The Meaning of Suffering Essay Example for Free

The Meaning of Suffering Essay We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into triumph, to turn ones predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situationjust think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancerwe are challenged to change ourselves. Let me cite a clear cut example: Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife who had died two years before and whom he had loved above all else. Now, how could I help him? What should I tell him? Well, I refrained from telling him anything but instead confronted him with the question, â€Å"What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you? â€Å"Oh,† he said, â€Å"for her this would have been terrible; how she would have suffered! † Whereupon I replied, â€Å"You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering – to be sure, at the price that now you have to mourn her. † He said no word but shook my hand and calmly left my office. In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of sacrifice. Of course this was no therapy in the proper sense since, first, his despair was no disease; and second, I could not change his fate; I could not revive his wife. But in that moment I did succeed in changing his attitude toward his unalterable fate inasmuch as from that time on he could at least see a meaning in his suffering. It is one of the basic tenets of logotherepy that man’s main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. That is why man is even ready to suffer, on the condition, to be sure, that his suffering has a meaning†¦ There are situations in which one is cut off from the opportunity to do ones work or enjoy ones life; but what can never be ruled out is the unavoidability of suffering. In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this meaning literally to the end. In other words, lifes meaning is an unconditional one, for it even includes the potential meaning of unavoidable suffering Victor Frankl in Mans Search for Meaning (pg 112-115)