Man’s Search for Meaning Summary By Viktor E Frankl
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Blog Title: Man’s Search for Meaning Summary
Name: Man’s Search for Meaning
Author: Viktor E Frankl
Download Man’s Search for Meaning at: Audible
Buy Man’s Search for Meaning at: Amazon
Buy Man’s Search for Meaning at: Flipkart
Book size: 160 pages
Overview:
At the Time of World War 2 Author of Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankly was kept a prisoner under concentration camp. If you are aware then you must have the idea that concentration camp used to be the worst place for prisoners, and prisoners used to prefer committing suicide instead of going inside the concentration camp, that concentration camp was filled with lot of diseases and also was a very cold place at that place those prisoners were tortured. They were beaten and they were asked to do very difficult work and task and they were given very less food to eat and very thin dresses to wear because of which many prisoners body used to give up, in fact many prisoners used to die because of hunger and cold, and remaining prisoners who able to survived but they were not capable of doing any work was thrown inside the gas chamber to die. All this torture was done on people who were fit when brought to concentration camp and those who weren’t fit was immediately thrown to gas chambers, at the time of war many such camps were opened where million people died, and author of Man’s Search for Meaning book was also brought to this concentration camp where he spends his life three worst and the most difficult years, In those three years he lost his entire family his wife parents brother, and also faced many tortures, people who were brought to this camp along with author amongst them almost all died, at the same time author managed to survive, at this difficult time author learned to see hope and understand the actual meaning of life, he learned the actual meaning of happiness and also learned various life lessons and through his book he created huge positive impact over millions of people, today I will share few life lessons and important happiness success related lessons from his classic and amazing book whose 10 million copies has been sold.
Let’s begin with Man’s Search for Meaning Summary:
Man’s Search for Meaning Summary Point 1. Strong why and goal
Victor was a doctor as a profession so he used to help many people in that camp who were sick, usually many people used to die in front of him, but one incident which has happened to his patient made him think, that patient was going through typhus, typhus usually occurs during war times and famines, when that patient came to meet victor, he told him that doctor I had a weird dream last night, in that dream I heard a voice which said to me, like I can ask him anything and he will give his answer, so listening to that I asked that voice when I able to move out of this place, when I able to go to my home, when war will end and when all my problems will end? , to this that voice said you will be out of all this by 30th march and you’ll be free, that patient had dreamed all this at the end of February and march has been started, hence while sharing this incident with author that patient was having a smile on his face, he had hopes that yes he’ll be out from all this before 30th and that voice was real, but as days passed and as 30th was about to come, war wasn’t getting o0ver but was increasing with more force, and his chances to getting out from that camp was becoming less and finally got over, after which he got very sick by 29th he had a high fever, on 30th he fainted and on 31st march he died, for everyone his reason for death was typhus but victor knew and some of his closed ones knew that the reason for his death was the hope which he left, he wasn’t getting the reason for his survival he wasn’t knowing his “why” for his survival, hence he lost his life.
Other camp doctors also confirmed this weird fact that even they realized that most of the death has occurred between Christmas and new year and the reason for this was most of the people expected that they will be out from this camp and difficulties by end of the year and will able to celebrate festival with their families and friends, but as Christmas arrived they realized that things are not going as per their expectations hence they lost hope and as well as their lives, on the other hand victor manage to survive three years after facing all the difficulties because his Why was very strong, he has some goals which he wanted to finish after getting out from that camp, he wanted to live because he wanted to complete his book which he had started before getting into that camp, he wanted to meet his wife because he wasn’t aware whether she was alive or not, and because of his this why and goals he able to survive that too without losing hope and strength, similarly other survivors who able to survive has some strong goals and why’s hence they managed to survive.
The thing you must learn from this is, that to handle life difficult times and to get success even your why and goal should be strong, whatever you want to achieve you should know it’s why, like why you want to achieve it, why you want to get good grades, why you want to get up early in the morning? For all this your goals and why should be clear and if your goal and why is not clear then you will not be able to do anything. Example, suppose you think you want to get up early in the morning for a walk then there are high chances you will not get up, but if you know that if you don’t get up early in the morning then one criminal will come and shoot you then for sure you will get up early and there are high chances that you will not sleep whole night. Hence having strong why to complete goals is really important and necessary.
