Today’s Teacher: Viktor Frankl (1905 – 1997)
The Teaching
“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.”
— Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Who Was Viktor Frankl?
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor whose experiences in Nazi concentration camps led to one of the most profound psychological insights of the 20th century: that finding meaning is what enables humans to survive even the most unbearable circumstances.
Between 1942 and 1945, Frankl was imprisoned in four different concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. His wife, parents, and brother all perished in the camps. He faced starvation, disease, brutal labor, and the daily reality that he could be killed at any moment for any reason or no reason at all.
In this hell on earth—where every external freedom was stripped away—Frankl made a remarkable discovery: the Nazis could control his circumstances, his body, even his survival, but they could not control his inner freedom to choose how he responded to his suffering.
After liberation, Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning, which has sold over 10 million copies and been named one of the ten most influential books in America. In it, he shares both his experiences in the camps and the psychological framework he developed called logotherapy—therapy through meaning.
His wisdom comes not from theory, but from surviving the worst humanity can inflict and emerging with insights that can help anyone facing suffering, loss, or life’s inevitable difficulties.
Understanding the Wisdom
The Freedom That Cannot Be Taken
Most of us think of freedom as external: freedom to go where we want, do what we want, say what we want. These freedoms matter, and we should protect them.
But Frankl discovered something deeper: there is an inner freedom that exists even when all outer freedoms are removed.
In the concentration camps, prisoners had no freedom in the conventional sense:
- They couldn’t choose what to eat, when to sleep, or where to go
- They couldn’t control whether they lived or died
- They had no privacy, no possessions, no protection
- Their families were torn apart, their bodies starved and brutalized
- Everything external was controlled by others
Yet even there, Frankl observed that people still had one freedom: the freedom to choose their attitude, their inner stance toward their circumstances.
The Gap Between Stimulus and Response
Frankl identified what he called “the last of human freedoms”—a space that exists between what happens to you and how you respond to it.
Stimulus (what happens) → THE GAP (your freedom) → Response (what you choose)
In this gap lives your power:
- To find meaning in suffering
- To maintain dignity when treated without dignity
- To love when surrounded by hatred
- To hope when circumstances are hopeless
- To choose who you will be regardless of what’s happening to you
Most people live unconsciously, with automatic responses. Something happens, they react. There’s no gap—just stimulus-response, like a machine.
Frankl’s revelation: You are not a machine. You can insert consciousness into that gap and choose.
Even in Auschwitz, some prisoners chose to share their last piece of bread with others. Some chose to comfort dying strangers. Some chose to maintain their humanity while surrounded by inhumanity.
They had no control over their circumstances. But they exercised total control over who they would be within those circumstances.
That’s the freedom no one can take from you.
How to Practice This Wisdom Today
1. Morning Freedom Declaration (5 minutes)
Start your day by claiming your inner freedom.
Before reacting to emails, news, or demands, take five minutes to center yourself:
Acknowledge what you cannot control today:
- Other people’s moods, choices, and opinions
- Traffic, weather, delays
- The economy, politics, world events
- Your body’s minor discomforts
- How quickly things happen (or don’t)
Declare what you CAN control:
- How I interpret what happens
- The attitude I bring to challenges
- The meaning I make from my experiences
- Who I choose to be today
- My responses to difficult situations
Write or speak aloud: “Today, regardless of what happens, I choose [your attitude]. No one and nothing can take this freedom from me.”
Example: “Today, regardless of what happens, I choose to be kind, purposeful, and present. No one and nothing can take this freedom from me.”
2. Practice the Gap (Throughout the Day)
When something challenging happens, practice finding the gap between stimulus and response.
The trigger happens:
- Someone cuts you off in traffic
- A colleague takes credit for your work
- You receive criticism
- Plans fall through
- Technology fails at the worst moment
Instead of automatic reaction, pause:
1. Notice the stimulus: “This happened.”
2. Find the gap: Take three breaths. This is your freedom space.
3. Ask: “Who do I want to be in response to this? What attitude do I choose?”
4. Respond consciously: Act from choice, not reaction.
Example:
- Stimulus: Boss criticizes your work in front of team
- Automatic reaction: Defensive anger, shame, plotting revenge
- The gap: Three breaths. “I have freedom here.”
- Chosen response: “I maintain my dignity. I listen for useful feedback while not internalizing harsh delivery. I choose professional composure.”
The situation didn’t change. Your relationship to it completely changed because you exercised your freedom in the gap.
