What Does it All Mean?
Making Sense in a Hostile World
Victor Frankel’s story and book, “Man’s Search for Meaning” strongly influenced my psychotherapy training. Frankel was a successful Viennese psychotherapist when the Nazi’s came to power. He had a chance to escape but chose to stay, because his elderly parents were unable to go with him. In 1942 the family was deported to Auschwitz. While the Nazis experimented with perfecting genocide, Victor took the audacious step of transforming his incarceration in hell into an experiment. He decided to give purpose to his situation by observing why some people survived while others did not. Those who gave up, rapidly declined and died within days. He eventually concluded that finding a sense of meaning and purpose was the key to what kept people alive. He would approach people on the edge of despair and ask what they had to hang onto, was it anger and vengeance? Was there a loved one to look for? Or a project to finish? For some like Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the last survivor of the notorious Auschwitz orchestras, it was music; plus of course, the extra rations they received. The musicians were forced to play classical music to those marching to forced labour, knowing many would not return. They even had to serenade children to the gas chambers. Despite such horrors, music lent meaning and purpose to their survival. Anita survived to form one of Uk’s foremost chamber orchestras and has lived to see her hundredth birthday.
Frankel’s book was a revised version of a manuscript hidden in his clothes, which was destroyed on arrival to the camp. His ‘experiment’ added evidence and power to the work, which he continued to assemble in his head. The book was published in 1946 and has been translated into over fifty languages, inspiring people across the world. His words tell an eternal truth, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” It is within our power to create meaning however small. Roberto Assagioli was the founder of Psychosynthesis, in which I trained. He too was imprisoned during the war and decided to treat it as an opportunity for a retreat by practicing meditation and developing his ideas.
Finding a sense of purpose and meaning is something that challenges most of us at times in our lives. I’m thinking of parents whose children are grown and are challenged to re-find themselves and their purpose. Loss of a partner or loved one is another powerful challenge or perhaps a life-changing health crisis such as an accident prevents you from working. Youth unemployment is a breeding ground for all kinds of frustration and destructive activities. Dealing with loss of purpose is common in old age, as physical health and stamina declines, we can no longer manage activities that once filled us with purpose. Isolation and infirmity breed despair and depression as people struggle to find a reason to live. For many it is family and children, for others it is a constant struggle.
Religion has long been the traditional source of meaning and purpose, but much of society has turned away from its institutions. I think perhaps it is because they can prescribe rigid adherence to rules that reflect cultural attitudes and influences, rather than spiritual experience. It seems to me that in the world we are facing, the perception and ability to create meaning and purpose is crucial. After Hurricane Melissa I watched a Jamaican woman with a crowd around her repeatedly telling them that having no roof, didn’t matter. No food, no money? It doesn’t matter. What matters is, “We alive, we alive – be glad.” For me, spirituality is very much about choosing to live by cultivating loving kindness and integrity. It is also about a sense of connecting to the essence of myself and that through this essence I am inextricably connected to the miraculous web of all life. Giving to others is one way to find purpose and upliftment. Taking part in community projects is another place that gives purpose. Whether it be conserving nature or protesting against injustice – coming together for the good of the whole is enormously energising.
Transforming suffering through creativity, is a driving force for artists, musicians and writers. I’ve heard so many say that they do it to stay sane. Through creativity we can alchemically turn pain into beauty and healing, not only for ourselves, but for those who receive it and find solace in our words, melodies and images. The process of honing and crafting our experience into art, whatever its form, helps us step back and find understanding. It allows us to process the pain. Assagioli called this ability, skilful will – the art of navigating obstacles. Imagination is our ability to envisage and create, and it is how we make meaning.
As a poet, I am drawn to those I call the Brave-hearts, poets who articulate our common experiences, who inspire us with their courage to share pain with honesty and compassion. It is also their skill to transform those words into works of art. It seems that the journey has strengthened their hearts and made them bigger. I am moved by the words of those in war situations, those who’ve survived disabling circumstances or violence. We all need to find and hone our skills of survival, not as vengeful monsters but as fuller human beings whose spirit will not be destroyed by outer circumstance.