“What is to give light must endure the burning.” Viktor
Frankl. In 1972, Frankl tried to counteract the prevalent stereotype about
American college students – that all they wanted out of life was to make money.
In a survey, he pointed out, only 16% of American college students had a main
goal to make money. 78% of American students listed their main goal as finding
a meaning and purpose in his or her life. I love Frankl’s work. If you aren’t
familiar with him, he developed “logotherapy,” the “third Viennese School of
psychotherapy,” following in the footsteps of Freud and Adler.
Frankl was Jewish and born in Austria. He turned 40 during
the Holocaust, which he survived although his wife at the time did not. He
taught at the University of Dallas for a while, and was so well regarded, he
was made an honorary citizen of Texas! J
He also taught at Cambridge and Harvard, but returned to Austria. He wrote 39
books based on his ideas about the human search for meaning, and he based much
of his theory on what he witnessed and survived during the Holocaust. His thoughts
echo many of the ideas from other survivors of the same imprisonment and
massacre. Specifically, Elie Wiesel and Gerda Weissman Klein expressed deep
commitment to the idea that meaning and attitude were everything to them and to
the others who survived the concentration camps and death marches. How the
survivors dealt with the atrocities were critical to how they made it through
and continued thriving lives helping others in the aftermath.
Logotheraphy maintains the primary motivational force within
humans is the drive to find meaning in life. Frankl proposed there are three
principles supporting this theory: Life has meaning under ALL circumstances
(including misery), the main motivation for life is our will to find a
purpose/meaning, and we have freedom to find meaning in what we do or
experiences (freedom to adjust our attitudes). Frankl equated the human
“spirit” to the WILL to live, not a religious interpretation. Many will also
equate spirit to the soul. I say that is up to you – your life, your spirit,
your definition.
Frankl believed that humans were capable of resisting and
braving the worst conditions, and his personal experiences/observations
supported that belief. Two objective tests have been developed to measure a
human’s meaning and purpose (PIL and SONG). They are used to predict how well a
person might respond to logotherapy as a treatment.
As a storyteller, I find that it is easy for me to adhere to
an interpretation that we all seek meaning in our lives. I have also seen it in
action. Logotherapists argue that psychological damage occurs when something or
someone blocks a person’s search for meaning. In some ways, this corresponds to
Jung’s theories about the collective unconscious and understanding the
anima/animus. Breaking away from the collective unconscious is one step toward
a person’s individuation instead of enculturation and conformity. Finding one’s
meaning in life is not easy, especially when it flies directly in the face of
how we have been taught to behave and believe. Finding meaning in miserable
circumstances is often a painful process. We don’t always get to choose our
situations, like being born into a preacher’s household, or having a parent
elected the US president. Those societal roles come with certain societal expectations
– the person brought into that circumstance against their will, may or may not
suffer depending upon how well that person can adapt the circumstance related
to his or her meaning in life. Therefore, we humans have a multitude of sayings
about surviving the fire, coming through the valley of shadow, and other
comparisons to escaping a harrowing ordeal.
This symbolism was the major impetus behind my choice of a
phoenix for the tattoo on my left arm. The tattoo serves me as a daily reminder
that I have not only survived some miserable situations, but I have also
thrived despite them. I have something to give back to others because I believe
they can survive and thrive too. My purpose/meaning? To give light to others –
to make the world a little bit better than it was before I came into it.
Reflecting on the Frankl quote above, giving light is NOT easy or pleasant.
Marianne Williamson echoes this idea nicely in her quote about our deepest fear
being that we will find our Light and become powerful beyond measure (made
famous in the movie, Coach Carter).
Think about the items that produce light: candles, lanterns, light bulbs, our sun,
fire… All of these light sources produce heat, and the medium carrying the
flame or glow must be able to withstand the heat, or the light dies. The medium
must ENDURE that which brings forth the light, sometimes over and over again.
OF course, this quote led me to look up the definition of the word “endure.”
Frankl was not a native English speaker, so I just wanted to be sure I
understand the nuance of his statement…
Merriam-Webster defines “endure” as to continue to exists in
the same state or condition, to experience (pain or suffering) for a long time,
and to deal with or accept (something unpleasant). I have parentheses in the
definitions because to endure is what we call a “transitive” verb. It must have
a direct object to convey its full action as a verb. The direct object is a
noun that receives the action of the verb. OK – that’s your grammar lesson for
today. Quiz tomorrow! J Endure is a perfect
example of transition/transitive action. It passes action on to another object,
transforming it for the subject of the sentence, the object performing the
action. So, I could re-state Frankl’s quote as “A light-bringer must endure the
burning of the light source.” Endurance, that most intimidating of the words we
must perform. We must bear the pain we’ve endured to bring the light
(knowledge) it produces to others.
Hmmmm, what do we know about light sources and their media? How long can
light sources exist before they go out? I’m going to leave the thoughts there
for now. Of course, I will post a story later on the blog! You know I can’t let this go by without an
illustration – a sharing of knowledge – a light-bringing to you. I bear the
pain to share the knowledge. And it’s ok. I see the light in you – I share the
smiles to represent the light we can pass from one to another. It only takes a
spark to ignite a large fire… I believe in you.
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