3. The Meaning-Making Practice (Midday Reflection)
Frankl’s central insight: suffering becomes unbearable when it seems meaningless; it becomes endurable when we find meaning in it.
When facing a difficult situation today, ask Frankl’s key questions:
1. “What is this asking of me?” Not “Why is this happening?” but “What response does this call forth from me?”
2. “How can I use this to become who I want to be?” Every challenge is an opportunity to practice your values. What values can you practice here?
3. “What meaning can I make from this experience?” Maybe it teaches you something. Maybe it connects you to others. Maybe it reveals what matters. Maybe it strengthens you. Maybe it redirects you to a better path.
Example – Job loss:
- Meaningless framing: “I’m a failure. Life is unfair. I’m worthless.”
- Meaningful framing: “This is asking me to discover what I really want to do. This is teaching me resilience. This is redirecting me toward better alignment. This is connecting me to others who’ve faced this. This is an opportunity to practice courage.”
The circumstances are identical. The experience is completely different.
4. Evening Attitude Inventory (10 minutes)
Before bed, review your day through Frankl’s lens of freedom:
Reflect:
- Where did I exercise my freedom to choose my attitude today? (Celebrate this.)
- Where did I react automatically without using the gap? (No judgment—just awareness.)
- What meaning did I make from today’s challenges?
- How did I maintain my humanity today, even in small ways?
Write one sentence: “Today I chose to be _____________ even when circumstances suggested I should be _____________.”
Example: “Today I chose to be patient even when circumstances suggested I should be frustrated.”
This practice builds your awareness of the freedom you always have.
A Modern Application: The Chronic Illness
Let’s get specific. Imagine you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic illness. It’s painful, limits your activities, and will likely never fully go away. This wasn’t your choice, it’s not fair, and you can’t fix it.
The meaningless response (freedom surrendered):
- “Why me? My life is over.”
- Define yourself entirely as “sick person”
- Give up on goals, relationships, joy
- Become bitter, envious of healthy people
- Let the illness determine your entire attitude
- Surrender all agency to the diagnosis
The result: The illness controls not just your body, but your spirit, relationships, and identity. You’ve lost the freedom Frankl describes.
The meaningful response (freedom exercised):
1. Acknowledge reality without being consumed by it: “Yes, I have this illness. No, it’s not the entirety of who I am.”
2. Choose your attitude: “I choose to face this with courage rather than bitterness. I choose to find what’s still possible rather than mourn only what’s lost.”
3. Find the meaning: Perhaps this teaches you:
- What actually matters (relationships over achievements)
- Compassion for others who suffer
- Presence—appreciating today rather than taking it for granted
- Strength you didn’t know you had
- How to help others facing similar challenges
4. Exercise freedom within constraints: You can’t control having the illness. You CAN control:
- How you talk about it
- Whether you isolate or stay connected
- What you can still do within your limitations
- The attitude you bring to medical appointments
- Whether you help others navigate similar paths
- Who you become through this experience
The diagnosis is the same. But in one scenario, you’re a victim with no agency. In the other, you’re a person exercising your ultimate freedom—to choose who you’ll be in response to what you cannot change.
Frankl would say: The illness affects your body. Don’t let it determine your spirit.
The Deeper Philosophy
Meaning Is the Antidote to Despair
Frankl observed that in the concentration camps, those who survived weren’t necessarily the strongest, youngest, or healthiest. They were those who found meaning in their suffering.
Some found meaning in:
- Surviving to reunite with loved ones
- Bearing witness so the world would know what happened
- Helping fellow prisoners maintain hope
- Holding onto spiritual or religious purpose
- Maintaining human dignity despite dehumanization
- Believing their suffering served some larger purpose
When suffering has meaning, it becomes bearable. When it seems meaningless, it becomes unbearable.
This is why Frankl founded logotherapy (from “logos,” meaning “meaning”). The therapy doesn’t focus on pleasure or power, but on helping people find meaning in their existence, especially in suffering.
Three Sources of Meaning
Frankl identified three primary ways humans find meaning:
1. Through creating or accomplishing something Work, art, projects, contributions that give you purpose. Even in the camps, Frankl mentally reconstructed the manuscript that had been confiscated—this gave him purpose.
2. Through experiencing something or someone Love, beauty, nature, connection. Frankl survived partly by thinking about his wife, imagining conversations with her. Love gave his suffering meaning.
3. Through the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering When you cannot change circumstances, you can change yourself. Your response to suffering can become heroic, noble, meaningful. The very act of choosing dignity in undignified circumstances creates meaning.
You always have access to at least one of these sources of meaning, no matter your circumstances.
