Suffering and Meaning

Quote Kitt O'Malley

“Existential psychologist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl (1959), learned through his own direct experience of severe torture, suffering, and loss, that part of the essence of the human experience is our capacity to find meaning in living through tragedy. He said, ‘In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning’ (p. 113).”

– Walker Karraa, PhD, Transformed by Postpartum Depression: Women’s Stories of Trauma and Growth, http://ow.ly/HA4OL

13 thoughts on “Suffering and Meaning”

  1. Bipolar1Blog January 21, 2015 / 11:10 pm

    I read it as part if a very intensive yoga teacher training. It is truly an amazing book!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. blahpolar January 21, 2015 / 8:56 pm

    I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read him; thanks for the reminder and the addition to my reading list.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Bipolar1Blog January 21, 2015 / 8:45 pm

    I’ve read this book and I am amazed by his capacity to forgive and find meaning in even the most heinous acts perpetrated against him!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Just Plain Ol' Vic January 21, 2015 / 7:53 pm

    That is a very insightful thought….

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. atiyarehman513 January 21, 2015 / 7:12 pm

    As a psychology major, I’ve studied Frankl – his book “Mans search for meaning” is fascinating

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Kitt O'Malley January 21, 2015 / 8:02 pm

      I believe it is human nature to look for and find meaning, whether or not that meaning truly exists. That is not to say I think it is a bad thing. I think it can be a beautiful thing.

      Like

      Reply
      • robertmgoldstein January 21, 2015 / 8:51 pm

        This is an interesting point. I have faith in “us” as a species. By that I mean that when we are an intelligent life form that must find a way to transcend it’s origins. I believe that we are the intelligent life that we are looking for.

        I believe that the meaning is found when each of us accepts his part and does what he or she can do to move us toward the light…I know that sounds sappy but that is only within the context of thirty+ years of celebrating the cynical.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

What are your thoughts?

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.