SOURCE_DOCUMENTS/journal_009_1.txt

Volume 9, Number 1 Spring/Summer 1986 
CONTENTS 
The Language of Psychotherapy Rudolf Ekstein ................................................7 
Understanding Human Nature: Freud, Adler, Frankl Steven S. Kalmar .............................................. 11 
Recalling Michael Whiddon Elisabeth Lukas .............................................. 22 
Logophilosophy as Preventive Therapy Mignon Eisenberg .............................................23 
Logotherapy and the Person of the Therapist James E. Lantz ...............................................29 
Logodrama and Philosophical Psychotherapy William S. Sahakian ...........................................33 
Logothcrapy East -West Rudolph Krejci ...............................................40 
Logotherapy and the Amish: Meaning and the Maintenance of a Traditional Society Henry Troyer .................................................47 
Discerning Meaning Through a Self-Discovery Program Florence I. Ernzen .............................................54 
Readers Opinions ...............................................58 
Keynote Address: 
Personal Conscience and Global Concern 
Edith Eva Eger 

I am standing where Dr. Sahakian was supposed to be. Memory is a hcautiful gift. We remember him, we remember Edith Weisskopf-Joelson, we remember Michael Whiddon, the people watching over us this morning. Also watching us is Viktor Frankl in South Africa doing his job offinding meaning in that part of the world. 
I woke up this morning and saw three squirrels running around and I remembered taking my children to a Walt Disney movie. It was about three bears and mama bear was raising them, taking them to the forest and leaving them. She took them up on a high tree and ran down quickly so the children couldn't come down. Maybe that's what Viktor Frankl is telling us now: Children. you can do it on your own! And I am going to say to him: Papa. watch me f1y! 
Frankl sees conscience as a means to discover meaning, to "sniff it out." This is done by each individual but it can be done best ifwe create a climate in which people can have any feeling without fear of being judged. This is what this Congress is all about. We want to create an atmosphere of trust. first on a small scale but working at it so it will spread in widening circles until it covers our glohal village. I went to the pre-Congress seminar and saw people there who practiced logothcrapy as a logophilosophy of life. We arc all a family here. a logo-family. I come here and I feel warm. at home, part of this family. even though we may never finish and accomplish the total work we have assigned to us. We are part of the process of becoming. When we come to the end of the road. I hope we can say. "I've done it. I've done it my way!" 
As Vik tor Frankl tells us. meaning cannot be given to us by others. There is no way to huy it. it is something we have to discover, everyone through his or her personal conscience. How can it be effective globally? Through example. We have to risk. In the pre-Congress seminar I heard Dr. Heines. a psychiatrist in Germany. who said in his country you cannot become a psychotherapist unless you are a psychoanalyst. Dr. Heines was able to risk. and when we risk we suffer. but I would rather risk and suffer than not risk at all. And he risked to practice logotherapy in his clinic. He is using the ideas Eastern philosophers use in the Aikido method. The idea is: go in the direction the horses arc going. and then bring the horses your way. He was able to face the challenge because he knows that in logotherapy we don't say there arc problems in this world, there arc only challenges. There are no crises. only opportunities. We have many opportunities to examine our lives and examine where we arc, where we want to go. what the obstacles arc. And then go. Risk and go. We do this individually. and set an example. This is what this Congress is all about. 
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One example present at this Congress is Jerry Long who one day was faced with the choice to hecome a victim of circumstances. of an accident that paraly1ed him from the neck down. or to choose to concentrate on what he still had left. He didn't spend much time figuring out whether he would accept his condition and spend his life in a wheelchair. He decided how he could use this opportunity for growth. Jerry is an inspiration for us, for his colleagues in Houston. for many who see him. He demonstrated what logotherapy is all ahout, that you don't merely study words but practice the principles. He is working on his Ph.D. to help others in his predicament -and the sky is the limit. He is the master. never a slave of his environment. 
Another example present at this Congress is .I im Yoder. the regional director ofthe Institute of Logotherapy in Kansas City. He lost his little girl many years ago. and he took the opportunity to transcend. and hecause oflogotherapy help others when he no longer could help his child. The whole concept of logotherapy is to transcend the me-me-me and the 1-1-L and commit ourselves to someone or to some thing other than ourselves. 
Last night we saw the "Famous People Players," illustrating the defiant power of the human spirit. a magnificent dance and mime performance by a group of handicapped young people who were treated not as they were but rather as they were capable of hecoming. And how they rose to the occasion! I want to thank the people who had faith in these children. Our children are our best resource. and here at this Congress we can make a commitment to use our personal consciences to show our global concern for the children ofthe world. I am grateful to Tom MeKillop, our on-site chairman. for including so many young people into the activities of this Congress. so they see examples of logothcrapy and can set examples themselves to others. Children don't do what we say. they do what they see. Words can be cheap commodities. I am glad that this Congress has been planned not only to present lectures but demonstrations of logotherapy in action. 
When I worked with victims from the Vietnam war I wondered if there was ~omething like a survivor personality. Some veterans had practically given up, in wheelchairs. paraplegic, thumb in mouth, in something like a fetal position. And others, with the same symptomology, the same diagnosis, the same condition, had the opposite attitude. They accepted their fate and saw their opportunity to see the world from a wheelchair. To look at the green grass, the sunshine, the patterns of cracks in the sidewalk. to celebrate life again from a different perspective. Logotherapy was founded by a survivor personality, to help others bring out survivor personalities dormant in them. This, too, is what this Congress is all about. 
I think of my own life. my survival in the concentration camp. It was an opportunity for me to develop my inner resources, to become a more compassionate human being, to be able to transcend the me-me-me and the 1-1-1. People have been able to self-transcend under the most dangerous circumstances. My sister in Budapest, who was a concert pianist, was taken to a camp, and her professor. a beautiful Christian man, chose to listen to his conscience. He put on a Nazi uniform, went into the camp, smuggled her out, and took care of her to the end of the war. 
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What I learned in Auschwitz is that I was able to think independently from a situation I could not change. No Nazi could take away my hopes, my dreams, the manner I chose to respond to external circumstances. 
As a survivor I have a second chance. I have no time for hate. I take each 
moment celebrating, thanking God, knowing the risks of freedom. Freedom is 
scary. When I was liberated I saw inmates standing at the gate, not knowing 
how to go to their freedom. Freedom, Frankl tells us, goes with responsibility, 
and people are scared of responsibility. They look for leaders who only take care 
of their ego needs -I hope our children will never he prisoners of charismatic 
leaders, the Joneses of today. We'll have to teach our children how to think 
rather than what to think. I hope we can create a climate of enthusiasm for the 
wonderful life we have. This, too, is what this Congress is about. 
Global concern is a precondition of survival. When I went to Europe this 
year, I saw that Chernobyl has become an opportunity for an opportunity. I saw 
that some people whine and sit in a fetal position, ready to give in and give up. 
But l know that people all over Europe now organize, prepared to do something 
about the threat, they use this as an opportunity. They are organizing to see to it 
that their children and grandchildren will never suffer. 
Disasters can be challenges. See what the shuttle catastrophe has done to 
people. Christa McAuliffe has become an inspiration for young people. Many 
children want to he like her. They transcend, believe in something, have a 
dream, reach for the stars. 
To be or not to be a victim, that is the question. A victim of circumstances, a 
person who is always against rather than for something, a person who is 
blaming, pointing fingers, looking for scapegoats, or to he a survivor. to face 
challenges. and take up opportunities. 
How wonderful it is to he at this Congress together, to celebrate life and put 
sparks into one another, and then go out and keep sparking others. We start at 
ourselves listening to our own conscience. l saw an orthodox Jew last night 
sitting next to a man from Lebanon, trying to figure out how we can possibly 
form a human family. This is a special Congress, this is the kind of people that 
this kind of Congress attracts. 
You are survivors. too. So from one survivor to another I say that I appre
ciate the difference in you, your uniqueness. your one-of-a-kindness, knowing 
