“He who has a way to live can bear almost anyhow."

What is life?

The simplest and easiest question but very difficult to answer or we can say its answer is unpredictable and changeable.

History of time and humankind is a witness that there aren't any answers to be same.

But there is one thing which is most common to all answers, that we name "situation. Mean life lies within the situation. Everybody defines life according to their situations. So Viktor Frankle defines life in one of his books, “Man’s search for the meaning."

             In this book, he shares his, life experiences and situations and how he suffers and within these situations, he finds the meaning of life.

Viktor Frankl (1995 1997) was a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna medical school and he received the degrees of doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy from the University of Vienna before his successful life he suffered from troubles. In 1940 World War 2 he was arrested and put in a concentration camp where the prisoners were put. So he spent at Auschwitz Dachau and other concentration camps. In this duration, his pregnant wife with his family members was skilled and made him hopeless in life. In the concentration camp, there were multiple prisoners with Dr. Frankl world war 2 was the hardest time for Dr. Frankl because In front of him many prisoners were in bad situations some were killed and some of them died because of lack of food and some were killed by Nazi rules and some lost their hope and stopped their meaning of life due to which they committed suicide. But Frankl was First and last from them whose purpose was not to die. Why not die? Because he had a reason to live.  The reason was the meaning of life. Frankl always remembered a famous saying due to which he maintained his life. "He who is a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how’". This means the one who has a reason for living can bear every condition. This was what helped Frankel to live. The reason was the meaning of life. Most of the people wanted to die because they did not have any way to live. He wanted to stop thinking about dying and he was always searching for the dreams and meanings of his life.

          When he was in camp every prisoner or individual in the concentration camp could not waste his time he was a psychiatrist and neurologist read the people, observed the people, tried to understand what was happening, how that was happening, and why that was happening.

          After his journey of experiencing all, he came to know the definition of life. But as a result, he defines there is no meaning in life but the meaning is given by us according to our situations, conditions, and actions we think to do.

          Finally, Frankl has given meaning to life within three situations. First to suffer, second to work, third to love. According to Frankl, there is no meaning in life. It must be given. The meaning is to suffer, to work, and to love. If you want to live this era, leave the how and welcome the why and accept the why and suffer, work, love.

 

By: Shah Nawaz Noor

The writer is a student at the University of Turbat

Kech Balochistan