and many other spiritual opium destroyed people's inner numbness in an endless stream. Why do you live and what is the meaning of living has become a question that everyone thinks about. According to the meaning therapy, Victor tells us that engaging in a certain career, loving someone and enduring the inevitable suffering will be our motivation to live. This can also explain why many retired leaders and employees have ended their busy work and lost their life beliefs and motivation instantly. Without the goal and belief in life, the ego will instantly have an illusion of escaping from society. On the contrary, when we set ourselves new goals and life beliefs all the time, even if we encounter thorns and obstacles, we will be able to save the day. For example, Elon Musk, who is known as the "real Iron Man", although only 49 years old, has encountered a dark moment in his life on average every ten years. Many dark moments are even enough to make Musk go bankrupt and die, but he is determined to change.