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From: yecto
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  • Just remarkable.

  • I read his book last semester Psychology AP, Man's Search for Meaning, and found it both inspiring and influential on what I beleive.

  • I fundamentally disagree with Dr. Frankl's contention. There is growing evidence that man does not have free will, and decisions are dependent purely on circumstance in combination with genetics. The man in the wheel chair attempting to find 'meaning' was merely a byproduct of his personality and situation. I think i'll have to side with Satre on this one.

  • @EEEstuff *Sartre

  • So few live-up to what they preach. Dr. Frankl you do not fall under those "Psychologists" who need their own "psychologists".

  • D=S-M

  • all kinds of people in thiis planet. you have amazing people like Dr Frankl and you have mostly morons.

  • thumbs up, impressive concept! 

  • Life is always confusion.

  • Mi teoria de la personalidad favorita, ya que parte de la vida de los humanos se construyen en base a sus pérdidas, me parece lo más congruente hasta hoy...

  • his book litterally changed my life, and made me change all my views about life in general. if more people read his book I honestly believe the world would be a better place

  • This guy is an absolute genius!

  • @trakomako You find meaning in suffering, according to frankl.

  • viktor: u are the best psychotherapist on this earth. u are the only one who makes sense to me.....

    and i like ur german accent... :-)

  • Very inspiring indeed... thanks alot for uploading this!

  • thanks for putting this up!

  • Everything he says is in the Bible

  • You can control mans physical freedom but not his mental freedom.

  • @mrfreudable are you sure about that? what about north korea? many koreans are mentally enslaved. what about religious fraud and cults? mental slavery.

  • Tony robbins saw this video.

  • what a wonderful man. i read his book last year at at time in my life i could not have needed it more. so inspiring.

  • gotta love his accent :)

  • ...amazing man, I read his book a few yrs ago, MSFM, I just found and I think I will have another go ....I thought I would see what YT had on Dr Frankl, I am so pleasantly surprised....the present generation coming up is in so much trouble, they are so nannyified....

  • "Our generation is realistic, for 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 gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shima Yisrael on  his lips."

  • When Victor said that "between stimulus and response there is choice" it blew me away and forever changed how I thought, what a tremendous intellect.

  • If you read his book thinking it was non-fiction, you wasted your time. Actual records turned up revealing that he had only spent 3 days at Auschwitz! Not half a year, narrowly escaping being gassed in a chamber and turned into a bar of soap. What a lying sack of crap.

  • @smileythegnome Looking at your videos, friends and associations, all I can say is that I'm sorry that you were an abused child - but don't waste others time with your Nazi Bullshit.

  • @Murphy98112 Look it up for yourself. I found it on a scholarly historical journal from by Prof Timothy Pytell of the Uni. of San Bernardino. The journal's title is "Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17.1 (2003) 89-113" . Obviously a raving neo Nazi historical publication full of "hate" and "intolerance". Scholars these days, I tell ya!

  • my Yoda...

  • Thank you Dr. Frankl.

  • Despair is Suffering without meaning (D = S - M). A striking analysis...

  • So energetic, so vital into his old age. 

  • Break FREEEEEEE of statism- Statism propagated by the RELIGION of psychiatry; through vain worship, with faith in nothing more than instant gratification, at the alter of the "magic pill"!- "Magic pills" DON"T EXIST- lazy sheep.

    FREE WILL DOES!!!!!

  • Bu I still don't understand. Dr. Frankl lost his dear wife in the death camp. What 'meaning' did he have to look forward to? Even so, his survival was a miracle. I would have surely killed myself in the camps if I could not find a way to destroy Nazism. What a brave, strong, intelligent and decent human being. I will read his works again and again -- to the day I die.

  • @ytdsgdjgfueyxn537

    from his book "in search for a meaning" ... he did not know his wife had died ... and the thought of seeing his wife - I think they were in their mid 20s and were taken to the concentration camps shortly after the wedding gave him hope.

    He also thought that some day, he will stand up in a podium talking to people about how he survived. Finding out how people survived living for years in concentration camps, keeping their spirits up made an impression on him.

  • The despair equation explains why people fighting against incredible odds and despite horrific suffering nevertheless continue struggling on and on, whether for some cause or some crisis or situation in their personal life. Dr. Frankl's views are very close to those of Marcus Aurelius and the Stoics.

