Frankl would have argued that we are never left with nothing as long atest task as we retain the freedom to choose how we will respond.
We have come to know Man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz however, he is also that being who entered those as chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.
A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw early mornthe truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth-that love Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. Iunderstood how is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. rupon us. rse off was a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, cap back be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot pnes and express himself in positive action, when his only achieve ment may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way -an honorable way-in such a position man can, throu loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, “The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."
The Meaning of Life I doubt whether a doctor can answer this question in general terms. For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: "Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?" There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one's opponent. The same holds for human existence. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it. As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is hewho is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by beIng responsible. Thus, logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence.
The Essence of Existence This emphasis on responsibleness is reflected in the categorical imperative of logotherapy, which is: “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!" It seems to me that there is nothing which would stimulate a man's sense of responsibleness more than this maxim, which invites him to imagine first that the present is past and, second, that the past may yet be changed and amended. Such a precept confronts him with life's finiteness as well as the finality of what he makes out of both his life and himself. Logotherapy tries to make the patient fully aware of his own responsibleness; therefore, it must leave to him the option for what, to what, or to whom he understands himself to be responsible. That is why a logotherapist is the least tempted of all psychotherapists to impose value judgments on his patients, for he will never permit the patient to pass to the doctor the responsibility of judging.