Ensayo sobre la logoterapia

THE “ULTIMATE MEANING" OF VIKTOR FRANKL By Luiz Carlos Dolabela Chagas A Demonstration Project in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Diplomate Educator/Adminstrator Credential

Supervising Diplomate: Ann V. Graber, PhD

Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy 2003

Copyright © 2003 Luiz Carlos Dolabela Chagas ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

DEDICATION

I dedicate this work: TO those whoare attempting a mind activation for welfare, wisdom and worship (with the finality of enhancing the personality status), in a universal idealistic way to values and concepts; TO those who are searching FOR Truth, Beauty and Goodness, as THE attributes of GOD perceptible by mankind.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Here a wish to offer Irmeli Sjolie my sincere “Thank you!”

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ABSTRACT

During his entireprofessional life, Viktor Frankl was balancing his two roles on a razor’s edge: Viktor Frankl, MD, the psychiatrist, on one hand, and Viktor Frankl the deeply religious man on the other. By necessity he was guarded and tried to keep his religious views personal and private. It was only after Viktor Frankl retired and his death was approaching that he clearly stated what he thought and believed.In his last book, Man´s Seach for Ultimate Meaning (published in 1997, the year of his death), he finally told us what he really meant by "Ultimate Meaning." He was referring to things related to the soul. THIS IS THE DOOR TO BE OPENED HERE. Coming in contact with the Urantia Book provided deeper insights and understanding of concepts like happiness, personality, mind, soul, spirit, and othersaddressed by logotherapy for this writer. This study will compare Franklian teaching on these concepts with the teachings on the same concepts espoused in the Urantia Book. Particular attention will be given to enlarging our perception of the somatic plane, the psychic plane, and the noetic plane. By expanding our awareness of the meaning of life, viewing conscience as an integrative tool, powerfultherapeutic interventions could be developed.

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CONTENT

I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………1 II. WHAT IS LOGOTHERAPY………………………………………….. 7 III. THE IMAGE OF MAN……………………………………………… 13 IV. THE WILL TO MEANING …………………………………………22 V. ON ULTIMATE MEANING ..……………………………………… 26 VI. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………….30 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………33 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………34VITA………………………………………………………………………35

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I INTRODUCTION Viktor Frankl was an extraordinary person, who lived an extraordinary life. Already as a young boy he was thinking deep thoughts and holding conversations with "the God within." Viktor Frankl was of the Jewish faith. He lived in Vienna, one of the cultural centers of the world. Not only was he the contemporary of Freud, Adler and Jung (and a colleague, being apsychiatrist himself), but also a contemporary of the great existentialist philosophers, Husserl, Heidegger and Buber. When the second world war was looming threateningly on the horizon, Dr. Frankl had a chance to leave Vienna (where he knew he was in danger due to the anti-Semitism of the new regime) and come to the United States. However, he received a "sign" in the synagogue, which he interpretedas a message to stay in Vienna and take care of his old parents. As a consequence of this choice, he along with his family, ended up in the concentration camps, where the parents and his wife died, he survived. All of these happenings shaped his life and, above all, his life philosophy. Although Frankl’s Logotherapy had been formulated earlier, it was validated and -- no doubt enriched -- bythese subsequent life experiences.

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Some quotes from his last work, Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning (1997), reveal to us Viktor Frankl’s thinking: The irreligious man thus proves to be one who takes his conscience in its psychological facticity. Facing it as merely an immanent fact, he stops - stops prematurely - for he considers conscience the ultimate ‘to what’ he is...