Man's Search for Meaning is a very famous book, containing the experiences of a psychologist in a Nazi concentration camp. I must say that I left the third and final part of the book, because I do not have neither the inclination nor the theoretical background to understand psychotherapy.
This book reminded me of
Gandhiji's Talisman, and thinking of one without the other is not possible for me now.
Before I post a few excerpts, I must say that the Nazis were not the only ones maintaining
concentration camps in the Second World War. Concentration Camps were used by the British in Africa, the Russians and in the American Civil War. The Nazis were just one of the losers in the Second World War, and we must remember... history is written by the winners!
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This might explain why sometimes the richest people
feel depressed and even go up to suicide. |
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"Set my like a seal upon thy heart,
love is as strong as death." |
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"No dream, no matter how horrible, could be as bad
as the reality of the camp which surrounded us..." |
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| "Lack of emotion" and "surprise" in the same sentence...shudders. |
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| Matter of life and death. Again, and again, and again. |
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| Losing the ability to feel good. |
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Anyone can motivate themselves in hard times.
Real courage lies in being able to encourage others. |
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| ----Nothing to say here--- |
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| A day longer than a week? |
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Suffering brings out the best irony.
Does this also mean that the
biggest cynics among us are suffering
from something or other in secret? |
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| The joys of not being sent to Auschwitz! |
Like I wrote before, this is just like Gandhiji's Talisman. The sad thing is that we tend to forget the good, positive things in life, and we fixate on the bad, negative ones.
Can't even imagine that. And yeah very true, the winners write it from their side, ignoring the bad they did and just going on about how great they are for winning. Always have to have a bad guy.
ReplyDeleteBoth of your points are very spot on. Winners write history and no story is complete without a villian.
DeleteI second what Pat said. I can't even imagine what those people endured being in a concentration camp.
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard to imagine. The sad part is, I am pretty sure such torture goes on today as well.
DeleteVery famous book. Very popular book. Everyone is supposed to love this book. But I did not. I love World War stories. The Heroism, etc. etc. But this book has no emotion. It was very clinical. My personal opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you: this book had no emotion and was too clinical. That is why I could not read the third part of the book.
DeleteHowever, on the whole I found the book to be good. It reminds me that I live a life of enjoyment and fulfillment, and that this could easily have been something else.
I really thought Nazis were the only ones who used concentration camps. Hmmm....I guess history is the winner's tale
ReplyDeleteBritish Indian government had the Cellular Jail in Port Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. In terms of the diet and work and overall living conditions, this was no less than a concentration camp.
DeleteMost of the work in major infrastructure projects in the world made in the last 2-3 centuries has utilised (or abused) some kind of slave labour. Especially laying of railway lines around the world.
Even American prisons use their prisoners for almost free work today. One can easily imagine the situation in rest of the world.
Also, I appreciate your comments on some of my previous posts. I am an idiot for not noticing them earlier :-)
Oh do read my comments on your older posts. :)
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.