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LOGOTHERAPY - A YOGA LEARNED IN HELL
by
Bill Heilbronn
Printed in Yoga & Health
Magazine August 2004 - included here with permission
I was
delighted to see, in the book review page of the June issue of ‘Yoga and
Health’, that Dr Viktor Frankl’s "Man’s Search for Meaning" had been
reprinted.
In 1964 I
had happened upon an earlier review. It was at the moment when I was
seeking recovery after a traumatic spiritual crisis. I purchased the
book and found that reading it and absorbing the lessons within was the
major factor in restoring my health and finding a purpose in living life
to the full. It has been an inspiration to me ever since.
In 1975, I
wrote an article for ‘Yoga and Health’ paying tribute to Dr Frankl’s
work.
In 1997, Dr
Frankl passed away (in the same week as Princess Diana), and I made it a
point to go to Synagogue to say Kaddish (the memorial prayer) as a thank
you to his memory for what his book did for me.
Now that
his book has become available again, it seemed timely to offer a revised
version of my earlier article as a tribute to his memory and in the hope
that others who suffer a spiritual crisis may be tempted to read his
remarkable testimony to the human spirit and its potential.
"There
are men who learn their Yoga by peaceful contemplation in the majestic
tranquillity of the Himalayas, and there are men who learn their Yoga
through being picked up by the scruff of their neck and being dropped
into Hell."
The Death Camps
In the years of the 'Holocaust' (1939 —
1945), Hell was no metaphysical concept — it was a concrete geographical
reality spelt Auschwitz — Belsen — Treblinka — Dachau — the death camps
of Nazi Germany.
During the
2nd World War Dr. Viktor Frankl was a slave labourer in one of the Nazi
Concentration Camps, in constant danger of death in the gas chamber or
from one of the epidemics of typhoid fever. By day he had to perform the
heaviest of manual labour: digging, carting and moving dead bodies. But
by night he developed the therapy that he had already started upon
before the war, not only through choice, but also through sheer stark
necessity.
For those
who learnt their Yoga in Hell, whether it was the concentration camps of
the Nazis, the Communists or one of the totalitarian regimes of more
recent times, their education was thrust upon them by those who
perpetrated these atrocities.
The Nazis
had a deliberate policy of attempting to destroy a Man's identity by
stripping him, not only of his possessions and clothing, not only of his
hair and dignity, but also of his name. In return he was given the
cast-off clothing of a man already a victim of the gas chamber and a
number was tattooed on his arm.
All meaning gone
The moment of truth for the shattered
'number' who once upon a time, in a different life, in a different
world, had been Dr. Viktor Frankl, was when the one remaining possession
that he valued above all others, the manuscript that recorded all his
life's work was stripped from him along with his clothes, and he was
given the rags of another.
For a
moment he felt that all meaning had been ripped from his life, that
there was nothing left for him to do, and then thrusting his hands into
the pockets of his new rags he found a piece of crumpled paper.
Carefully and curiously unfolding it, he found that it was a page torn
out of a Hebrew prayer book bearing the words of the fundamental Jewish
prayer (or declaration of faith) known as the 'Shema' with its challenge
– "Hear O! Israel, YHVY your God is One" (which means "Harken to this O!
you who wrestle with God and Man and in that wrestling find both God and
yourselves, He who was, is and always will be is your God and is a
Unity") and its invitation to a creative relationship with Divinity –
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul and with all your might".
If the
Prisoner was not to lose his humanity and his spirit, the attack had to
be resisted by Creative Meditation on the fundamental nature of one's
identity and the analysis of those freedoms that still remained to be
exploited in one's predicament.
Dr. Frankl
had previously experienced the truth of Carl Jung's idea of
'Synchronicity', the theory that coincidences are not arbitrary but are
meaningful. However they only become personally meaningful when the
person to whom the coincidence occurs has the courage, the intuition and
the ability to invest it with a personal meaning.
Faced with
this prayer, Dr. Frankl might well have asked 'In what sort of God could
one believe in a World full of suffering?' But Logotherapy inverts the
question and poses another — 'How can we afford to deny the existence of
God in a World full of suffering?' The very essence of Logotherapy is
the belief that there is ultimately 'Meaning' behind suffering, that God
is manifest in the Universe as 'Logos' or 'Ultimate Meaning'.