that no one can do what you can do the way you do it. And l hope that, as a 
result of what you experience here. you will go out and tell the other survivors 
out there in the world some of the insights of logotherapy: that in a hedonistic 
society. pleasure has to be sought as a by-product of meaning, and in a 
power-hungry world, power must serve meaning as its end. Tell the world that 
we have to transcend the me-me-me and 1-1-1 and listen to our personal 
conscience in a growing concern that eventually will include all of our global 
village. 
EDITH EVA EGER, Ph.D., is assistant clinirnl professor, Department of Psychiatry, Texas Tech Medical School, and clinical director at the El Paso Center for Marital and Familr Studies. 
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Festival Address: 
Youth -A Continuous Search for Meaning 
Elisabeth Lukas 
Youth! What an inexhaustible subject for all generations, wellspring of eternal ionging for some, source of continuous irritation for others, a seething force driven to create the new (with no idea what that might be), without demolishing the old and with little appreciation of what the old has accomplished. 
We speak nowadays of change, a worldwide sense that something has changed, something to do with our young people. But has there not always heen change, perhaps more gradual than today, hut change that started in youthful hearts and minds? Tensions between old and young are age-old, they are as much part of the rhythm of human existence as tides in the sea. Still, there is something in the air that has never existed before•-in the same air our youth is breathing. This something contains not merely particles of chemical pollution but a spiritual pollution if I may me this term, particles ofa shattered whole that can no longer be put together -the treasure chest of the ethical Good. Youth today is breathing in a skeptical nihilism that results in psychological illness and this, in turn, is causing allergic overreactions -aggression, destructive and vindictive. Similar to physical allergic overreactions, it may be triggered by minor causes and makes living together more difficult. 
Here lies the problem of the conflict between our generations. There is a '"gap of ~ilence." a non-communication between the two sides which have one thing in common --a sense of resignation. In a lecture last year Jochen Gerstenmaier, professor at the Institute for Empirical Pedagogy and Pedagogic Psychology of the University of Munich, even said: "The only thing parents and their children have in common is resignation." 
This negative view has some justification. The neurotic conflict between the generations has increased to an extent that is almost unbearable. This is particularly true in our technological, highly developed "First World." This is more than the natural process of the young gaining independence. It is hostility carried out in various ways -not always open confrontation, often subtly offensive, when the two sides refuse to speak to each other. 
How has it come to this? Three explanations seem pertinent. They deal with the question of meaning and therefore with the essence of humanness. I shall discuss how the unfulfilled quest for meaning is responsible for the general resignation, and also how the fulfillment of the quest for meaning can be a healing factor in the smoldering conflict between young and old. 
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Extended Adolescence But first a few words about our present situation: the first explanation of the existing problem is the "early maturing and prolonged adolescence." It is an observable fact that childhood today ends earlier and adulthood begins later than ever before. This means that adolescence starts soon and lasts longer -in some cases it does not seem to end at all. Fifty years ago adolescence was an appendage to childhood, a short interim period on the way to adult life. Since the mid-sixties it has become a long, tortured phase, full of attempts to "find oneself"; these sexually mature half-children, half-adults stumble from difficulty to difficulty, wildly protesting that life demands too much. Early maturation undoubtedly has something to do with the glandular processes ofthe body, triggered by emotions and the stimulations ofa changing lifestyle. Children receive calory-and protein-rich food while not being required to use their energy by working; they are offered a multitude of toys without needing to be creative in play: they are exposed to the influence of the media, leaving no room for imaginative, childlike fantasy. This forces them to deal prematurely with thoughts that force them out of childhood. Eleven-and twelve-year olds discuss the dangers of smoking, have had free sex education without considering moral values, are bombarded with hot rock music, know all the tricks ofcomputer games, and revolt against the demands of life before they have outgrown the parental home. Frankl comments: "In this fast-moving time one gets the impression that people who have no goal run through life as fast as possible so they won't notice their lack ofgoals." This remark fits the accelerated youthful half-children who are being pushed and push themselves onto paths with no idea where these lead. One of the dangers of early maturation is that part of the maturing process remains unfulfilled because there was not enough time for full maturation. If early maturing meant faster maturing, there would be no objection, but this does not happen anywhere in nature, including human nature. As Frankl has shown, the human is a three-dimensional being of body, psyche and spirit, and we must develop in all three dimensions in order to mature in fullness. Medicine and psychology have shown that the three dimensions in a person develop in relation to one another: Physical maturity must precede that ofthe psyche, and maturity of the psyche must precede that of the spirit. Although all three dimensions progress simultaneously, the physical development must be close to completion before the psychological can approach maturity, and the spirit can fully mature only after development of the psyche is almost completed. Today, however, young people grow into physical maturity earlier than in the past. This starts the development of the psyche before its time, but is blocked because the young face experiences they cannot yet handle. Twelve-year olds cannot emotionally deal with advanced sexual experiences, nor a thirteen-year old with continual conflicts in the family. Thus, the psychic development of an early matured young person sputters like a dying motor, starts repeatedly, roars into life, and dies after a few yards. Psychic development matures with difficulty or not at all, but is indispensable before the spirit can mature. This leads to prolonged adolescence and trouble because it prevents people from assuming control over their lives, from planning 
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reasonably, from mastering difficulties responsibly. It is, therefore, no contradiction to say, with the Swiss p~ychologist Helmut Schulze, that although the young mature early, we live in an "age of infantilism." 
The Importance of Peers 
The ~econd explanation of the existing problem we might call "suhculture versusfami!r." Jochen Gerstenmaier, quoted before, has for the past ten years studied hundreds of young people and discovered that they increasingly take role models from their peer group rather than from their families. Peer groups have rapidly increased in importance and constitute a subculture that attracts the young. Gerstenmaier found that, in 1981, 40% of the young were more influenced hy subculture than family; in 1985 the percentage was 55% -15% more. This remarkable shift is described by some researchers as "abdication of parents as role models." 
Without evaluating thi~ trend as "good" or "bad," two radical consequences for the intergenerational relationship arc worth mentioning. One is the question ¼ hat function -or rather what meaninf{/itl function -parents still can have. Since adolescence begins sooner and lasts longer, young people arc financially dependent on parents for a relatively long time. In Western Germany, in 1950 more than 80o/r of the 16-18 year olds were working or at least were apprentices. In 1985 only 50%. the rest was still in school. If parents have no function as role models and. because of early adolescence, no longer a large function in bringing up children, their only function is financial, and that is rather one-sided for harmonious living together. The consequences are family conflicts that drive the young even closer to peer subcultures. 
The second consequence of the importance of subcultures is the fact that, because only young people serve as role models, there is no passing on of experience from older and mature persons. The result is that the young must go through hitter experiences which they might have been spared. Nor can they obtain those meaningful values which generations, through laborious thinking and learning, have recognized as reliable and useful. The painful selfexperiences of the young raise anxiety about the future while their parents' inability to pass on anything raises their anxiety, and both lead to resignation. 
Resignation prompts many parents to give children their freedom, not because they trust them but because they feel powerless. This reduces conflicts in the short run but widens the "gap of silence" between generations. It is not that parents arc unwilling to talk ahout certain "taboos," but rather that the young people are saturated hy their discussions with their peers and wish no discussion with parents. 
