title: things to know about prague czech republic
text: what motivates you to live what is the meaning of life
  for centuries mankind has questioned everything mankinds quest for the answer to what drives us and what pushes us forward in times of darkness is not exempt from analysis in fact its been a consistent theme since the dawn of time stoicism  although not directly attributed to answering what drives us skirts around the topic and creates a general set of principles to help us deal with negative externalities in life
  while many philosophers have pontificated on the subject of mankinds driving force and the will to live theres a problem inherent with such an analysis in order to research such a basic and instinctual topic one needs to experience a visceral cerebral experience that brings him or her to a basic instinctual level before having such an epiphany one needs to examine our animalistic base and then explore logically from there
  one such analysis is known as logotherapy from the greek word logoswise  logotherapy developed by viktor frankl is an influential school of psychotherapy that is founded on the pillars of what motivates mankind before we delve into logotherapy however its important that we discuss viktor franklwho he was and why his unique perspective provides for an incredibly powerful source of credibility and authority
  
  viktor frankl was born in  in what was at that time known as austriahungary frankl was a neurologist and psychiatrist his early life was relatively unspectacular but from an early age he displayed an interest in philosophy as well as psychotherapy initially interested in freud and adlers work he began to see their faults and eventually diverged from their teachingsbecoming particularly interested in depression as well as suicide
  during  frankl in completing his residency in neurology was responsible for setting up the selbstmörderpavillon  translated in english to the suicide pavilion its estimated that frankl along with his staff treated upwards of  women who had suicidal tendencies
  in september of  his life was shaken frankl along with his wife and family were deported to a nazi concentration camp known as theresienstadt ghetto whilst there and during his stay at auschwitz frankl worked as a doctor in the psychiatric care unit focusing on mental health helping newcomers deal with shock and grief
  
  in  after three years in a concentration camp frankl released his book entitled mans search for meaning  which details his experiences as a holocaust survivor as well as his theory which became known as logotherapy the book is divided into two partspart one is a detailed account of his experiences whereas part two discusses logotherapy
  his time in the numerous concentration camps began to shape his philosophical and psychiatric theory while he had read books on the subject of psychological healing prior to his imprisonment he had never experienced it to the degree in which he had become accustomed to particularly intrigued as to why some prisoners lived longer than others frankl began to organize his thoughts and document how the average prisoners life in a concentration camp was reflected in their mind as a doctor focusing on grief and shockstricken inmates he was in a very unique position
  hundreds and during some weeks thousands of helpless inmates were carted in auschwitz the mostfeared concentration camp weekly between the inmates sleeping next to him and those seeking treatment frankl noted that each prisoner without exception faced three stages of psychological reactions once entering the concentration camp these stages were shock apathy and depersonalization
  while seemingly unimportant the noted documentation of these stages was very important for frankl as he began to notice while every inmate experienced these stages some experienced them to a less cerebral degree some inmates seemed less depressive than others and featured a happier disposition these inmateswith some expected variabilityoutlived the other inmates
  discovery as he began to poke and prod frankl noticed something that separated these individuals from others hope there is never not meaning in life every moment no matter how painful dehumanizing or horrendous it is has meaning by extension frankl suggests even suffering is meaningful the inmates that survived the longestthe ones that outlived the rest had hope frankl suggested that he could tell whether or not an inmate would live just by looking at their facesthe face of a dejected depressed inmate was obvious and clear as day without hope they were doomed
  everything can be taken from a man but one thing the last of the human freedomsto choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose ones own way
  the next question that frankl sought to answer was an important one and the foundational maxim of logotherapywhy did some men have hope and others not
  the answer was love
  the truth  that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire 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 i understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss be it only for a brief moment in the contemplation of his beloved
  frankl in his book mans search for meaning recounted several instances where he would be driven into brief stints of depression after a beating during a latenight march in bare feet or watching his friend get treated inhumanely hed vacillate from depression by thinking and longing for his wife the men whom lasted the longest invariably had a wife or a job that they loved it was this motivator the unquantifiable love that pushed men in inhuman circumstances to existentially escape the physical realm and put mind above body
  what we can get from this to answer this frankl codified three ways that he discovered is how we can find meaning in life  a job love and how we react to suffering its important to realize that while its easy to read this and assume that frankl is saying we should all suffer in order to find meaninghes not he is suggesting however that should we not have a jobdeed or love that allow us to find meaning in life we can still find meaning by choosing how to react in a negative situationour mental freedom is one of the only things that can never be taken from us theoretically speaking
  the average man will never be faced with such a dire circumstance such as the atrocities that frankl and so many others dealt with what we can do however is choose how we react to lifes adversities
  a fair assessment of logotherapy is that it provides a simplistic solution to a complex question life since life is such a complex series of events logotherapy offers a solution that may not be representative of lifes true hardships and intricacies in saying this my own personal evaluation is that this criticism in itself may have flaws by assuming that a complex question must have a complex solution even the assumption that life in complex can be debated its a cliched saying that life is hard or complexand even if it is its not out of the realm of possibility that a complex question has a simple solution  sometimes the answer we seek is right in front of us
  viktor frankl died in september  and his works are still read today several logotherapy institutes exist today named after him
  read more does life have inherent meaning without belief in god