THE SPEAKING TREE
Different Perspective Of Human Suffering
By DHARANIDHAR SAHU
Jean-Paul Sartre said that man, in the course of his life, has invented himself and all the values, meanings, truth, justice and religions; so man's essence is a spin-off of his existence. He finds meaning in life because he believes life is eternal. He thinks his ethical choices and actions stretch beyond his terrestrial existence. But, laments Sartre, these beliefs are self-serving illusions and so his value system is an artificial construct. Viktor Frankl, Sartre's contemporary, an Auschwitz survivor - founder of the Viennese School of Logotherapy - maintained that man is capable of discovering himself and life's meaning through suffering and experience. The will-to-meaning enables him to find the reason to live. There are critical moments in a man's life when all the traditional reasons why he should live are taken away one after another, and he is made to wait for death, which would terminate a life without meaning. But the sufferer who is inspired by a will-to-meaning believes: "Everything can be taken from man but one thing; the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".
Sigmund Freud said that man has an innate longing for pleasure. Alfred Adler said the longing was for superiority and power. Frankl said the quest was for meaning. Man does not invent this meaning in\n order to deceive himself; he only discovers it because it is already there. The true meaning of man\'s life is to be found in the world outside of him, rather than within him. This is opposed to the traditional belief that self-knowledge is necessary\n for knowing the world. The first aim of human life is not self-actualisation, but self-transcendence. The former cannot be attained if it is an end in itself. Traditional religions consider suffering necessary\n but can be overcome by goodness. Others extol suffering because it enables them to see clearly the meaning of existence. The lucidity, which the tragic protagonist acquires through his suffering, helps\n him transcend life\'s limitations, penetrate the penumbra and discover the meaning of his suffering. Guided by will-to meaning, man can discover meaning in suffering. Dostoevsky once said that he dreaded not being worthy of sufferings. Frankl and\n his co-sufferers at the Auschwitz concentration camp had a slim chance of survival. His companions felt that if they did not survive the camp their suffering would have no meaning. According to Frankl, however, life, whose meaning "depends upon a\n happenstance - whether one escapes or not - ultimately would not be worth living at all". He asks: "Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an\n answer?" Logo therapy says man is a self-determining being who is capable of transcending all conditions imposed upon him by pan-determinism. He is unique because he is a free agent. By defying the\n predictions about him by the pan determinism based on his upbringing, religious orientations,",
Sigmund Freud said that man has an innate longing for pleasure. Alfred Adler said the longing was for superiority and power. Frankl said the quest was for meaning. Man does not invent this meaning in order to deceive himself; he only discovers it because it is already there. The true meaning of man's life is to be found in the world outside of him, rather than within him. This is opposed to the traditional belief that self-knowledge is necessary for knowing the world. The first aim of human life is not self-actualisation, but self-transcendence. The former cannot be attained if it is an end in itself. Traditional religions consider suffering necessary but can be overcome by goodness. Others extol suffering because it enables them to see clearly the meaning of existence. The lucidity, which the tragic protagonist acquires through his suffering, helps him transcend life's limitations, penetrate the penumbra and discover the meaning of his suffering. Guided by will-to meaning, man can discover meaning in suffering. Dostoevsky once said that he dreaded not being worthy of sufferings. Frankl and his co-sufferers at the Auschwitz concentration camp had a slim chance of survival. His companions felt that if they did not survive the camp their suffering would have no meaning. According to Frankl, however, life, whose meaning "depends upon a happenstance - whether one escapes or not - ultimately would not be worth living at all". He asks: "Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?" Logo therapy says man is a self-determining being who is capable of transcending all conditions imposed upon him by pan-determinism. He is unique because he is a free agent. By defying the predictions about him by the pan determinism based onhis upbringing, religious orientations,
socio-cultural conditioning, man finally transcends himself. To the extent he transcends himself, he actualises himself.
Different Perspective Of Human Suffering
By DHARANIDHAR SAHU
Jean-Paul Sartre said that man, in the course of his life, has invented himself and all the values, meanings, truth, justice and religions; so man's essence is a spin-off of his existence. He finds meaning in life because he believes life is eternal. He thinks his ethical choices and actions stretch beyond his terrestrial existence. But, laments Sartre, these beliefs are self-serving illusions and so his value system is an artificial construct. Viktor Frankl, Sartre's contemporary, an Auschwitz survivor - founder of the Viennese School of Logotherapy - maintained that man is capable of discovering himself and life's meaning through suffering and experience. The will-to-meaning enables him to find the reason to live. There are critical moments in a man's life when all the traditional reasons why he should live are taken away one after another, and he is made to wait for death, which would terminate a life without meaning. But the sufferer who is inspired by a will-to-meaning believes: "Everything can be taken from man but one thing; the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".
Sigmund Freud said that man has an innate longing for pleasure. Alfred Adler said the longing was for superiority and power. Frankl said the quest was for meaning. Man does not invent this meaning in\n order to deceive himself; he only discovers it because it is already there. The true meaning of man\'s life is to be found in the world outside of him, rather than within him. This is opposed to the traditional belief that self-knowledge is necessary\n for knowing the world. The first aim of human life is not self-actualisation, but self-transcendence. The former cannot be attained if it is an end in itself. Traditional religions consider suffering necessary\n but can be overcome by goodness. Others extol suffering because it enables them to see clearly the meaning of existence. The lucidity, which the tragic protagonist acquires through his suffering, helps\n him transcend life\'s limitations, penetrate the penumbra and discover the meaning of his suffering. Guided by will-to meaning, man can discover meaning in suffering. Dostoevsky once said that he dreaded not being worthy of sufferings. Frankl and\n his co-sufferers at the Auschwitz concentration camp had a slim chance of survival. His companions felt that if they did not survive the camp their suffering would have no meaning. According to Frankl, however, life, whose meaning "depends upon a\n happenstance - whether one escapes or not - ultimately would not be worth living at all". He asks: "Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an\n answer?" Logo therapy says man is a self-determining being who is capable of transcending all conditions imposed upon him by pan-determinism. He is unique because he is a free agent. By defying the\n predictions about him by the pan determinism based on his upbringing, religious orientations,",
Sigmund Freud said that man has an innate longing for pleasure. Alfred Adler said the longing was for superiority and power. Frankl said the quest was for meaning. Man does not invent this meaning in order to deceive himself; he only discovers it because it is already there. The true meaning of man's life is to be found in the world outside of him, rather than within him. This is opposed to the traditional belief that self-knowledge is necessary for knowing the world. The first aim of human life is not self-actualisation, but self-transcendence. The former cannot be attained if it is an end in itself. Traditional religions consider suffering necessary but can be overcome by goodness. Others extol suffering because it enables them to see clearly the meaning of existence. The lucidity, which the tragic protagonist acquires through his suffering, helps him transcend life's limitations, penetrate the penumbra and discover the meaning of his suffering. Guided by will-to meaning, man can discover meaning in suffering. Dostoevsky once said that he dreaded not being worthy of sufferings. Frankl and his co-sufferers at the Auschwitz concentration camp had a slim chance of survival. His companions felt that if they did not survive the camp their suffering would have no meaning. According to Frankl, however, life, whose meaning "depends upon a happenstance - whether one escapes or not - ultimately would not be worth living at all". He asks: "Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?" Logo therapy says man is a self-determining being who is capable of transcending all conditions imposed upon him by pan-determinism. He is unique because he is a free agent. By defying the predictions about him by the pan determinism based onhis upbringing, religious orientations,
socio-cultural conditioning, man finally transcends himself. To the extent he transcends himself, he actualises himself.