This strange combination of parents financing children without communication has an ironic side effect. Since parents no longer serve as role models and children make their own decisions, parents are not even suitable scapegoats. The less influence they have, the less they can be blamed for failure. Parental abdication is a burden for the young, and they need new scapegoats, so they accuse society. At least, this may partly explain the gigantic protest movement that goes far beyond the past revolts of the students and activist hippies. 
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The Role of Conscience 
The third explanation of the youth-adult problem is the "Shrinking of conscience and basic trust." In my 13 years offamily counseling I learned much about parental love and suffering. I don't mean that parents are innocent but they suffer at least as much from misguided children as children suffer from mistreating parents. In general, mistreatment ofthe child is cau~ed by a parental conscience that is too strict and narrow, while the parents of problem children suffer from the fact that their children's conscience is too permissive or not listened to. Parents suffer not so much because their children develop slowly, fail in school, or are physically handicapped, but because their children are insensitive, egoistic, mentally lazy, or "drop-outs" from life. 
In most cases these parents have not been too strict but were trying to bring up the children by understanding their needs. This. however can easily boomerang because if things come easy, expectations and demands increase. 
Take the car, for instance. Cars make it easy to get from place to place; at the same time people find it more difficult to walk long distances. Now there are machines that make it easier not only for our bodies but our minds, and this is more critical. Autos have gadgets that warn when something is out of order -a fantastic advance that saves the driver independent thinking: But the disadvantage is that if the control system fails, he might drive without suitable headlights or tire pressure. Of course, people arc not spoiled by techniques but by the way they use them. If the forces of the human spirit are softened by comfort, we fall victim to a weakening that keeps us from withstanding hard knocks. 
In this sense the parental fulfilling ofall their children's wishes is questionable because it makes the young person incapable of "doing without" which is demanded of all of us in the course of growing up. Even more dangerous 1s the fulfillment of desires artificially created by our consumer society. 
Children are given expensive gifts not because they want them, but because they are advertised. This is dangerous because it leads to consumption without appreciation, and to the attainment of material things without experiencing meanmg. 
Most of our youth have grown up in a world that did everything to make their childhood as pleasant and easy as possible, and not only in material matters. In most cases they received love and affection. in addition to material things. But what many missed are the opportunities to give, not just to receive. In the greenhouse atmosphere of pampering, hedonism and egoism flourish; the consequence is the withering of the organ that helps us find and interpret meaning ~ our conscience. 
Need gratification cannot take the place of meaning fulfillment that goes beyond needs and poinb beyond the self. 
With the withering of conscience goes the loss of basic trust. If everything is measured by our own wellbeing. we feel lost when wellbeing is threatened. If we have not learned to think and act responsibly, we are frightened when faced with unavoidable responsibilities. If we never learned to make sacrifices, any restriction seems life-threatening. Because everything that comes easily demands a continuation of the easy life, the ''easy-liver" considers all difficulties unacceptable. a horror. 
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Youth today is caught in this horror. Facing difficulties makes them panic. They lack the trust that a difficult life can be a successful life, the insight that meaning can be found even in situations of despair and suffering. They are caught between two extremes: on the one hand they go through experiences beyond their age level for which their peer group could not prepare them, and which they cannot work through emotionally, thus causing a block in their psychic development and creating anxiety about the future. On the other hand, they have never had experiences of doing without, sacrificing, persevering that would give them trust in life and in themselves. 
Possible Solutions 
This is a brief presentation of our present situation. Now a word on possible 
solutions. 
The situation in which we find ourselves cannot be solved or rather dissolved, 
either by the older or younger generation. 
But every life situation and social condition offers specific opportunities 
this cannot be stressed enough in our time of decreasing basic trust. What can 
and must be removed are the blocks to specific opportunities. so change toward 
the positive becomes possible. This is our goal. and we must be aware of it: 
aimlessness following on resignation is the biggest block. 
I should like to discuss three goals to break the deadlock. Our young people must rise a) from infantilism of the psyche to maturity of spi:-it, b) from peer dependency to family friendship, and c) from need gratification to meaning fulfillment. 
Everything that brings the three goals closer would be helpful during a complex and extended adolescence. It is not my intention to consider what adults can do to influence the young to approach these goals. We have to admit that our influence today is not strong enough for that. But there are some words on the principle of hope. 
Today, pessimism seems to be the only acceptable form for a realistic view of the world. This trend may be justified for some aspects of the future. The thoughtless waste of raw materiuls or the wanton destruction of resources justifies fear of the future. The arms race and population explosion also are reasons for serious doubts. Yet there are areas where pessimism is not warranted. These areas allow optimism in spite of everything -true realism does not force us to be pessimistic but requires something like a "tragic optimism." 
Frankl, at the Third World Congress in Regensburg, 1 spoke about "Arguments for a 1 ragic Optimism." He showed that the present dangerous situation demands a strength of spirit which can grow only in the soil of unbroken trust in the meaning of everything that exi~ts. As long as people hope they behave as if hope existed, and realize that what is reali~tic need not be pessimistic: rather, what is optimistic um become reality. 
Frankl's argument for a tragic optimism can be applied to today's youth. I want to present arguments that grown-ups, though they have little influence on those growing up, must not lose faith in them. There is reason to hope that young people have the strength to find meaningful goals, even through detours and wrong turns, that they are lovable even when they don't act that way. This 
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seems a better solution to overcome blocks than educational guidelines when education is resisted. What, then, are the arguments that will allow us to counter the resignation of youth? 
At the basis is an undeniable argument from which other corollaries follow. Youth is on a continuous search/or meaning. This does not mean that grownups do not also search for a meaningful life. But most adults have at least partly succeeded; they have had meaningful experiences and are nourished by what they found. The "full granaries of life's harvest" are among the joys of old age. 
In contrast, young persons have not had much chance to discover meaning structures. Their existence is full of still unlived possibilities. But just because they have not discovered many meanings the search is more urgent. lfthey want to fulfill innate longings for a meaningful life, they have to start the quest. To start a harvest for their still empty granaries they have to go out in the fields, rain or shine. Grown-ups can be content with half-filled granaries, and rest on their achievements, experiences, and bravely-borne sufferings; the young cannot sit idly in empty granaries. What has motivated the human race through all times and will reach into the next century if we will allow it to take place, is youth devoting itself to a continuous search for meaning. 
This runs counter to any justification for pessimism. Scientific proof and human experience have shown that we have a reservoir of strength that under normal circumstances is not at our disposal: it becomes available as soon as we see a meaningful task. We then receive additional strength to fulfill this task. A meaningful task is like a key that opens our reservoirs of strength. To put it conversely: if we see no meaning in our actions, we lack the strength to act and so we fail. Some people believe they must first accumulate enough strength before they dare to tackle a meaningful task. They keep accumulating strength but never become strong enough because their inner reserves are not accessible without a meaningful task to live for. 
Young people today have many opportunities to find urgent tasks. As soon as they become aware of them, they will quickly mature and, from eternal adolescence, become young adults facing a world they can and must be responsible for. It may not he a beautiful world they awaken to. but it will end their infantilism and challenge them to a maturity of spirit beyond our imaginings. 
This process has already begun. It was the young generation that first drew attention to the task of preventing pollution and the arms race. Their methods were not always the best hut we are at the beginning. To survive, however. humanity needs new ideas and these must come from the new generation. 
Maturing of the Spirit 
