HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
In Alexander Pope’s “Essay
on Man” written in 1732, the English poet penned this timeless line of prose: “Hope
springs eternal in the human breast.”
His insight calls to mind three Jewish psychiatrists who lived in and
around Vienna in the period leading up to World War II.
The first of these three psychiatrists, Sigmund
Freud, spent years studying people, striving to understand what makes us
tick. He reached the conclusion that the
fundamental drive in human beings is the search for PLEASURE. According to Freud, it’s our basic need for
pleasure that explains why we do what we do.
The second, Alfred Adler, also spent years studying human behavior.
His studies led him to disagree with
Sigmund Freud. Adler was convinced that the
bottom line in understanding human behavior is POWER. In his view, all of us grow up feeling
somewhat inferior and powerless. Thus, life
becomes a drive to gain control, to feel more important and powerful.
Viktor Frankl sought to follow in the footsteps of his mentors,
Freud and Adler. But before his career
gained traction, World War II began. The
Nazi invasion brought danger and death to millions of Jews. Freud and Adler were world renowned scholars,
so they managed to escape. Frankl wasn’t
so fortunate. He was arrested and detained
in a Nazi concentration camp four long years.
After the war ended, Frankl was released and resumed his career. Carefully evaluating his experiences as a
prisoner, he noted something strange and unexpected – that the people who
survived were not always the ones that others would expect. Many who were physically strong wasted away
and died while others who were physically weak grew stronger and survived. Why? What was it that enabled them to hang on
through the living hell of a Nazi concentration camp?
Frankl reflected on the theories of his mentors. Freud’s pleasure principle could not explain
it. For four desperate and terrible
years, the men in his camp knew only pain, suffering and degradation. Pleasure was not even a word in their
vocabulary. It certainly wasn’t pleasure
that kept them going.
What then of Adler’s theory about power being the basic human need?
That wouldn’t explain it either. Frankl and his fellow Jews were completely
powerless during their years in the concentration camp. Each day they stared down the barrels of loaded
guns, they were treated like animals, they felt enemy boots on their faces and
watched helplessly while fellow Jews were executed via gas chamber genocide. They neither had power, nor any prospects of
power.
So Viktor Frankl came up with his own theory. He concluded that the primary difference between those
who survived and those who perished was HOPE. Those who survived never gave up the belief
that their lives had value and meaning. Despite
everything going on around them, they believed that their suffering would eventually
end and they would again live meaningful, purposeful lives. What is this basic human drive? According to Frankl, it is the need to live
with a sense of purpose. Not pleasure. Not power. MEANING.
Consider your present life
situation. What’s really going on with
you? More importantly, what are you
hoping and trusting GOD for in the long-term?
Whatever that is, it constitutes your life-vision,
which must and shall be written in the indelible ink of hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment