This is a book about finding meaning in life. The book makes a very clear distinction between having a successful life and having a meaningful life. Frankl uses many good examples to illustrate the difference between the two. He cites Harvard graduates, many of whom lead successful lives yet at the same time are overpowered by a sense of futility. Although they have achieved financial and social success, their lives are lacking genuine fulfillment. The second and third chapters of the book are slightly confusing. The second chapter is a critique of pan-determinism. Although many of his arguments seem compelling, unfortunately he does not explain the definition of pan-determinism so a lot of the chapter was unintelligible. The third chapter is a critique of pure encounter, and suffers from the same problems as the second.
The book addresses a number of interesting issues. The books asks "How can life have meaning when human existence is such a temporary affair?" The book also points out that in an increasingly affluent society, people have more time and money to spend but nothing meaningful on which to spend it. The part of the book I enjoyed most was this quote from Ludwig von Bertalanffy
"The expanding economy of the `affluent society' could not subsist without such manipulation. Only by manipulating humans ever more into Skinnerian rats, robots, buying automata, homeostatically adjusted conformers and opportunists can this great society follow its progress toward ever increasing gross national product."
The above quote illustrates how we have been duped into believing that materialism is the path to meaning and happiness in life. However, this is not the truth but merely an illusion fed to us by clever manipulators.
The main thing I disliked about the book is its extensive use of philosophical and psychological jargon. From the style of the prose, I don't think the book was targeted at a general audience.
The final chapter discusses paradoxical intention and dereflection. Paradoxical intention is a process by which "the patient is encouraged to do, or to wish to happen, the very thing he fears". For example, instead of trying to stave off anxiety, Frankl suggests to his patient that he embraces anxiety and attempts to heighten the sensation, thereby making it subside. Dereflection appears to be another form of paradoxical intention targeted at curing sexual ailments.
Ultimately, the book concludes that each person must find his own meaning in life. However, in a slight twist the author also demonstrates that in some cases the harder you strive for something, the more it eludes you. The more you search for happiness, the more it slips from your grasp. I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who is facing a crisis of meaning. It certainly will not unlock the key to the meaning of life but it certainly will provoke thought and perhaps point you in the right direction.
If you were to name the three biggest challenges man faces today, chances are, they would be addiction, depression, and aggression. In The Unheard Cry for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, convincingly argues that they all stem from one source: man's search for meaning.Victor Frankl is someone who understands man's make-up as very few secular scholars could. He was a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry and a survivor of four concentration camps, including Dachau and Auschwitz. In his own words, "I bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions imaginable."
In Frankl's experience, the desire to give life meaning enables man to transcend his condition, even in the face of crisis. His book, the Unheard Cry for Meaning, explores that theme while demythologizing sports, sex, literature, and other areas of our so-called "enlightened" society.
In a media-crazed world filled with violence, addiction, and depression, Frankl's Unheard Cry for Meaning is an oasis of reason and humanity. As such, it should be read by everyone you know.