As stated, the first goal in bridging today's generation gap is for the young to grow from infantilism of the psyche to a maturity of spirit. The older generation can do little or nothing to promote this development. It will take place because the young will become aware of the tremendous and urgent meaningful tasks around them, challenging their "will to meaning" and motivating a proportionate response. 
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There is another argument for a "tragic optimism" of the young: we are approaching our limits. Limitless demands cannot be satisfied on a limited planet, and we are close to the limits of economic growth and social welfare. Experiencing limitations has an amazing effect: It raises the values within existin1; limits. 
People who carefully tend their small fenced garden plot will not be as careful in unfenced woods and meadows. There they will litter and throw away cans and other refuse of civilization. Limits warn us: "This was given to you, no more!" This makes the gift special and precious. Frankl points out that only the limitation oflife by death gives meaning to our actions. In an unlimited lifespan everything could be postponed and nothing would be done. 
What is limited becomes precious iflimits arc recognized as such. This is also true for the family. Families have come to dangerous limitations. The high divorce rate makes children distrust marriage, but mutual-consent living together and commune~ have demonstrated limits too. Emancipation often leads to emancipated loneliness. 
At the same time, a healthy, intact family, where each member has a meaningful function, has become a rarity. But rarities rise in price, not only in dealing with antiques. Thus there is hope that youth in its search for meaning and values will rediscover the value of the family. Actually the family is much more limited than the peer group, in numbers and in scope. But precisely in its limitations the family offers irreplaceable values and a security not available elsewhere. 
There is a natural law which found expression in the Fourth Commandment and has a psychological impact on modern men and women who have lost much of their instinctual heritage. 
The law states that inner peace depends on peace within the family. This was once expressed in a counseling session with a father; his sons had rebuffed him, although by working long hours he financed their studies and entertainment. He said: "l count on my hour of death. Their innate wish for reconciliation will bring them back to me." 
This was his tragic optimism speaking. The ultimate reconciliation with father and mother is an irrevocable precondition ofinner peace. For this reason alone the current silent hostility between the generations cannot be lasting. The peace sought by youth in vain in the outer world depends on peace within. When conflict and disagreements threaten, as they do increasingly, the peer group with its vague commitments will dwindle in significance, while rekindled family relations will provide support in an unstable world. 
From Peer to Family Ties 
The second goal of bridging the generation gap -moving away from peer dependency toward closer ties with the family -will be achieved by the young generation without the necessity for the old generation to insist or beg for it. The role for the old generation lies in its readiness for reconciliation, to wait patiently until awareness of limitations makes possible a new-found cooperation. 
Another argument for a "tragic optimism" for our youth: I mentioned how a greenhouse atmosphere of pampering brings about a shrinking of conscience 
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and basic trust. Many psychologists and educators have described this but few as well as Frankl. He pointed out that the affluent society and the welfare state can satisfy all human needs but one: the innermost need to find and fulfill meaning. If this is true -and confirmation comes from many sources -then the reversal of affluence, certain to come sooner or later, will bring about changes. 
As long as only luxuries are in short supply, people will fight for what's available but will get adjusted to the new situation. We arc probably in the early stages of this development now. But when necessities will become scarce -or what we have come to consider necessities -a painful era will begin. It will be painful for all but especially for our children. They will have to lower their demands and expectations, and no substitutes will be at their disposal. Hysterical defiance, angry foot stamping, demonstrative refusals, secret pressure on parents, insulting of teachers no longer will help. What will young people then do who have never learned to do without or to make sacrifices? 
In counseling the young I sometimes feel sorry for them because they are so utterly dependent on good living conditions. During and after the war, my entire childhood was overshadowed by misery, and this turned into an enormous advantage, a treasure ofexperience that will be with me the rest ofmy life. I have learned to do without with no damage to my psyche, and I believe this is true for most of my generation. If tomorrow I had no car. no TV, no butter on my bread, I could still be happy and content as I fulfilled my tasks. Should I lose my job I would not founder in idleness and apathy. Even under blows of fate, the loss of a loved one, I would not be driven to self-destruction. 
But what will be the reaction of a generation that is disconsolate when the motorcycle breaks down or a soccer game is lost, a generation that needs several TV sets because it cannot bear to miss a program, that considers suicide when grades are poor? It is not difficult to guess: they will try to rebel, and when this leads nowhere, they will profoundly suffer. 
Suffering will bring change. Their continuous search for meaning will lead in a new direction. From a consumer society where the only unfulfilled "need" is meaning, attention will turn to non-material values since material goods arc no longer available. Books will be read and thought about once more. The magic of soft music will again cast its spell over the young whose musical needs were satisfied by deafening mechanical noises. Virtues like chastity and faithfulness will no longer be scorned as old fashioned, as they are in our present world of sexual unrestraint and personal devaluation. To be able to study in school and work at a job will be appreciated again -the joy of having abilities and the opportunity to use them. Young people will sec meaning in particulars where their whole world seemed meaningless. 
It almost seems as if the young of today sense the painful path they will have to go from needs gratification to meaning fulfillment -from "to have" to "to be." They are on the way. Those who '\.Jrop out" voluntarily sacrifice luxuries. Religious and meditative practices ha,e ascetic features. Modern sports like jogging and surfing place heavy demands on bodies softened by an easy life. Cross-country skiing and bicycie tours offer opportuinitics for contemplation far from crowds. even though it mean strenuous exercise. This is a welcome 
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trend that promotes qualities like self-control and self-restraint, and directs the young toward higher self-chosen goals. 
Waiting hehind this orientation toward meaning is the orientation toward one's own conscience. Conscience is that part of a human heing that is least influenced hy egoistic motivations, pointing at something beyond the ego, yet within our responsibility. Conscience helps us discover what is most meaningful in a situation and how to find meaning even against one's own needs. The "will to meaning" is not just one ··need" among many, it is the human attribute which makes us truly human. No animal searches for meaning. There are many languages including animal languages, hut the language of conscience is meant for and is heard only by humans. The "will to meaning" demonstrates our readiness to listen to the language ofconscience. With this readiness comes our basic trust in life. We cannot always expect that life will gratify our needs, but we can hope and trust that life always offers a chance to find a meaning that fulfills us more thoroughly and deeply than anything else. 
From Gratification to Fulfillment 
This brings us to the third goal toward bridging the generation gap. As stated, this goal is to move from needs gratification to meaning fulfillment. Here, too, we have reason for optimism within our tragic situation. As affluence recedes, the resulting suffering will wake us up. In the young it will liberate impulses to find new ways to reach our shrinking conscience and regain new trust in life. 
To sum up: We have no reason to despair or ultimately to doubt our children. We acknowledge that our influence has diminished, and also our chances to guide them to what we consider best. We admit that generatiom of parents have not always guided well even though given the opportunity. Mistakes were made at all times. Today, chances to guide our youth are diminished. Adults bringing up the young have lost their function as role model as well as that ofscapegoat. The function ofmoney supplier has remained and also, I think, something more essential: the task to have faith in our children. The faith that they are on the right path whatever the obstacles and confusion -even without our influence and example -guided by their continuous search for meaning. 
ELISABETH LUKAS, Ph.D. is director ofthe Southern German Institute of Logotherapy and vice-president ofthe German Society of Logotherapy. The article presents her festival address at the Fifth World Congress of Logotherapy. 
REFERENCE: 
I. Frankl. Viktor E. Mans Search/or Meaning. New York, Washington Square Press, 1985. 
79 
Personal Choice and the Nazi State A Logotherapeutic Approach in the Classroom 
Claire Hirshfield 

