A type of therapy concerned with the meaning of life
Viktor Frankl was a Holocaust survivor and psychotherapist. He put forth a theory that the search for meaning can provide direction in life, even amid the greatest possible suffering and hardships.
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. ― Friedrich Nietzsche
Man’s pursuit in life is not to seek pleasure or avoid pain, but to find the meaning to your life. You will gladly endure suffering if it has the right meaning. Seeking pleasure is eventually doomed due to hedonic adaptation, and avoiding pain at all times is impossible.
Central Maxim of Logotherapy
Live as if you are living already for the second time, and as if you acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.
Imagine:
- The present is past.
- The past can be amended.
Basically this has the effect of getting you out of ether whims and circumstance right now, and asks you what you will have wished you had done.
Source
- Man’s Search for Meaning - book by Viktor Frankl