Frankl's Notion of Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Frankl's Notion of Life - Essay Example Life will surely give joy and also pain, but meaning does not reside on it. Meaning resides on the very act that man makes in response to those different situations. Man has the power to give meaning to his own life. He has the power to transcend even the most difficult state of suffering. Frankl viewed man with responsibility. Responsibility entails that man has the freedom and is the author of his life. Man is the sculpture of the meaning of his life and has the capacity to give meaning amidst suffering. Responsibility also entails that man has freedom. Even in the most difficult situation, man has the spiritual freedom that no one can take away. This spiritual freedom is a gift that is endowed in man's being. This spiritual freedom is the freedom to respond and act in man's own way. An example on this is the very experience that Frankl had. Amidst being imprisoned, he decided to bear everything for him to able to be reunited again to his family in the future. In his determination to live amidst difficult situations, he still found meaning in his experience. Such response embodied his spiritual freedom. It is an act that many had failed to do in such situations. This notion of man in acting his own way also amidst any situation is also called uniqueness. Uniqueness is the capacity of man that makes him different from others. Although all men have freedom, men are uniquely different in terms of how they use their freedom. No man is of exactly the same response to another man if given the same situation. This entails that every man is unique in his own way. Again, uniqueness is evident in Frankl's own manifestation of freedom. Many prisoners in such difficult situations elected to give up their sanity and even their lives. They have the freedom to give meaning to their own lives but their freedom was used in choosing to give up. Therefore, man has the freedom that entails responsibility. Such freedom and responsibility is then the power give meaning to his own life. For Frankl, it does not matter what man expects from life rather what life expects from man. Hence, man and man alone has the spiritual freedom that no one can take away and this freedom can create meaning and joy even amidst pain and suffering. RELIGION AND SCIENCE AS WORLD VIEWS It is always of a discourse when we try to blend in science and religion. Most people find both as two contrasting paradigms. One paradigm must discard the other in order for one to survive. Both don't want to give up in this battle. Both assert their own bearings and man is left in the middle trying to weigh things on where he is to side. Such reality only adds to man's burden. It does not actually help man but only add burden to man, a confusion that man faces in his journey through life. Such reality must trigger what we call twist, that both paradigms must learn to check and balance each other. Both must learn to set their limits and not overlap to each other. Both must learn to know the boundaries and capacity of their study. They must learn to understand questions as can be catered by religion or science. Such teamwork will give birth to a man who is free from confusion. Each field has their own focus of interest; they are both means to unraveling reality of life. There is no w ay to compare and contrast them because they are not of the same paradigm. They also serve