A course on fascism can be one of the most significant which students take during their college careers. It can have a profound effect on them, forcing them to confront the moral questions which go to the heart of human relationships in the twentieth century. A study of the period, however, often results in a psychic numbing and depression. Some students cope by developing a nihilistic attitude and a cynical belief that no meaning can be found in the chaos ofcontemporary history. Others turn offtheir emotions altogether and distance themselves from the record, pretending that the problem of the individual conscience in conflict with the totalitarian state has somehow vanished in the debris of the Third Reich. 
At this point the humanistic principles of Viktor Frankl become helpful, suggesting to students that not only the individual life but the historical record itself possesses meaning. These principles illuminate the historical case ,tudies presented in class. and the life-affirming attitudes they inspire transform the atmosphere of the classroom, banishing cynicism and diffidence. The test of success in nourishing and reinforcing such attitudes may well rest upon the degree to which students are able to deal meaningfully with contemporary manifestations of the totalitarian temptation and to the unfinished busincs~ of the Fascist era. For example, my students became more sensitive to the implications ofsuch episodes as the Waldheim election, the capture and impending trial of Klaus Barbie, or the deportation from the lJ nited States of persons charged with war crimes. 
Some students realize that conscience can survive in even the most unpromising circumstances, that the human capacity for self-transcendence and change is immeasurable, and that suffering can ennoble as well as degrade. "Our generation," writes Frankl, "has come to know man as he really is: the being that has invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz and also the being who entered those gas chambers upright. the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his liips."4· 35 
The course was constructed around four case studies which appeared most promising for a logotherapeutic approach: 
• 
A university student and resistance to Hitler 

