In a conversation between two men who have inspired millions to live better and more fulfilling lives, Viktor Frankl said to Wayne Dyer, "You must teach people to find meaning in their suffering, and in so doing they will be able to turn their personal tragedies into personal triumphs."
Frankl's words are very powerful, and spoken by anyone else we may question how a person could say such a thing.
Frankl not only suffered the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, his wife and family members were also killed by the Nazis. Frankl survived by embracing his suffering and finding meaning in it. This is the challenge he puts forth to all of us.
We live in a society that abhors suffering.
We forget that it is inevitable and unavoidable, that it is simply part of the human condition. Attempting to avoid it actually makes it worse. A person may try to drown his sorrows in alcohol, for example, but the next morning he wakes up with the same problems, as well as a hangover and perhaps additional regrets.
In embracing our suffering we, like Frankl, come to the realization that we are more powerful than our suffering, and that by going through it we arrive at new levels of awareness and enlightenment.
As the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
One beautiful aspect of Frankl's teaching is that he is very non-judgemental. He said that suffering is relative; thus, I believe he would accept this very mundane example of a lesson that I learned through personal suffering to illustrate my point.
I was living in Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo, when looting and rioting broke out. I could hear armed men knocking on gates and firing weapons demanding to be allowed in. Would my home be next?
I was stricken with fear, and all I could do was pray. In doing so I acknowledged the gravity of my situation. I could indeed be robbed and left for dead.
Once I did this, amazing insights filled my mind and changed me forever.
I realized that the things I was worried about could easily be replaced, and that the things that were really important could not be touched.
I would still be me, with all of my gifts.
As long as I lived, I would still have a future. All I really needed to do was survive.
The incident passed and I went on to have a wonderful experience in Kinshasa.
I also went on to face even greater challenges in life. Each time I did so I learned that by acknowledging my suffering, the source of the pain lost its strength and I grew as a person.
Buddhism teaches that suffering is the result of attachment. When we learn to let go of things, as I let go of the attachment to my possessions in Kinshasa, we reach levels that we could never know or understand without going through the suffering.
I humbly admit that I have never known anything near the suffering that Viktor Frankl (or so many others who journey through life on this planet) experienced.
All that I can hope for in this regard is, as Frankl teaches, to become worthy of my own suffering. If I can do that, life will always be meaningful.