If there
were no meaning, if this World was a mere matter of chance — a giant
joke, then suffering would be unbearable. Only by accepting a doctrine
of meaning can suffering be overcome.
Meditating
upon the particular incident of the prayer. Dr. Frankl realised that the
destruction of his manuscript did not negate the meaning of his life,
for the prayer found in his rags could only be interpreted as a command
to realise his work in action, not only to maintain his own dignity and
integrity as a human being, but also that of his fellow prisoners.
In his narrative of his concentration camp
experiences and the case histories of the people that he helped after
the War Dr. Frankl reminds us again and again that the one freedom that
can never be taken away from us is our freedom to choose our attitudes
in the face of our circumstances. In the death camps he found that
'He who has a WHY to live for can bear
with almost any HOW'.
'As long as Men could find some
personal meaning in life —As long as Men could find a reason for
continuing to fight on against apathy and despair — whether it be for
some one or something beyond themselves —For just so long could Man
retain an amazing power of endurance'.
Twofold nature of Man
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Man is taught that life
is a two-fold battle: both within the soul of Man and in the outer
World. But while Man is not permitted to shirk the outer battle against
the evils of sickness and hunger, poverty and fear, discrimination and
brutality, oppression and censorship, it is also demanded of him that he
fight that outer battle with peace in his heart.
The inner
conflict is the attempt by the Ego to fly from the true Centre. In the
allegory of the 'Gita' it is portrayed by Arjuna's attempt to escape
from his responsibilities.
Arjuna
represents the Ego, and Krishna the Higher Self or Indwelling Divinity
to whose guidance Arjuna slowly learns to submit himself in love.
In the
Bible we find a close parallel in the story of Jacob and the Angel. The
Angel is both Adversary (shadow) and Redeemer (Spirit) and it is only
when Jacob perceives the twofold nature of the angel with whom he
wrestles, that he is transformed from the egotistical Jacob into Israel
and finds his true nature.
We mature
by fighting that battle within ourselves and learning that we are not
alone but rather an organic part of a much greater spiritual structure
whose health and wholeness depends upon our actions and attitudes.
Loss of a sense of meaning
The spiritual neurosis from which we all may
suffer to a greater or lesser extent is a lack of sense of meaning. This
is largely the product of the times, of the breakdown of community bonds
through the mobility of the Industrial Era, the increasing regimentation
of our activities, the weakening and depersonalising of human
relationships through bureaucracy, the impoverishment of our means of
leisure through the increasing mechanisation of entertainment and the
loss of a sense of personal destiny. In many people this has become a
source of spiritual neurosis which appears in feelings of apathy,
frustration and depression.
At the
highest level it expresses itself as a feeling of separation from the
Spiritual sources of our being. At more mundane levels it appears in
feeling of depression, frustration, apathy, and in extreme cases the
total dependence or addiction to some form of crutch.
Faced with
this problem, some of the younger disciples of Freud began the
development of a new method that was far more spiritual in its approach.
To distinguish it from the 'Psycho-Analysis' of Sigmund Freud they
called it 'Existential Analysis'. They never failed to acknowledge their
debt to Freud, nor did they deny that there are many problems of
spiritual and psychic tension best treated by 'Depth' psychology.
Nevertheless they demonstrated that there were an increasing number of
problems that demanded what might be termed a 'Height' psychology.
Its essence
lies in its endeavour to reveal and develop all those latent spiritual
strengths within our selves that will enable us to transcend our
personal suffering and to find healing from the highest and most
spiritual elements of one’s Self. It gives practical effect to the idea
that a therapy can deliberately search out all those aspirations,
potentialities and relationships to greater causes that give meaning to
life.
Existential
analysis attained its full maturity in Logotherapy, the system developed
by Dr. Viktor Frankl, the man who ‘learnt his Yoga in Hell’.
To
understand Logotherapy, one must first understand its exponent and the
circumstances under which it developed, for these illustrate better than
any other example the nature of its potential.
Viktor
Frankl began his career as a student of Sigmund Freud who encouraged him
in his early writings. While acknowledging his debt to Freud's teaching
and the fact that there were many problems best treated by classical
Freudian depth psychology he found himself increasingly drawn towards
those who were developing 'Existential Analysis'.
