What book has given you joy lately? Everybody has one in them, apparently. More authors will publish this week than in the 682 years since Gutenberg gingered up the publishing business (I made that up).
Never worry about binning a bad book, or rereading a good one. Life is short and some books are too long. The best ones are simpatico on first read, sharpening views we already had in soft focus. Man’s Search For Meaning is a book I’ve returned to often on Audible. I was happy to get my hardcopy over the weekend.
Simon Sinek says every human should read this book and he’s spot-on. Read it, especially now. It’s perfect for our times and runs counter to today’s pervasive pursuit of happiness. Frankl has impeccable credentials- Dachau and Auschwitz- and tells his story without self-pity. His pitch for a tragic optimism is the antithesis of today’s specious nihilism.
My habit of soon falling asleep listening on Audible meant “Postscript 1984: The Case For A Tragic Optimism”, was my introduction to Victor E Frankl. Consider reading that first, it’s inspirational.
Frankl says that pain, guilt and death are a given, but life is still meaningful; happiness cannot be pursued, but only ensue; we have the personal resources to bear necessary suffering; and we must cast out unnecessary suffering.
Frankl says meaning is found in doing, loving and suffering; and you may find your purpose in any circumstances. Separated from his wife in Auschwitz, Frankl’s purpose was to see her again and to survive to tell his story. He achieved only one of those, his wife Tilly died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen.
Frankl’s thesis chimes with the stoic view that we must prepare for everything to be taken from us and so be indifferent to what is external. It seems certain we will be materially poorer in the coming years, the only question is to what degree. Stoic practice is to envision that, prepare for it and every day appreciate what we have. Victor Frankl’s story puts that extra jumper and anticipated avocado shortage into perspective.
Frankl believed in the afterlife and stoics don’t, but they have a similar direction of travel: find meaning from within. Think of finding meaning like choosing the numbers on Countdown: a big one from the top, two from the middle and three from the bottom. Be aware they’re likely to need adjusting, so be flexible and prepare to fail often.
Don’t necessarily solve life’s conundrum, that’s a journey without destination. Just go with it and take joy when it comes. For Frankl that was two hours sleep on bare boards, a few peas in his soup or a dead man’s shoes.
Seek purpose, find contentment; jewel it with joy.