Question

Reflect on this quotation: “In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice” (Frankl, p. 204).

How can one find meaning in suffering?

Logotherapy describes three different ways that meaning can be discovered.

Reflect on how creativity is connected to spirituality and finding meaning and how it was possible for Messiaen to compose music while a prisoner in a concentration camp.

Reflect on the role of the Christian psychologist and, as a psychologist, how your experiences of finding meaning in your life prepare you to provide help to clients in their searches for hope and meaning.

Answer 1

Perception play a very important role. One can percieve a suffering to be a disaster whilst another can percieve a suffering to be a source of Hope. Stress is percieved in two different ways: Eustress and Distress. Eustress is a type of stress where the indivudal percieve it as a good stress. For example, a pregnant women who is about to deliver a child, will suffer pain, and anxities, yet feels good and positive about the same, only because she knows the outcome. She knows that she must endure the pain only for a period of time, and then there is a great bundle of joy when she gives birth. One of the classical examples of the Historian figure Jesus Christ, also had to go through suffering. But this suffering was viewed as a sacrifice for the human kind. St. Paul qoutes in Romans 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” The rational behind this quote was to embrace suffering and find meaning through it. Simillarly St. James quotes in James 1:12 "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." He emphasizes that every suffering has a purpose in it, and that in every suffering is a sacrifice and a purpose to it.

Further, the techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) is to Embrace Demons. Simply put, if the indivudal is able to accept and embrace pain, suffering and tests of life, the intensity with which he/she looks at it reduces. Infact, it becomes a challenge in life which builds hope and meaning rather than veiwing it as a suffering that can become a disaster.

The second technique of ACT, is to gain experience. The more first hand experience a person gets, the more he/she is prepared to face similar situations with ease. The reason how Messiaen was able to compose music while being a prisoner in concentration camp was due to the acceptance or embracing the demons and the expereinces that he had. The way he viewed the situation was a charm. He felt that there was a purpose to this suffering and he knew that everything will have a good meaning in the end, this hope took him further which enabled him to creativiely express his spirutal journey through Music. Inspite of the horrible situation in the concetration camp, his compostion named "Hallelujah" says it all!

Therefore, embrasing, expereince and perceving a particular sitatuon with grit is important for an indivudal to search for hope and meaning in this life.