  • Dr. Frankl was one of the most beautiful human beings who every lived, in my book.

  • Completely Brilliant Man! And he is the real thing too The opposite of "Those Motivational Guys"

  • An inspiration. Listen to Frankl and you will understand mankind

  • God bless you!

  • inspiring... Broke my neck but It did not break me

    

  • Life does have meaning in all times, its all matter of your definition of your life.

  • finished his book "Man's Search For Meaning" tonight. It is an incredible book. 

  • estaria estupendo que subtitularan esta entrevista

  • @TheISMAEL124 SI quieres yo te puedo tratrar de explicar las cosas mas importantes que dice, soy bilingue (expero averlo escrito bien).

  • my hero

  • "Despair is suffering without meaning." -Viktor Frankl

  • I cant get enough of him!

  • He is really a very very inspiring man.

  • This guy rocks.

  • Thank you so much for uploading this wonderful interview. His words are deeply moving and transformative.

  • Frankl's ideas of "meaning in suffering" really resonates with people of "faith". Without this ability to attribute meaning in the midst of suffering, I fear Frankl's basic philosophy of the human experience may be useless in the context of a clinical setting.

  • What does one do if you are suffering without meaning?

    I have been chronically ill for 14 years now - much of it so ill I am stuck in a dark room unable to even read or listen to music etc.

    It's very hard to find meaning unde such circumstances.

    I have a degree and MA in philosophy and have read Franl and others and yet meaning alludes me and suffering continues.

    Many of you might say 'kill yourself' but I am not suicidal - I am emptied out by the futility of my life.

  • @deadgirldreaming

    meaning is always at present, the eternal now.

    If you are suffering without meaning, the moment you realize you are suffering for nothing you'll cease suffering. Or, are you suffering because you feel there's no meaning?

    one always suffers because there's something causing it, either his/her psyche or anything else.

    I tend to think it's more likely to be psychological, and another ludicrous reason for suffering is b/c people think they have to suffer to achieve things.

  • @deadgirldreaming I am touched by your post, have you tried reading the book of Job? It might help you to find meaning in your suffering.

  • @deadgirldreaming I suggest meditation. You can count your outbreath 1 to 10 and start again with one. If thinking starts or remains just concentrate on the counting. And watch your breath. This is more a concentration exercise than a meditation but it will help. There are a lot of meditation "techniques" you can even "do" when youre unable of everything. If you like i can give you more. Meditation is a way to love yourself. This will create a meaning.

  • @deadgirldreaming I`m no expert but I`ve experienced some suffering in life too so Frankl`s words really resonated w/me. The times life looked & felt futile to me, I could always dig somewhere no matter how small w/in myself & find something to live for outside of myself. It could be for a person or pet who needed me, a future hope & dream I had, or a belief that God had a mission for me even though I couldn`t see it in my circumstances, therefore I must press on. You too have something!

  • Such a truely good human being. Thanks for sharing.

  • Meaning-making is the uniquely human function that takes us from existential tragedy of despair to triumph! Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, said: "He who has a 'why' to live, can live with almost any 'how'. Psychologist, Erik Erikson, coined the phrase, "homo poeta: man, the meaning-maker." Dr. Frankl understood both, being not merely a learned human scientist and philosopher; but, through human resilience amidst extraordinary suffering, becoming truly wise.

  • Sorry, but I don't like Frankl.

    With all respect for what he went through, I remember the case of Lev Gumilyov, who went through hell of years of Stalin's jail and, just like Frankl, had an idea, a revelation, that he said saved him and therefore must be true.

    (cont.)

  • And what was Gumilyov's revelation? That each nation is given a limited time on this earth, it groiws, it becomes great, it gets old, and then it dies. And he calculated the time. And of course, since he was Russian, it was Russia's time to be great.

    But he had a problem. The usual one: the Jews. The Jewish nation keeps on living way beyond his predictions. Which made him a Jew-hater for life.

    (cont.)

  • Since then, I am very skeptical about the logic of "if a revelation saved my life, it must be true."

    As for "man's search for meaning," I am sorry, but I don't see much searching for meaning. I see man grabbing uncritically the first "meaning" he can lay his hands on, then believing it intil it leads him into a swamp.

