The Search for Meaning in Life - A Book Discussion

How can we find meaning and purpose in a world filled with suffering and conflict? It’s a question nearly everyone asks at some point in their life, and an excellent place to look for guidance is Man’s Search for Meaning, the classic book by psychiatrist and Holocaust-survivor Viktor Frankl. Published in 1948, the book has sold more than 16 million copies and continues to be an inspiring story of love and resilience in the face of adversity. Though the book’s first section recounts Frankl’s experiences in the concentration camps, his focus is less on the horrific details of what he faced there than on the perspective of those who managed to survive and move on from what they encountered. The second section of the book is an overview of logotherapy, the psychiatric approach Frankl developed based on the premise that humankind’s central motivating force is the need to find meaning and purpose in life. In this section, Frankl offers practical advice for how to overcome the challenges of difficult situations and live a more authentic and fulfilling life. This course will be a three-part discussion of Man’s Search for Meaning, which is readily available in libraries and bookstores.

 

JEFF COOMER is the retired CIO of a Fortune 500 company and a student of Buddhist and Stoic philosophy. He has taught several courses on those subjects for WC-ALL, in addition to courses on poetry and tree identification. A graduate of Washington College, he is a certified Master Naturalist and the current Chair of the volunteer Council that oversees the College’s Academy of Lifelong Learning program.