Having a Reason to Live - The Meaning of Life and Resilience

“I am not only a doctor specialized in two branches, but also a survivor of four concentration camps. For this reason, while overcoming all the pressures, even when faced with the worst and most difficult conditions, I know how to resist, the freedom of man, and the power of what I call the 'Challenge of the Spirit'.”

Viktor E. Frankl

With “The Challenge of the Spirit,” Viktor Frankl presented a similar concept that at first glance evokes quotes from Nietzsche, which he repeats in various texts: “If you have a reason to live, everything can be endured.” While “enduring” is passively valid in Nietzsche, Frankl transforms it into the active “Defiant Power of the Spirit”: “He who has a reason to live endures almost everything in some way.”

How do “resilience” and “challenging strength of spirit” relate to each other? In this book, Frankl's efforts to find an answer to the question of the possibility of surviving unchangeable pain in a spiritually healthy way and the concept of "Resilienz-Overcoming" will be outlined in order to express the differences and similarities between the two concepts.

First of all, if life can be meaningful despite the pain, and if it is possible to see and realize a meaning even in painful situations, then, according to Frankl, provided that there is always pain coming from fate; Life that exposes us to pain is worth fighting for. Because it can be changed, and on the other hand, a momentary call for meaning is effective not in obvious enduring, but in relieving or at least reducing this pain.

The way to find the meaning of life and to be resilient is, "He who has a reason to live will endure everything."

(From the Promotional Bulletin)

Dough Type: 2nd Dough

Number of Pages: 344

Size: 13.5 x 21

First Print Year: 2020

Number of Printings: 1st Edition

Language Turkish