    (cont.)

  • When he comes out, he just grabs the next one laying around. Which leads him to the next swamp. And life is just packed with these cheap "meanings," so there is no need for search.

  • @Kurtlane wow. sounds like you're living a boring life my brother.

  • wot a load of twoddle...meaningful suffering. biggest load of horse manure i've ever heard. and the man is revered as a saint and wise sage...keep buying into the myths instead of living in reality.

  • @pplefleur

    He went through a death camp and has things to say that are worthwhile taking on-board. Your response? Not so much.

  • Awesome - and breathtaking!

  • hier mathematisches aus der wirklichkeit wahrewunder.de.to

  • @trakomako/he's dead...unfortunately

  • salute

  • An absolutely extraordinary man. Man's Search for Meaning should be on the very short list of essential psychology reading.

  • To this little discussion that I find here, @MrEriugena & @Indig0ding0, I would like to add, that I understand "meaning" in Viktor Frankls context as: the "inner" answer (not scientific, but personal) to the questions "Who am I?" or "Why am I here?" or "what is my purpose on this planet?" And regarding those horrible conditions, that answer would have to be valid, even under those conditions. The human need for meaning or purpose. Gives meaning, purpose, direction to your life.

  • @MrEriugena thanks for taking the time to reply. I think our interpretations of Frankl are quite different. The way I see it, Frankl is not suggesting we rationalise, justify or explain away a traumatic event, but rather the "meaning" he refers to is that we find the positive lesson from them - resilience, maintaining our human dignity, even compassion; that awful events need not destroy us or make us into something worse. In this way we can achieve the result you refer to: healing and growth.

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  • @MrEriugena, If you feel this is "ban(ning) it out" may I respectfully request what you would suggest an alternative appropriate response to such a trauma would be, with your experience as both a therapist and human being?

  • @MrEriugena (from previous) Suffering in this life is inevitable, and the ability to understand and value the human condition even in these painful circumstances, to move on and live a rich, rewarding and meaningful life without bitterness or resentment is what sets us free and allows to become fully actualised. (tbc)

  • @MrEriugena, may I comment? I also disagree that the quest for meaning is an attempt to "ban out" painful experiences. Post rationalising may in some sense be denial as you claim, but I would suggest Frankl is not trying to explain or justify the actions of others, or even any external circumstances, but find intrinsic value from all life experiences. (tbc)

  • fantastic interview

  • The meaning does not always stem from the despair, but what one chooses to do with the experience. We fundamentally go through life as either victims or victors. This too is a process of either growth or decay. I think what Frankl touts is personal power, something we all can draw upon even in the darkest of times. Power during those times might be something as simple as holding on to the belief that whatever is causing the pain will eventually weaken.

  • @MrEriugena So you would then claim Frankl's trauma still resonated within him, but yet he achieved so much after his terrible ordeal. It is insulting to one's intellect that you would stake your professional opinion on something that is blatantly obvious. I can't imagine the horrors Frankl saw. And yet he was well spoken, composed, and functional afterwards. Doesn't sound like PTSD to me.

  • @MrEriugena My lord, you have a brass pair to accuse Frankl of denying his trauma. In a word, bullshit. He understood suffering and trauma beyond that of the best of us.

  • @MrEriugena based on what, are you concluding that Dr. Frankl is denying his past? I see nothing indicating such.

    Basically you're saying hes denying his own trauma and therefore his theory is BS.

    my friend thats some pretty shitty thinking and your bias is showing. you're probably still trying to get over your own trauma.

  • @MrEriugena based on what, are you concluding that Dr. Frankl is denying his past? I see nothing indicating such.

    Basically you're saying hes denying his own trauma and therefore his theory is BS.

    my friend thats some pretty shitty thinking and your bias is showing. you're probably still trying to get over your own trauma.

  • Dr. Viktor Frankl did not deny his trauma, he dealt with and faced reality and his situation and God sustained him through it all! He had not only a great inner confidence in himself but a great inner faith and belief in God as well!

  • Viktor Frankl was not only a great man but a great man of help to others in our society!!!