• 
A German businessman and the use of slave labor 

• 
A German soldier and his orders in the East 

• 
A Jew in a Polish ghetto. 


The White Rose Case 
German university students ofthe nineteen thirties had been so radicalized by economic conditions that large numbers had turned enthusiastically to Adolf 
80 
Hitler. By 1935 the university had become as much a state institution as the post office, and "duty to the state" became the overarching principle on which education was based. Such a background makes the efforts of the "White Rose" conspirators to fan student resistance to Nazism at the universities of Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna all the more remarkable. Among the ringleaders were a brother and sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl, who produced and distributed leaflets denouncing the crimes of the regime and urging passive resistance to the war. Ultimately discovered and arrested, they were tried for treason in I943 and six, including both Scholls, were executed.ui 
Some of my students found the conspirators' actions admirable. Others considered them quixotic and foolhardy --better to live than to die, no matter the prize. Hut our consideration did not end here. It is possible to halt the flow as one freezes a frame offilm in order to examine it more closely. We had described an episode taken out ofthe historical record. How could we make it meaningful to apolitical studenb of the 1980\ whose lives arc comfortable and whose freedom is 5ecurc? How can this case study serve to heighten the students' awareness of individual responsibility and cultivate their humanistic approach to life'} 
Thanks to a biography by a surviving sister of the Schools, Inge, 13 the class was able to extract the full implications of the episode, and establish guideposts to channel analysis and discussion. In the construction of such guideposts, logotherapeutic principles became relevant. 
We began by considering the implications of a statement made by Sophie Scholl: "Somebody, after all, had to make a start." Both Scholls had been enthusiastic members of Nati youth organizations, and Hans had been chosen to carry a flag at the annual Party Day rally in Nuremberg in 1936, despite the objections of his anti-fascist father. But, according to his sister Inge's account, Hans had returned from~ uremberg morose and moody. Something inside of him ,ejected Hitler's demand for "hlind obedience and absolute discipline," and alter"\'uremberg, his sister noted, he was never the same again. 13 Students who were asked to identify that "something inside." invariably identified it as the inborn conscience of which Frankl writes so movingly. Further expressions of totalitarianism strengthened Hans Scholl's will to freedom -ademand that he burn a hook by Stefan Zweig, the disappearance of a favorite teacher into the Dachau concentration camp fifteen miles from the Scholls' home.7· PP-54-<> 1 Medical school at Gottingen reminded him that in 1837 seven university professors -the famed Gottingen Seven -had issued a flaming letter of protest against the King of Hanover's efforts to restrict the basic rights of the individual.Nothing of this sort had occurred in Germany; no seven had arisen to protest the abolition of academic freedom. and no surge of public outrage had been discernible. The Scholls began to ask the question: "What can one do?" From that question and from the answer which conscience provided, was born the White Rose, a circle of students many of whom had served as medics on the Eastern Front and returned to the University of Munich determined to "let the truth ring out in the German night." The words of one member of the group were especially revealing: "It is our duty by our behavior to demonstrate that man's freedom still exists. We must do it for the sake oflife itself -no one 
81 
can absolve us of this responsibility. "7 p. 1x2 In discussing the motives of the students and the single professor participating in the conspiracy, the principles of Frankl serve as a preeminent source of enlightenment and clarification. The freedom to take a stand must be converted ultimately into the freedom to take responsibility, as the words quoted above surely reveal. As Frankl indicates, t11e human capacity to will is empty if unaccompanied by its objective counterpart ~ to will what one "ought." The White Rose students found their lives meaningful because they discovered what 
they ought to do, and acted upon the ",rnght." Thus they actualized their inner values in a cause greater than themselves. They realize the meaning oftheir lives by fulfilling the responsibilities which conscience had revealed to them.4• P· 64 
Frankl's dictum that human concern is not to seek pleasure or to avoid pain but to find meaning4· r 72 is one which students at this point in the discussion instantly apprehended. Frank's view is lent further weight by the words of Willi Graf, a martyred member of the White Rose circle: "In every destiny, no matter how hard it may be. there lies a distin•:t meaning, even though it may not be disclosed to us in this world." 7• p. 303 
In a wartime diary kept by a despairing Friederich Reck-Malleczewin there is a hopeful entry: "The Scholls are the first in Germany to have had the courage to witness for the truth.... They died in all the radiance of their courage and readiness for sacrifice and thereby attained the pinnacle in lives well lived. We will all of us some day have to make a pilgrimage to their graves and stand before them a~hamed.",. r. 112 As late as 1985 the story of the Scholls was still providing a powerful antidote to the poison of Nazi apologetics. especially when a group of activists, including a U.S. Senator, chose to lay a wreath on their graves at the very moment President Reagan visited Bitburg. 
For the great mass of German university students during World War I I the conscience was far less powerful than the superego shaped by the Nazi state. These students preferred the classic escape from freedom which totalitarianism provides to the exercise ofindividual choice and conscience. Indeed. on the very evening following the execution of the Scholls, several thousand Munich students gathered to roar their approval of the death sentences and to applaud the porter. Jakob Schmid. who had betrayed the White Rose. At this point I ask my students which response was more rational and meaningful that of the Sch oils or that of the majority, mindlessly applauding the informer'? To move from that ugly scene to the serenity with which Hans Scholl met death, the phrase "long live freedom" on his lips, illustrates Frankl's lapidary statements that "human existence is essentially self-transcendencc"4· r 74 and that "life never ceases to have and to retain a meaning to the very last moment. "4· r. 24 Because "ultimate absurdity or ultimate meaning" is often the only choice open to individuals condemned to live withm a totalitarian society, the action of the Scholls and their friends appears the only sane response to an insane situation. My students agreed that their earlier characterization of the White Rose rebellion as quixotic and foolhardy was fatuous. And the episode itself, which had earlier appeared to be only a footnote to the history of the period, became an affirmation of the human capacity to find dignity and meaning in even hopeless situations -a point well worth making in today's climate. when men such as 
82 
Sakharov and Scharansky were imprisoned or exiled for upholding human rights. 
Schindler's List 
The next situation in which logotherapeutic principles were helpful concerned respecta hie German businessmen using slave labor, leading to the death of millions of defenseless human beings. The consequences to the victims of corporate collusion in slavery are documrnted in such recent works as Wies law Kielar\ Anw Muncli and Sara ;-.;omberg-Przytyk's Auschwitz. Tales from a Grotesqur Land which I assigned to my students as required reading. \t1oreovcr. the postwar leniency accorded to business executives using "clean violence" as opposed to the "dirty violence" of the SS reflects, in Richard Rubenstein\ words. an almost universal bias in advanced technological societies in favor of the "white-collar criminal.":::>. r 20 
Many ofthcsc ideas arc interesting to pursue in class, hut they shed little light on why so many apolitical entrepreneurs were perfectly willing to avail themselves of slave labor. other than the universal human motivation of greed. It is, however. possible to show that the choice of "ultimate absurdity or ultimate meaning" was within reach. as exemplified hy Oskar Schindler. a German industrialist in Cracow. Poland. who made a conscious decision to save as many ]!\cs of his Jewish slave laborers as possible. and thus salvaged his own human identity from the debris of the Third Reich. Schindler\ story has become well known through Thomas Keneally\ "docu-novel," Schindler 's List. 9 Schindler used his factory to shelter thousands of Jewish workers and thus saved them from death in Auschwitz. 
