This is, perhaps, is one of my favorite stories from any of Viktor Frankl’s books.  I remember tearing up a bit the first time I read it – the idea of “responsible action” in the face of such consequences was quite overwhelming.  But I think it can also be a statement on hope – the idea that no matter how difficult a question we are seeking an answer too, there is always an answer.  The Universe, Ultimate Meaning, God, Fate, Moral Compass, Internal Guidance, Intuition…  Whatever you want to call it, however you want to label it, when we ask ourselves the important questions – when we ponder those questions or pose them to the unknown, we often find answers we were not expecting.  Sometimes, right in front of our faces.

From the Forward to the 1991 edition of Man’s Search for Meaning

The reader might ask me why I did not try to escape what was in store for me after Hitler had occupied Austria.  Let me answer by recalling the following story.  Shortly after the United States had entered WWII, I received an invitation to come to the American Consulate in Vienna to pick up my immigration visa.  My old parents were overjoyed because they expected I would soon be allowed to leave Austria.  I suddenly hesitated, however.  The question beset me: could I really afford to leave my parents alone to face their fate, to be sent, sooner or later, to a concentration camp, or even to a so-called extermination camp?  Where did my responsibility lie?  Should I foster my brain child, logotherapy, by emigrating to fertile soil where I could write my books?  Or should I concentrate on my duties as a real child, the child of my parents who had to do whatever he could to protect them?  I pondered the problem this way and that but could not arrive at a solution; this was the type of dilemma that made one wish for “a hint from Heaven,” as the phrase goes.

It was then that I noticed a piece of marble lying on the table at home.  When I asked my father about it, he explained that he had found it on the site where the National Socialists had burned down the largest Viennese Synagogue.  He had taken the piece home because it was a part of the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed.  One gilded Hebrew letter was engraved on the piece; my father explained that this letter stood for one of the Commandments.  Eagerly, I asked, “Which one is it?”  He answered, “Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land.”  At that moment, I decided to stay with my father and my mother upon the land, and let the American visa lapse.

Frankl intentionally did not write about religion much in his works – but he did firmly believe that mankind had a “spirit”.  That is a cornerstone of his theory.  The component that sets his ideas apart from the theories that came before him, and many that came after.  The human spirit holds our capacity to love and create – it is our humor and our uniqueness.  It also holds a treasure chest of untapped resources.  The defiant power of the human spirit can be one of the most effective resources when we are faced with difficult questions – asking ourselves, “where does my responsibility lie?” is a powerful question.  Asking that question, and seeking the answer in ourselves, but also outside ourselves – maybe even in ideas or concepts we don’t always agree with – can often yield results we never would have expected.

To explore these ideas more deeply, check out The Meaning Project Podcast – Episode 2 might be a good place to start.  Or, if you really want to dive deep into Logotherapy, check out my online course: Logotherapy & The Psychology of Meaning.

Of course, you can always contact me directly by responding to this email.

Take care