The Tragic Triad
Frankl taught about the “tragic triad”—three inescapable facts of human existence:
- Pain (we all suffer)
- Guilt (we all fail and fall short)
- Death (we all die)
Most philosophies try to escape or deny these realities. Frankl says: Face them. Find meaning in them. Transform them.
- Turn pain into purpose
- Turn guilt into growth
- Turn mortality into urgency to live meaningfully now
The tragic elements of life don’t diminish meaning—they intensify the importance of finding it.
Your Practice for Today
Here’s your challenge based on Frankl’s teaching:
Today, face one difficult circumstance by exercising your freedom to choose your attitude and find meaning.
Identify something challenging you’re currently facing:
- A difficult relationship
- A work situation
- A health issue
- A financial struggle
- A loss or disappointment
- A limitation or constraint
Then practice Frankl’s approach:
1. Acknowledge what you cannot control: Name the circumstance clearly without dramatizing or minimizing.
2. Claim what you CAN control: “I cannot control [the circumstance], but I can control my attitude toward it.”
3. Choose your attitude: “In response to this, I choose to be [specific attitude—courageous, patient, curious, kind, purposeful, etc.].”
4. Find the meaning: “This situation is asking me to [what it’s calling forth from you]. The meaning I can make from this is [what it teaches, how it serves, what it develops in you].”
5. Act from freedom: Take one action today that reflects your chosen attitude, not an automatic reaction.
Notice: When you exercise this freedom, the circumstance doesn’t necessarily change, but your experience of it transforms completely.
Essential Reading: Dive Deeper into Viktor Frankl
If this teaching resonates with you, explore these books:
Primary Source:
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Essential reading—one of the most important books ever written
- Part memoir (concentration camp experiences), part psychology (logotherapy)
- Short, powerful, life-changing
- Should be read by every human
Logotherapy in Depth:
The Doctor and the Soul by Viktor Frankl
- Systematic presentation of logotherapy
- For those wanting to understand Frankl’s psychology more deeply
- Clinical applications of meaning-centered therapy
Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything by Viktor Frankl
- Recently discovered lectures from 1946
- Frankl’s wisdom shortly after liberation
- More accessible than clinical works
Applied Wisdom:
The Will to Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Expands on meaning-making in everyday life
- Less about camps, more about applying principles
- Bridges psychology and philosophy
Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Explores spiritual and philosophical dimensions
- For those interested in deeper existential questions
- Frankl’s mature reflections
Related Reading:
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- Neurosurgeon facing terminal cancer finds meaning
- Modern application of Frankl’s principles
- Beautiful, heart-wrenching memoir
Closing Reflection
Viktor Frankl lost everything in Auschwitz. His family, his career, his health, his freedom, nearly his life. He faced circumstances you and I can barely imagine.
Yet in that hell, he discovered something that no one—not the Nazis, not fate, not circumstances—could take from him: his freedom to choose his attitude and find meaning.
You’re not in a concentration camp. But you are facing difficulties—some you chose, most you didn’t. Circumstances you cannot control. Losses that aren’t fair. Suffering that feels meaningless.
Frankl’s message is both challenging and liberating: You have more freedom than you think you do.
Not freedom to change every circumstance. But freedom to choose who you’ll be within those circumstances. Freedom to find or create meaning in your experiences. Freedom to maintain your humanity, your values, your dignity—no matter what’s happening around you or to you.
Today will bring something you don’t control. Your plans might fall apart. Someone might disappoint you. Your body might hurt. Life might feel unfair.
In that moment, remember: everything can be taken from you but one thing—your freedom to choose your attitude, to choose your own way.
The Nazis couldn’t take that from Frankl.
Whatever you’re facing can’t take it from you either.
Unless you surrender it.
What attitude will you choose today?
Reflection Questions
Take a moment to journal or contemplate:
- Where in my life have I surrendered my inner freedom by letting circumstances control my attitude?
- What meaning can I find or create in my current challenges?
- What is my suffering asking of me? What response does it call forth?
- Who do I want to be in the gap between what happens to me and how I respond?
Tomorrow’s Wisdom
Join us tomorrow as we explore a teaching from Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady and human rights advocate, on how no one can make you feel inferior without your consent—and what that means for your daily life.
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Essential Reading: 📚 Man’s Search for Meaning – Start here. Read this book. 📖 Yes to Life – Frankl’s hopeful post-war lectures 🎯 The Will to Meaning – Apply meaning-centered living daily 💫 Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning – Deeper philosophical exploration
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