as able to get through his change, however. When his passive world was destroyed, thrown into chaos by the Nazi invasion, Victor was almost destroyed. However, as he stated in his book, his desire for meaning, his reason to live was what saved his body and mind from death. He was able to re-direct his life actively, and survived his crisis.Frankl would have said that a lack of meaning destroyed the lives of Ilych and Loman. I disagree--for several reasons. The first is for something Frankl himself should have noticed. Before he entered Auschwitz, he did not necessarily have a meaning to his life. He was writing a specific work, and this did serve as a thesis for much of his lifes work, but it did not become the meaning of his life until this self-same life fell apart. Frankl made his assumption about Mans motivation because of what he saw in Auschwitz. When people had no meaning in a time of crisis, they were lost. Those with a meaning could keep going. What Frankl did not see in his assumption, though, are the key words ...in a time of crisis.... He did not realize that these people were fine and healthy without meaning, up until the time they entered Auschwitz. Only at the very time of crisis does the lack of meaning have any significance. When Man is in his early stage of development, living passively and happily, he has no necessary need for meaning. The need for meaning occurs only when passivity fails, and pleasure exists no longer. A lack of meaning is not the crisis itself; it is not the disease which destroys Man. Rather, it is the lack of pleasure, the lack of control, and the lack of understanding activity which causes the crisis. The subsequent despair is the disease which destroys Man. A lack of meaning is a symptom of Mans own immune response to this despair.It is my belief that a search for meaning, a search for religion, a search for some guiding factor in ones life is a way for Man to regulate his ow...