A profligate womanizer and spendthrift who lived on the edge of bankruptcy. a wheeler-dealer who moved easily in SS circles. there was little in Schindler's background to suggest the nobility of character which he ultimately displayed. How can one explain the metamorphosis to undergraduates. except by introducing the possibility of psychic self-repair open to all. and the freedom to change which. in Frankl's phrase, can lead to unpredictable self-transcendence. Keneally suggests that, upon learning of the existence of Bclzec concentration camp from his friends in the SS, Schindler. the easy-going opportunist became Schindler. the rescuer of Jews. He spent the next three years in single-minded serYice to the cause of rescue. thus finding the meaning of his life in deeds and works. an idea which deserves to be brought to the attention of students growing up in a materialistic society. "The more one forgets oneself -giving oneself to a cause or another person -the more human he is," writes Frankl. "And the more one is immersed and absorbed in something or someone other than himself. the more he really becomes himself. "6· r 79 Such words provide an answer to the enigma of Schindler and a welcome antidote to the virus of consumerism and hedonism which afflicts the young today. 
Following Orders 
Frankl\ view that every human being has the potential to change at any instant applies equally to the third case study selected for logotherapeutic 
83 
application. Because every soldier swore a personal oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler, students are inclined to sympathize with the claim that they were simply following orders. Since knowledge would require taking a stand while ignorance would not, German soldiers on the Eastern front lost little sleep over the treatment of Slavic prisoners. A few \\-ords about the necessity of rooting out "partisan bandits" quickly quieted their consciences and they either looked the other way or applauded the terrible butcheries being carried out by special SS action groups. 15• p. nx 
The easy explanation of orders from above has been used to excuse even the crimes of the SS. Thus Colonel Otto Ohlendorff refused at his trial to make any moral judgments upon the mass murders he had directed: "I surrendered my moral conscience to the fact I was a soldier and therefore a cog in a relatively low position of a great machine. 16• r. 64 Yet even SS men occasionally chose to question and even to violate clearly c1 iminal orders. Students were asked to search out examples of men in uniform who had opted to escape the collective mass and to assume personal responsibility. Their research revealed many such cases, ranging from Kurt Gerstein who exchanged his SS uniform for prisoner's rags. to Klaus von Stauffenberg who smuggled the bomb into Hitler's headquarters on July 20, 1944. Among the most poignant cases they turned up was that of Max Frauendorfer. old Party member and SS officer, who joined the conspiracy against Hitler "because of his boundless despair about all he had lived through in Poland; it was so terrible that he could not endure it."x. P· ' 09 
Fr auendorfer's case confirms for students the fatuity ofviewing even NaLis as fully conditioned and wholly predictable. Further confirmation comes from Frankl\ dicta that "a man docs not simply 'be' hut always decides what he will be in the next moment"; that "at each moment the human person is steadily molding and forging his own character"; and that "every human being has the chance of changing at an instant. "4· 1'· 01 
In each case students were asked to make use of the principles applied earlier to the Scholls and to Oskar Schindler. They analyzed the factors which had impelled such persons to escape the conditioning oftheir milieu, to discover the existence of conscience, to follow where conscience led. to embark on what Frankl calls a self-constructing act in the midst of near-universal destruction and thus ultimately to endow their lives and deaths with weight and meaning. A film was shown that further underscored the power of ordinary individuals to take a stand, and in so doing to free themselves from the depersonalized existence which may in fact be worse than death. Entitled "Joseph Schultz," 14 the film tells of a German soldier who was executed in 1942 by his fellow Wehrmacht when he refused to participate in the murder of Serbian villagers taken hostage during a reprisal raid against partisans. An otherwise unremarkable human being had chosen to follow conscience rather than orders and, in so doing, made a statement which still reverberates, even today when the spotlight rests upon those who seek to excuse moral failure in the Balkan charnel house by leaning on the broken reed ofa soldier's duty. The film is further validated by Frankl's view that "human freedom is in no way a freedom from conditions but rather the freedom to take a stand toward conditions. Therefore choosing a 
S4 
stand toward suffering means exerting freedom. In doing so, man in a sense transcends the world and his predicament therein."4· 
P-25 
.Jews in the Ghetto 
Frankl\ words serve also to introduce the fourth case study which can be illuminated by ltigotherapeutic principles -that ofa Jew in the Polish ghetto or concentration camp. Studen1' were asked to read first-hand accounts ofJewish life in Furope during the Nazi period and to research various aspects of the ghetto and concentration camp experience, u~ing such works as the Ringel bl um di<1ries.' 1 the Lodz Chronicles.2 and secondary works such as Lucy Dawidowicz's /,Ver Agaim; rhe .Jev.-s.' They grow to understand the many compromises people mmt mah. as well as ,he fact that heroism may be revealed in small acts of will such as a ckci~ion to fast on Yorn Kippur or to marry and have children. Students are cautitnied to avoid gen<:ralization, and instead to attach names and identities to those whom the totalitarian state sought to rob ofhumanness. l his i~ a first step toward repersonalization of the historical record. 
Students were asked to examine the ways in which each person reacted to the wnditions imposed upon him or her. They discovered that people, no matter the circumstance, invanahiy seek to retain control ofsome portion oftheir fate. E\'en after the Germans hegan to liquidate the ghettos and to transport the inhahitants to death camps. many were ahle to transcend their suffering and to make their impendmg deaths meaningful. Students could identify with the heroics of Mordecai Anielewicz. the leader of the Fighters Organization of the Warsaw Ghetto. ""Mordecai realized that the fate ofthe Polish Jews was sealed," write~ Ringelblum. "The young hut quickly maturing Mordecai understood that at pre~ent there was but one question: What kind of death will the Polish Jew, select for themsclves?" 1•· I' x9 "Man," writes Frankl, "is ready to suffer, if cnl:-he can he ~atislied that hi, suffering has a meaning.''3• r 7x Students perceived that !v1 ordecai in effect took a stand toward conditions and thus exercised the freedom oi which not even the Germ,ms could deprive him. Ho\\ever, student, need to he reminded at this point that it was possible to cxcrcise one's will tu freedom in many ways. Dr. Janusz Korczak's rejection of refupe in Palestine in order to maintain his orphans' school in Warsaw and his decisiun to accompany the children to their deaths in Treblinka is movingly described by Dawidowicz. 1 r ,o4 In a manner different from that of Mordecai A.nielewicz but no less significant, Dr. Korczak had indeed provided a model of htm Jews should encounter death as well as life. In so doing he had shown that C\"Cn the most powerless can assume responsibility for their lives and achieve the logo~ of existence. "He who under conditions of terror and coercion achieved inner freedom.'' writes Pawclczynda, "carricd off the only form of victory possible within the existing situation." JO. r-141 
A Hans Sdwll. an Oskar Schindler, a Mordecai Anielewicz, a Joseph Schultz all attempted to shape fate in a creative fashion and in so doing to affirm life. Dr. Korcnk. faced with inevitable doom, like so many others accepted fate nobly and bore his suffering with humility. So singular an achievement enabled them all to transcend the tragic triad of suffering, guilt and transitoriness which humans as finite beings must inevitably experience.4• r-24 Frankl's words endow 
85 
the issue with cohesion and with a clarity which yields understanding: "Even a man who finds himself in the most dire distress can give his life meaning by the way and manner in which he faces his fate, in which he takes his suffering upon himself. Precisely in this way he has been given a last chance to realize values. This life has a meaning to the last breath. "4, P-128 
Such insights assist students in apprehending history not simply as an impersonal force operating according to scientific rules, as the Marxists maintain, or even as a chaotic and nihilistic nightmare, from which humankind, in James Joyce's phrase, is trying to awaken, but rather as the recorded memory of the human race, in which "every life, in every situation and to the last breath" has a meaning. The past thus bears witness to the way in which individuals have successfully overcome transiency and achieved eternity; it becomes a storehouse ofmaterialized possibilities, suggesting the full range ofopportunities surrounding students in the present and awaiting them in the future, as they seek the meaning of their own existence_s. P-7~ 
CLAIRE HIRSHFlELD, Ph.D., is professor of history, The Penmylvania State University, Ahington, Pennsylvania. 
REFERENCES: 
I. DawidowiC?. l.ucy. The War Against the Jews. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. 
2. 
Dobroszycki. Lucjan. ed. The Chronicle of the /,ad:: Ghetto. New Haven. Yale Universily Press. 1984. 

