Weekend Lounge Thoughts: The Real search


The best self-help book I have come across
I have always maintained that if one has a choice of choosing only ONE self-help book in one's life, then they would have made a good choice if they read just this one book by Viktor Frankl, titled "Man's search for meaning". Came across this book in Stephan Covey's seminal work,"7 Habits of highly effective people". Mr Covey's book will be the second best.   

Why a book on this subject?
Many friends express surprise for my liking of such a serious (even morbid, according to a few) book.  As it is, i have noticed that in India,the knowledge of the holocaust and understanding of its deep tragedy is often poor, especially with the common average person. Maybe, its because that our nation was busy in its own independence struggle at the time of the WW II and the events preceding it. Nevertheless, let me explain why this book is such a favorite of mine.

The events of Auschwitz concentration camp are harrowing, yes, but Mr Frankl's book has something which hardly any other book can claim to be. The author here, in this case, was living among his subjects and was subjected to the same pain they had to undergo. The camp experience would undoubtedly be one of the most difficult and tough things endured by any human being, in the modern era. 

And so a survivor's memoirs and his observations, especially one that is unbiased by personal emotions and motives, became that much more valid and irrefutable, than say any other author who gives gyan on how to deal with obstacles and hardships of life sitting in his warm and cozy house, his stomach full and his glass empty.

So what does it say?
Well, i would be doing the slim book an injustice if i try to paraphrase it further. Still some of my favorite passages are when Frankl tells you that ultimately only those who have a why to live, can find a how to survive. And only those who have a strong reason to live have better chances to survive in the face of ultimate hardships.

But how to find a reason for your existence? 
Well, that's the golden question and each one have to find their own answer to that one. But what surely does help you is when you realise and exercise the power to choose your attitude, your power to choose your reaction to any given event. 

For example a camp guard can threaten or hit an inmate, punish him by making him do back-breaking hard labor but the prisoner still has the power to choose to maintain his self respect, be positive about life, his ability to see & be happy from the beauty of nature, his ability to love, hopefully without succumbing to hallucinations. If he can do that, he would have exercised that will.

I will say no more, because i feel my message delivery is like croak of a frog against the real narrative which flows like music. There are much more in the book, and i strongly recommend reading it.

I also recommend Life is beautiful, Schindler's List and Escape from Sobibor as nice films to learn more about those times. Not all are bleak. The first is a comedy(of sorts).

PS: Mein Kampf, the book penned by Adolf Hitler, is strangely one of the most popular books on roadside vendors across India. A few, non-illiterate politicians have even tried to paint themselves to be as "patriotic" as Hitler. You can visit here to know why anybody who aspires to be Hitler is either a lunatic or plain dangerous.

Need I say more, about the need to know about the fate of those six million Jews killed in the holocaust and the need to LEARN from the mistakes of mankind's past?



Book Name: Man's Search for Meaning
Author: Viktor Frankl
Total Pages: 184 pages
  • ISBN-10: 080701429X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807014295

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