Analysis Of Mans Search For Meaning By Viktor Frankl Essay

Analysis Of Mans Search For Meaning By Viktor Frankl - Essay Example Next, Frankl mentions creativity and enjoyment as factors that contribute to the meaningfulness of life. Most people feel their lives to be meaningful when they have opportunities for self-expression. Meaninglessness is sensed, when a person is deprived of the above-mentioned outlets and isn't able to admit meaningfulness of both negative and positive life events, i.e. – in a particular case of death camp imprisonment – suffering. "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way†. Therefore, inability to admit the fact that even the bitterest situations have to mean, i.e. inability to change one's attitude towards unfavorable circumstances that cannot be changed, is another element of the state of meaninglessness. The third element of the discussed state is demolition of the values that were held by an individual: "Under the inf luence of a world which no longer recognized the value of human life and human dignity, which had robbed man of his will and had made him an object to be exterminated [†¦] the personal ego finally suffered a loss of values". Another element contributing to the state of meaninglessness is a lack of love, for Frankl sees love as a powerful motivator.According to Oakley, â€Å"people who find their own lives meaningless are also suffering, in varying degrees, failure of motivation, anhedonia, and distress†.