YES TO LIFE

Published for the first time in English translation, these speeches introduce the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor’s belief in the essential meaningfulness of life.

Frankl gave these three lectures in Vienna in 1946, just nine months after his liberation from a concentration camp. Together, they offer a condensed primer to his best-known work, Man’s Search for Meaning (1946). Known as “logotherapy,” Frankl’s approach aimed to help suicidal people find meaning through creativity, love, and suffering. This was no mere intellectual construct but a pattern he observed in his patients and manifested in his own life. Fatalism is overcome, Frankl insists, by individuals creating meaning. However, this is more complicated than achieving contentment, for in a “balance sheet” view of life, bad moments outweigh good ones. Therefore, happiness cannot be the goal, he argues. Instead of asking “What can I expect from life?” he advocates flipping the question to “What does life expect of me?” Joy comes from fulfilling that duty. He gives the real-life example of a man being sent away for a life sentence: Frankl expects the prisoner would then have deemed his existence meaningless, yet when fire broke out on the prison ship, he saved 10 lives. From this, the author concludes that “none of us knows what is waiting for us” and so suicide is “the one thing that is certainly senseless.” Furthermore, illness and suffering offer opportunities for spiritual growth, whether through resistance or—if death is inevitable—acceptance. Frankl cites a terminally ill patient who could no longer work but found meaning in reading, music, and conversation. To modern readers, many of the sentences may seem convoluted while the oral format accounts for slight repetition. However, the case studies are relatable and the overall viewpoint convincing. Psychologist Daniel Goleman’s introduction, though overlong, gives useful context.

More than 70 years later, Frankl’s philosophy still inspires.