Our Bizarre Friends :D)'s Journal (original) (raw)

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Reflection pg. 55-85 Amanda Jackson
Oct. 2004
E period
It makes you feel bad if you’ve seemed to loose faith in god when Frankl writes “In spite of all the enforced physical and mental primitiveness of the life in a concentration camp, it was possible for a spiritual life to deepen. Sensitive people who were used to a rich intellectual life may have suffered much pain, gut the damage to their inner selves was less. They were able to retreat from their terrible surrounding to a life of inner riches and spirtual freedom. Only in this way can one explain the apparent paradox that some prisoners of a less hardy make-up often seemed to survive camp life better than did those of a robust nature.” But in that case it seems that a person who has already lost faith isn’t currently concerned with actively finding their meaning right now. Maybe they’re just trying to get though things for a while. He also writes ”The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.” I really believe that statement, but it’s hard to explain out loud. But I think it’s amazing that he was when he said that the memory of his wife kept him going and would have even if he would have known she was dead. That’s just hard for us to grasp, mainly because no one my age has felt that way about someone they romantically care about (I generalize), and I guess, because outside of that extreme situation that pain is just so much to handle.
He says “he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before”. He mentions the mountains of Salzburg in the sunset, which Liz and I saw this summer, though not at sunset. It’s hard to identify the place with the experience. But just thinking of how beautiful that area was now, and how they got to see it after seeing so many horrific things, I’m almost jealous wondering how beautiful they thought it was.

Reflection pg. 85-115 Amanda Jackson
Oct. 14, 2004
E period
I love the quote “Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.” It gives hope, no matter your situation. I like the analagy that Frankl uses by Bismarck that says “Life is like being at the dentist. You always think that the worst is still to come, and yet it is over already.” I also like how he ties it to the camp saying, “There was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners.” You could hope that you would rise to this challenge and muster through it.
Although it’s understandable, it’s creepy when Frankl talks about his friend who lost hope, saying in a dream he learned when ’the war would be over for him’ and when that day came he lost hope, went delirious and died the next day. I know that when you stop trying the disease or situation will overtake your body, but I can’t imagine how hard it is to let go.

Please ignore unless you haven't written your reflection yet. Then feel free, but change some words around

Haha! See stacey! I updated. Don't keel me. You'll never find out the meaning of life if you do!