Frankl is considered one of the truly great psychotherapists, in the line of Freud, Adler and Jung.
An esteemed neurologist and practising psychiatrist, Frankl was imprisoned by the Nazis for simply being a Jew. He survived four concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and went on to write many books and lecture throughout the West.
He also developed a new psychotherapeutic modality based on the necessity of meaning in life, informed in large part by his horrendous concentration camp experiences.
Frankl noticed that those who survived the concentration camps were disproportionately those who found higher purpose in the midst of unimaginable brutality, and the moment by moment struggle to survive.
Devoid of food, clean water, medicine, warmth, and clothes, and in the loss of those closest to them, many were able to transcend the literal hell that was their daily lives.
They helped others and took responsibility for their actions.
Those who did not, in Frank's observation, fared much less well.
The following comment struck me as profoundly insightful and enduringly relevant.
“Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. This is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast (of the USA) be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”
This message seems pretty much out of vogue in this age of almost unrivalled nihilism, and a near pathological incapacity to see beyond oneself, one's world view, or one's preferred group, or cause.
Maybe only when the comforts and privileges of life and freedom are stripped away do we get the picture. We want freedom (and all of the privileges that go with this) but not the sort of responsibility that freedom demands.
Nothing ultimately good comes without sacrifice, and sacrifice is something we are not all that good at.
Caleb Anderson, a graduate history, economics, psychotherapy and theology, has been an educator for over thirty years, twenty as a school principal.
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