  • I heard about Dr. Frankl by reading Dr. Stephen Covey's The seven habits of highly successful people. Covey is the man and so is Frankel. This way of thinking will lead you go great success in your lives.!!

  • I read his book Man's Search For Meaning and it is one of the most profound pieces of literature of our time. It is one of those books that you can never ever forget.

  • I want to know earnestly, what exactly is the meaning of meaning ?

  • anurram

    I would suggest that to say my life has meaning is to say that I make a difference that has value beyond myself.

    Anyone have another idea?

  • I'm ardent fan of Dr. Frankl theory !

  • His teachers were Carl Jaspers and Alfred Adler!

  • Nonsense. Adler did not teach him.

  • i wrote my thesis on his ideas of logo therapy in regards to teen suicide prevention...very powerful stuff

  • his books really good

  • freedom is a function of CHOICE! this man is a god.

  • No, human beings are not gods. We mistakenly believe that we are endowed with divine powers of good and evil and free will to choose between the two. We may be self-determined. A single cell protozoan in self-determined. But free will implies much more. It implies (or is taken to mean) that there is a "soul" within individual that makes moral choices.

  • I admire this man. God bless him.

  • 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. Viktor Frankl

    I salute this man, given his bio, more so, his heart-earned wisdom, his legacy to all of us.

    Lisa from Munich

  • hey

    i was wondering if you would be able to send me the Interview with Dr. Viktor Frankl part I in a email or something? I am doing my final Year 12 religion assighment on viktor frankl and i would love to put a bit of his interview in it. he is an amazing man

    please can you get back to me thanks

  • A great man.

  • Amen.

  • I have my students read Man's Search for Meaning and they all say that it's the best part of the class/major.

  • I just read that for my intro to Theology class-- powerful stuff. Good choice of required reading!

  • truly inspiring

  • Laws of Attraction only apply to the attraction of the sucker's money to pocket of the author of "The Secret."

  • Best book ever, a very wise man

  • I have his book 'Man's Search for Meaning' on my must read list. Now I know why.

  • I totally respect this person, he is wonderful

  • Viktor its a great human being.I just finished "Man search for meaning".Great ideas

  • This is a great man

  • I love the definition of dispear. Thank you for posting this video Viktor Frankl to me is inspiring.

  • Suffering with meaning is an accomplishment!

  • The definition is very good, but your spelling is funny. ;)

  • english subtitles must be a great one!

  • Can anybody write what he is speaking??? It would help a lot...

  • Any person any man who lived in the 20s must read at least of these two books " Man's searching for meaning² and/or "If this is a man² to understand who is the really man is. These two books were written by the greatest survivor of the Holocaust, Victor Emil Frankl and Primo Levi.

  • the secret is the surface. read the laws of attractions.

  • PLEASE COULD SOMEONE TRANSLATE INTO SPANISH SUBTITLES? LOT OF THANKS...greetings from Spain. There´s no video at youtube about Viktor Franckl, or democratic pschyquiatry in spanish... SO SAD.

  • i'm totally going to sample this guy.

  • @timeisanenemy

    like an appetizer or what?

  • Man,s search for meaning is great, and am soon to read The Will to Meaning. Can anyone recomend some extastintalist phalosephers (athiest only)who speak of the meaning of life, and finding ones meaning? I have scitzoefective-depresed type, and am looking for something to help me with this, as well. Viva rey Juan Carlos!

  • Un tipo extraordinario. "El hombre en busca de sentido" ha sido el libro que más me ha hecho reflexionar este año. Este hombre es luz; un foco halógeno, vamos.

  • Mans Search for Meaning is amazing. Thanks for sharing this video of the good doctor.

  • subtitulos en español por favor!"!!!

    se agradeceria mucho.

  • This man was a genius, and he sure had some balls. Sartre, on the other hand, was a wanker.

  • Jesus chose to suffer - and his suffering is offered to us as a gift, I am told, and if we choose not to accept it, we instead choose to suffer for all eternity. Some gift. It remains the single most codependent act in human history.

  • Luke 12:5 is explained by Matthew 10:28 or in other words the loss of an eternal life is an eternal punishment.

    If you refuse John 10:10b then you get the other option of Romans 6:23 and end up with Psalms 49:20.

    Look to Psalms 51:17 for the better option.

