Yes To Life
up:: Books
- Type:nonfiction
- Author:: Viktor E. Frankl
- Year published:: 1946
Mentioned in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Summary/Reflection
How to even summarize this book. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychologist became a prisoner in a concentration camp. He describes the psycological ramifications for the prisoners. From arriving in the camp, living in the camp, to being freed.
Amidst this unimaginable suffering, he is confronted by existential questions of mankind and meaning. When there is seemingly nothing to live for, why even life? Frankl describes that in a copernican shift, we ought not to ask “what is the meaning of life” but that life asks us what do you do to give it meaning? To survive even the most adverse circumstances, there must be something in the future to look forward to. What do you want to give to life? That is what keeps you going.
Frankl’s grace is astounding. His humility, his love. His freedom of bitterness. His appeal that there are decent people and there aren’t and you can find both types in prisoners and guards.