Freedom Over Circumstances
How important is the power of choice? In 1942, the director of the Neurological Department of the Rothschild Hospital in Vienna and his wife were forced by the Nazis to abort their child. Soon afterward, the couple was arrested along with the husband’s parents and were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, north of Prague. Within six months, this gentleman’s father succumbed to exhaustion and died. In 1944, Viktor Frankl, his wife Tilly, and Frankl’s sixty-five-year-old mother were transported to the death camp at Auschwitz. His mother was immediately exterminated in the gas chamber and his young wife was moved to Bergen-Belsen where she died at the age of twenty-four.
In 1945, suffering from typhoid fever, Viktor was finally freed when U.S. forces liberated the camp on April 27. It wasn’t until August of that same year, on returning to Vienna, that he found out about his wife, his mother, and his brother who was also murdered at Auschwitz. [perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”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.” [/perfectpullquote]
Through these experiences, Viktor Frankl developed his theories on logotherapy, otherwise known as the Third Viennese School of Psychology. Logotherapy is a quest to unlock the will to meaning in life. It is a search to find purpose in the chaotic circumstances of this world. While confined in the death camps of Nazi Germany, Frankl noticed that those around him who did not lose their sense of purpose and meaning were able to survive much longer than those who had lost hope. From these thoughts, he wrote his famous book, Man’s Search For Meaning. Here, he gives us insight into a more fulfilled and meaningful life.
The Power of Choice
Frankl recognized the importance of our power to choose. More specifically, he understood how free we are to choose our own attitudes about our lives. Considering all the things he had undergone in his life, this quote is a phenomenal example of this point.
“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.”
Even though we are all subject to circumstances in our lives, we are free to choose. To choose the way we think about those circumstances. To choose also how we will respond to them. I dare say that few of us will undergo the horrors that Viktor experienced in the death camps. Yet in the midst of that situation, he realized his true freedom. The power to choose his attitude. In fact, he said that though the Nazi’s could take everything from him, they could not take away this: his power to choose his response to them.
We all suffer injustices to one degree or another. Though some of these have greater costs, our hurt and helplessness remain the same. Comparing our circumstances to others is dangerous. Because regardless of the situations, we all have similar feelings. Our choice in our response to those circumstances is what matters. How we think about them and how we act on them.
Frankl said this in talking about the power of choice.
“In concentration camps…we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself… After all, man is the being who has invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who has entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”
To think that both potentialities are available to us – good or evil – is a sobering thought. We find a similar sentiment in the words of the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy:
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”
Some people believe in a determinism which takes away our choice. This fatalistic perspective places us at the mercy of the things in life that happen to us. But as Frankl noted, our beliefs about this type of perspective matter. If we accept fatalism, that our circumstances define us, we are forever held captive to them. But, we can choose to believe that we have the freedom to do just that – to choose. This is our true freedom.
Frankl sums it up: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
How can we apply this? Let me share a couple of points:
1. Meta-thinking.
Learn how to think about how you think. I call this “meta-thought” – thinking about how you think. This doesn’t automatically happen. We often think about things in a sort of “default” mode – subconsciously. Meta-thought is stepping outside the circumstances of life and beginning to attend to how you are thinking about them. It takes self-awareness, mindfulness, and attention because it’s not natural to us. Learning meta-thought can help you to gain perspective. To start thinking this way, ask these questions:
- How am I thinking about this problem?
- What perspective am I taking in this situation and why?
- How might I choose a positive action or response to this circumstance?
These questions help to focus our thinking on our thinking. When we recognize destructive patterns, we can develop positive and intentional responses. Responses that are outside our default thought patterns.
2. Purpose
Having a life purpose is like a lighthouse. Whenever we get lost in the fog, we can look to the lighthouse for guidance. When we get off the path, a life-purpose can center us and bring us back on the journey we have decided that we want to take. Many people walk through life allowing circumstances to blow them around like a ship buffeted by the wind on a rough sea. Having a life-purpose allows us to pursue an intentional direction. It brings us back when we get off course. It keeps us grounded when life bounces us through the highs and lows that inevitably come.
If you’re looking to get started finding a purpose, read this article, Why a Personal Development Plan Will Make You a Better Person. Developing a plan for your life begins with finding purpose. As Frankl also said, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
So if you’re going through a tough “how” right now, ask yourself “What is my why?” If your “why” can’t bring you through the “how” maybe you need a new “why.” [perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.” [/perfectpullquote]
3. Meaning
Success in life is what we make it. Frankl valued satisfaction and fulfillment in life more than mere happiness. And for him, that led back to meaning. He says, “Striving to find meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” An interesting quote, to say the least. There are tons of articles on motivation. Rarely do you hear one address the topic of meaning. Frankl noted that without meaning, people will fill the void with things like hedonism, criminal behavior, addictions, pleasures, boredom, materialism, and depression. This sounds like a description of our contemporary culture.
We can find meaning in three ways:
1. Creative values.
If you lack meaning in life, think about some creative outlets. Broaden your horizons. If you find this difficult, you’re on the right path. It is difficult. Stephen Pressfield even wrote a book on it. It’s called The War of Art.
Though it’s difficult, it’s beneficial. (here’s an article to help kickstart your creativity if you’re interested). There are many ways to get started in some creative outlet. Paint, write, play music (I mean an instrument and not Spotify). Creative endeavors create meaningful experiences for us.
2. Experiential Values
Having unique experiences in life can also give greater meaning. Traveling to distant places and surveying new vistas. Hiking forgotten roads and experiencing different cultures. These can all provide a greater perspective on the world. I recently launched a new podcast called Wide World Stories. We interview nomads, travelers, and wanderers to share their experience with our audience. We hope through these interviews to inspire others to venture out and experience the world themselves.
Frankl said this about experiential values:
“Let us ask a mountain-climber who has beheld the alpine sunset and is so moved by the splendor of nature that he feels cold shudders running down his spine – let us ask him whether after such an experience his life can ever again seem wholly meaningless.”
3. Attitudinal Values
We can find meaning in life through meaningful attitudes even in meaningless situations. If we can find ways to choose meaningful attitudes based on some of our most important values it will help us.
There is a quote that has been a bit misused and/or misunderstood. “Fake it till you make it.” We might assume this means perpetrating a fraud on someone until they accept our pseudo-expertise. From my perspective, the idea behind the quote is not about in-authenticity at all. I’m talking about choosing something you may not feel rather than a lack of skill or ability. It’s about overcoming impostor syndrome. It’s about doing something you may not feel like doing. It’s about thinking in a way you may not feel like thinking.
C.S. Lewis talks about this type of authenticity in our choice to love others:
“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him… There is, indeed, one exception. If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’, you will probably be disappointed.”
The thought is that many times, our feelings for something follow after we act. So we learn to act and think and do even when you don’t feel like acting, thinking or doing. And we learn to choose meaningful attitudes even in meaningless situations.
Viktor Frankl is still an inspiration to us today and he points us toward a more authentic and meaningful life through the power of choice. Even in the midst of extremely difficult circumstances, we can learn how to choose freedom over the captivity of our circumstances.
Get Started on a Personal Development Plan with this Template:
References:
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning
C.S.Lewis, Mere Christianity