拖了近半年, 趁着休假, 整理了下.
整本书篇幅很短, 分两部分.
第一部分 Experiences in a concertration Camp 讲述了作者本人在集中营的那段经历.
第二部分 Logotherapy in a Nutshell, 作者简单介绍了他创立的心理治疗理论 logotherapy, logo 在希腊语中指 meaning. 该理论也基于他本人在集中营的那段经历.
我一直觉得只要人活着, 某些经历是无法遗忘的, 更何况是被囚禁在集中营. 你以为时间会帮你淡忘, 你选择不再记起, 但它们是你过去的一部分, 这是不争的事实, 看似忘却, 但其实从未离开. 书中也提到那些从集中营走出来的人, 大部分都有着或多或少的后遗症, 而作者作为亲历者之一, 选择将苦难化作了养分, 通过创作去疗愈心理创伤. 一定意义上, 感觉更像是自救, 而整个过程, 却也治愈了其他人.
切合了古语, 自渡者渡人.
那整本书, 作者想要表达的是什么呢?
在书的前言部分, 基本点出了整本书他想要表达的观点.
Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, or a quest for power, but a quest for meaning.
Viktor Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning:
- in work
- in love
- in courage during difficult times
作者认为, 人生不是追逐名利与欢愉, 而是追求意义. 而意义有三个可能的来源, 工作, 爱, 困境中的勇气.
作者为什么会认为追求 meaning 很重要?
因为它会支撑着一个人走过那些煎熬的日子, 而不是在困境中, 选择通过结束生命, 来结束痛苦.
书中多次引用了尼采 Nietzsche 的话: He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.
meaning 就是那个 Why.
但是人是多样的, 对于每个人来说, 人生的意义自然也千差万别.
甚至, 是否应该去追求人生的意义 , 也完全是个人的选择.
值得一提的是, 作者并没有去歌颂苦难, 而是强调在无法避免的苦难中, 赋予人生以意义, 找到支撑人活下去的信念, 改变态度, 转移焦点, 人才能在苦难中更好地生存下去.
同时, 他也强调, 不要把人生的目标放在成功和幸福上, 它们只是 meaningful life 中的 by-product:
Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.
这倒让我想到 John Roberts 在他那篇很出彩的演讲 I wish you bad luck 里面提到的:
…..And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.
刻意追求的反而得不到.
大抵真正重要的东西, 莫不如此.
这样想, 人生某种程度上是公平的.
Seeing the message in your misfortunes and benefit from them.