Man’s Search for Meaning Summary Point 2. We give meanings
I still remember the time when I have taken my first multimedia phone, I used to love listening songs, still I like listening songs but that time I was very much into it, so earlier I have stored various different songs under my playlist, and I have created my own different playlist, such as hindi songs, English songs, Punjabi etc in fact I used to search different songs every time, and whenever I used to find different unique song I used to save it under my collection, while doing this I have created my own awesome playlist, for me my songs collections were very important, but one day I gave my cellphone to my friend for some kind of work, by mistakenly he deleted my entire phone data, all my songs forwarded messages were deleted which I was saving from very long time, at that time I felt really very bad, in fact I had taken so much of stress that because of it I used to feel depressed used to feel anxiety, well right now thinking about it I feel like laughing and smiling but at that time I wasn’t feeling good and wasn’t able to handle that situation, I am sharing this experience to you because this is really very important point which author has shared with us, sometimes in life we give negative meanings and too much value to small situations which start creating problems for us which is not at all good.
Buddhism central theme which is known as emptiness, this teaches us that everything is empty and we give meaning to everything. Meaning whatever happens to you its neutral you as per your preference gives meaning to it and makes it negative or positive, example, suppose if you are driving a car and another car with full speed overtakes your car, then its your choice whether you want to take that situation in a negative way whether you’ll abuse that man and say he is trying to be show off or whether for your own benefit you’ll give that situation a positive meaning by thinking that maybe that person is going through some medical emergency or anything and bring your mood back to normal, another example, suppose black cat crosses your way then its your choice or decision whether you want to give that situation a meaning of superstitious and will not travel through that way or whether you will use that way and reach your destination on time, I know these examples are not the ideal one but the thing is you can give any meaning to situation and can deal with it, you can take things and situation positively and can stay happy, yes maybe you were right that driver was trying to be a showoff but by thinking this way nothing will happen to that driver eventually your mood will get spoiled, hence no matter how bad the situation is trying to find good in every situation. Try to give positive meaning to a particular situation and deal with it trusts me this thing will keep you happy healthy mentally and physically which is the most important thing to convert any bad situation in to better one.
Man’s Search for Meaning Summary Point 3. React or respond
Earlier whenever my bike used to get damaged at the middle of the road at that time I used to get frustrated and used to think bad things about the situation and used to feel very angry while taking my bike to mechanic, used to think whole day has gone so bad and worst etc, but today after reading how to stop worrying and start living and 7 habits of highly effective people book now when my bike used to get damaged instead of getting frustrated or instead of reacting I started to respond, instead of getting angry I used to think good my bike stopped if it would have kept going smoothly maybe after few miles I would have faced accident and maybe my bike got damaged because god wants to save my life, or I think good now I can listen audio book for little more longer and I will be healthy by taking a walk till mechanic shop, and I take best action to deal with that situation at that time, I started responding to such situations instead of reacting.
Usually whenever we face difficult situation as per our thinking, so for its we starts reacting we start hurting ourselves mentally and physically, we start taking pressure and tension, and used to feel frustrated and sometimes we irritate other as well whereas in such situations we should respond instead of reacting, and I am not saying this to you on the bases of my small experiences instead author is teaching us about this he has faced such situation in those three years under concentration camp, where he could have died any moment, he wasn’t having food family and friends for his support, so if he can stay in such difficult situation and can respond to such situations positively if he can learn about life meaning and happiness so why can’t we do anything positive for our problems why can’t we stay positive in negative situations?
I understand most of the times, its not easy and sometimes we take month weeks years to come out of that negative situation and to become positive, but I am saying why to stay negative and torturing ourselves even on those two or three hours for any god damn reason, why to spoil our precious day and precious time just by thinking of the situation which is not going right as per our thinking, we should learn to respond instead of reacting, just like author try to change things for something better, now we can spend our lives by being two person first who stays angry and spoil his and others mood by thinking why all glasses broke at his house or by being the second kind of person who thinks that glass has broken means something good will happen here I am not saying you to be superstitious but I am asking you to search a reason so that you can stay happy hence try to find good in every situation no matter how bad the situation is, because this positive attitude will give you huge success,
Now to end this video would like to wish you all a very happy new year 2018 I would ask you to start your new year by saying author beautiful quote which says, everything can be taken from you in this world a thing which you like can be taken from you, but there is one thing which no one can take from you on which you will always have your control and that thing is your decision, you have a choice that whether you want to react or respond to any situation whether you want to stay positive or negative this is the thing which is in your hands.
This knowledge I have shared from an amazing book Man’s Search for Meaning by vector frankly, you must read this book.
Download Man’s Search for Meaning at: Audible
Buy Man’s Search for Meaning at: Amazon
Buy Man’s Search for Meaning at: Flipkart