Before the
War he had already started developing the techniques of Logotherapy and
was holding official hospital posts in Vienna. After the war, Dr. Viktor
Frankl became Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of
Vienna medical school, Head of the Neurological department of the
Poliklmic hospital of Vienna and President of the Austrian Medical
Society of Psychotherapy — a man who received the respect of
professional psychotherapists all over the world. It was a respect that
was earned the hard way.
One of the
objectives of the 'Yoga' in all Religions and Philosophies is the
fulfilment of the command:- 'Man — Know Thy Self. To the Logotherapist,
the answer to the question 'Who am I?' is found in posing and meditating
upon two more questions: 'Where do I stand?' and 'What is expected of
me?'. This demands three closely related sets of values:
When we are
completely free, we have a potential for 'Creativity' in which we can
choose our activities in the outer World and the manner in which we can
transcend our Ego in service to others. When our freedom is partially
restricted through physical infirmity or external pressures, we still
retain a capacity for 'Experience', the ability to observe the things
that are happening to us and around us, and to find meaning in life or
to invest it with meaning through relationship with others.
Even when
all freedom of action and experience is completely denied us and the
agony of our suffering is at its most intense and humiliating, we still
retain our ability to choose our 'Attitudes' in the face of our
circumstances — one can still observe oneself — and this represents the
ultimate freedom that no one can ever deny us, unless they completely
rob us of our will through mind changing drugs. It is this ability
which, in the last resort, establishes the Human as a potentially
religious and self transcending Being.
The problem of dehumanisation
We talk about Psychoses and Spiritual
Neuroses because they are an extreme manifestation of what affects us
all in this stress-laden society and age.
We talk
about the Concentration Camps because they are an extreme manifestation
of the dehumanisation process which is always endangering the World and
which George Orwell and other writers have so ably portrayed. But the
fact that Man can retain his humanity, his capacity for compassion,
courage and hope in the horrors of the Concentration Camp is an
encouragement to all those who believe in the Spiritual Quality and
Potential of Mankind and the ability to transcend one’s circumstances .
Dr. Frankl
is by no means unique in the way that he maintained his own dignity and
that of his fellow prisoners under extreme temptation to despair. He is
unique in that he had the background and the vision to use his
experience to create a powerful system of psychiatry that will one day
be as widely known as that of Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung and that is in
many ways far more appropriate to our times and needs.
In the
terrible attempts to dehumanise Man in the Nazi death camps, Dr. Frankl
saw for himself the ultimate result of that pagan and materialistic
philosophy that reduces Man to a mere pawn of conditioning
circumstances. This led him to make his great contribution to humanise
psychiatry through Logotherapy.
Again and
again he reminds us that the one freedom that can never be taken away
from Mankind is our freedom to choose our attitudes in the face of our
circumstances.
Dimensions Of Fulfillment
"If
you can meet with triumph and disaster -
and treat those two imposters just the
same".
Thus wrote Rudyard Kipling in his much quoted
poem "If". Kipling spent many years in India and was influenced by
Indian thought. Much of the poem "If" is excellent Karma Yoga in that
Karma Yoga teaches detachment from the fruits of one's work.
Dr. Frankl,
in the existential philosophy that underlies Logotherapy, carries this
line of argument a stage further.
At the
materialistic level, we tend to judge our lives in terms of Triumph and
Disaster - Success and Failure. Let this Material dimension be
represented by the horizontal member of a cross. Failure to the left.
Success to the right. How many people are there, who are, in material
terms, highly successful and yet their lives are empty to the point that
they require psychiatric treatment and may even contemplate or turn to
suicide. This can be illustrated by having the vertical member of the
cross represent the Spiritual dimension. In this dimension, we see at
the bottom - despair and at the top - fulfilment, which is not the same
thing as achievement.
One can
meet people who in material terms have failed and yet have fulfilled
their destiny, and who in a strange way have influenced their immediate
circle of kin and friends by bringing a quality of humanity, compassion
and encouragement to them.