  • I was deeply moved by Dr. Frankl's story in "Man's Search for Meaning" - it is awesome to see this post.

  • hi

    it is (with another book which is known as if this is a man)regarded as a icon of the 20 centry

  • Dr Frankl was a prisoner in a Nazi war camp. He speaks of having choices in the face of deverse conditons. Your are free to make choices no matter your situaion. As human beings we start off as a blank slate an set out on a mission in life to find purpose. being in a nazi camp giving your food and water to those who are need. The power of human being to exist.

  • Great!! Thinker

  • the dr was a truely great thinker and human being.great to see this posted.THANKS.

  • D=S-M

    Brilliant.

  • Brilliant, maybe the most brilliant?  I'm just finishing 'Man's Search for Meaning'. 'Asking', 'What is the meaning of life?' becomes 'Answer' YOUR Life's challenges in ways that have meaning for you by responding to them with action in the real world, instead of theoretically. The book should be studied in schools everywhere.

  • He refuted many of Freud's ideas from the observations he had in the concentration camps.

  • This man is the walking, talking embodiment of understanding trauma. This from every possible aspect: Neurological, Psychological, Cultural, Personal, and most importantly - resiliency-factors and healing-methods.

  • yes,viktor frankl truly is a hero- he allowed us a greater insight and understanding about human nature and psyche- I hope he would be just as well-known like some popstars or politicians because he is so inspirational and I think his thoughts and ideas help(ed) a lot of people and are still very important!

    for anybody who is just discovering frankl-

    I would really recommend you his book "Man's search for meaning"

  • Dr. Viktor Frankl is a hero

  • Thank you so much for posting this video. Frankyl changed the world!!!!

  • This man is an eloquent testimony to the human spirit. His work has really inspired me and made me realise that no matter how bad things get, our lives are never empty. Dr. Frankl's work has done a lot for me and I will never forget his book, "Man's Search For Meaning" for as long as I live.

  • Truly one of the brightest stars in all of human history. Words can't do this man and his work justice. Dr. Frankl, thank you.

  • Frankl embodies the difference betwixt humanity and barbarism!

  • Brilliant

  • he is such a brave individual that I feel ashamed of my own reactions to my pain . . . the theory seems foundational of choice theory, though more compassionate.

  • man this shit is cool

  • dude im doing an essay on this guy!!

    NAD IT COULDNT BE ESSIER!!

    :D

    yay!!

  • this man saved my life.

  • I read "Man's Search for Meaning". you can compare man to animals because man is an animal as well but man is the only animal that can ponder the question: "What is the meaning of my life." Animals cannot.

  • Maybe they already know it, and the answer is "being an animal".

  • Being an animal may be enough for the animal but not the man. Reducing man to being nothing but the sum of his parts is one dimentional, man is so much more.

  • What nationality is Fankl ?

  • he was austrian

  • Why on earth has someone given me a negative vote for asking this question ?? Come on, own up ?? !!

  • I am reading "Man's search for meaning" and it is amazing. For those that don't know him, he lost his wife and parents in concentration camps during world war II, and he spent years of mental and physical torture in the camps himself yet survived and came up with a brilliant psychological theory: Logotherapy, will to meaning. Great man...

  • Sdewres, is the book an easy read ?? i gave up half way thru the Steven Hawking book as it was the most complicated thing i have ever attempted to read !!

  • :)) no mate no, not a good comparison.. It is very relevant to everyday life. No previous qualifications required..:))

  • Cheers Sdewres, i am urrently 'watching' a copy of it on ebay. Who is this dork who keeps giving us 'negative votes' for our dialogue ??

  • There are some really bored people around..:)) As Victor Frankl put it in the book; 'Existential Vacuum'.. Hope you enjoy it..

  • i just got a cd audio book/discussion off ebay by David Dieado called "Way Of The Superior Man". It looks very interesting but i don't think it is related in anyway whatsoever to Frankl's line of thought.

  • (currently)

  • i read his book entitled MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING...It is really amazing!

  • yip :) best book ever

    Frankl's autobiography is really good too!

  • If he could make it out of the concentration camps and come up with uplifting guidelines to find meaning in life, anybody in the western world can make it out of a bad patch, be it professionnal or sentimental.