It is of
course possible to be both materially successful and also to have
fulfilled one's destiny spiritually, and happy is the person who is in
that case. It is tragically possible to fail materially and to be sunk
in apathy. But most tragic of all, it is possible to have fulfilled
one's purpose and yet to despair because one cannot see one's own
spiritual potential. And this is where the insights of Logotherapy or
Karma Yoga can be of the greatest help.
Investing life with meaning
Logotherapy demands of one that we stop
looking backwards and downwards into our hidden subconscious motivations
and that we should look forwards and upwards into life to do all of, and
more than, that which is demanded of us. More particularly, however,
although 'Absolute Meaning' is something upon which we can speculate by
Philosophy but can never truly know except by mystical experience,
Logotherapy is concerned with the 'Unique Meaning' for the concrete
situation facing this person at this moment in time. It suggests that
although 'meaning' in the human dimension is not the same as 'meaning'
in the Divine dimension, nevertheless part of the concept of Man created
in the Divine Image suggests that one of his faculties is his capacity
to invest life with meaning.
Our task
through both creative action and creative meditation is to bring 'Logos'
(meaning) into life. The therapeutic technique of Logotherapy is
essentially to show each person how they can achieve this for their own
circumstances.
In the
battle to harmonise the conflicting elements of the personality one
often needs human counsel and guidance from one who is more experienced
and integrated. This may be sought from a person or from their writings.
But both the genuine Guru and the true Logotherapist is a guide who acts
as a catalyst to stimulate, and yet no more than stimulate, the
unfolding and flowering of the person from within.
Dr. Frankl
describes his experiences with patients who were on the verge of suicide
and who had to be helped to find a reason for living: — patients who
were crippled with phobias and who had to be helped to use their sense
of humour to conquer their fears: — patients who were depressed and
apathetic, and who had to be helped to find a new meaning in life
itself. In these case histories everyone can find their own problems set
out and analysed.
Of course,
major neuroses and psychoses are a subject for the professional
qualified Logotherapist, who may use pharmaco-therapy or analytical
psychology where indicated in addition to logotherapeutic counselling.
The most important feature of clinical Logotherapy is the personal
dialogue between therapist and patient. These aspects of the work of the
Logotherapist are beyond the scope of this article. But Logotherapy is a
philosophy and a technique that in many cases people can apply to their
own problems for themselves by using reflective meditation to observe
the incidents that befall them in as detached a manner as possible, and
to penetrate into their significance to invest them with meaning.
We can use
for our inspiration the message of the Bhagavad Gita and similar
parables from other Eastern and Western scriptures. We can study Viktor
Frankl's own books on the subject, for his writings are geared to the
needs of the ‘Man in the street’ who can apply them to his own needs.
For all those engaged in the day to day battle of life, who need to help
themselves or their colleagues, the philosophy that underlies his
spiritual healing techniques is of the utmost urgency and importance.
The prayer of the 18th century
Chassidic master, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, is a forerunner of
Dr Frankl’s approach and is one of my favourite sources of personal
inspiration:
Master of the Universe!
I do not beg you to reveal to me the
secret of your ways - that would be
too much for me - I could not bear it.
But show me one thing, show it to me ever
more clearly and more deeply.
Show me what this, which is happening to
me here and now, means to
me. What it demands of me. What it is that
you, Lord of the World, are
telling me by way of it.
Oh! it is not why I suffer that I wish to
know, but only whether I suffer for
your sake.
Bill
Heilbronn is a Yoga Teacher who
has written extensively on Yoga philosophy and the Jewish tradition.
He can be contacted at 12 Church Lane, Lillington, Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire, CV32 7RG, UK
The details of the book
which is introduced in this article are: Man's Search for Meaning -
an Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor E. Frankl. Published by
Rider Books @ £7.99 ISBN 1-84413-239-0
I am indebted to
Waterstones, the booksellers, for providing me with details of the
following two books by this remarkable man that also have been reprinted
this year. I read these many years ago and found them of great value.
Man’s Search for
Ultimate Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl.
Published by Perseus Publishing @ £ 11.99 ISBN 0-7382-0354-8 (This was
originally published under the title "The Unconscious God")
The Doctor and the
Soul. From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy
By Viktor E. Frankl
Published by Souvenir Press @ £ 10.99 ISBN 0-285-63701-0
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