3. 
Frankl. Viktor. Man's Search/or Meaning. Boston. Beacon Press. 1959. 

4. 
____ Psychotherapy and Existentialism. New York. Washington Square Press. 1967. 

5. 
____ The Donor and the Soul. New York. New Vintage Books, 1977. 

6. 
____ The Unconscious God. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1978. 

7. 
Hanser. Richard. A Nohle Treason: The Revolt ofthe Munich S1udents Against Hitler. New York. Putnam. 1979. 

8. 
Hohne. Hans. The Order ofthe Dea1h~-Head. New York. Ballantine Books. 1966. 9 Keneally. Thomas. Schindler'., List. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1982. 


10. Pawclczynda. Anna. Values and Violence in Aus,·hwitz. Berkeley. University of California Press. 1979. 
11. Ringelblum. Emmanuel. "Comrade Mordecai." In The1 Fought Back, Yuri Suh!. ed. New York. Schocken. 1975. 
12. 
Rubenstein. Richard. 1he Cunning of' Historr. New York. Harper and Row. 1975. 

13. 
Scholl. Inge. Students Against Trranny: The Resistance of the White Ruse, Munich. 1942. Middleton. CT.. Wesleyan University Press. 1970. 


14. 
Schultz. Joseph. Film available from Audio Visual Services. Pennsylvania State University. University Park. PA 16804. Film number 21906. 

15. 
Windrow. Martin. The Universal Soldier. London. Guincss Superlative Ltd. 1971. 


16. Wolfe. Robert. "Putative Threat to National Security as a Nuremberg Defense for Genocide." Annals of the American Academy of Politiwl and Social Sciences, 45. July 1986. 
86 
A Melanesian Quest for Meaning 
Wolfgang G. Jilek and Louise Jilek-Aall 

In Julv 1984, while working in Papua, New Guinea, we travelled to a far-off village in the Gulfof Papua. We had to take a two-hour flight ji'om the capital, then a three-hour truck ride on a bumpy hush road. andfinalzr go another three hours by boat down a jungle river. Upon our arrival the local VJ P:~ assembled, among them a teacher and counselor. When hearing that one ofus originally camefrom Austria, he usked whether we knew Dr. Viktor F;;:,,zkl. His face lit up when he heard that we knew Frankl personallv. He told us that Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, had given him the courage to keep on working in his difficult job. 
This episode is a reminder ofthe £ranscendental appeal of Frankl 's ideas. Even here. in one ofthe most remote corners ofthe world. in a culture radically dijferent from those of Europe and North America, Frank l's ideas touched a human being and gave him the same kind of spiritual strength that they have given thousands ofmen and women in the Western World. 
Our previous experience that a logotherapeutic approach can successfully be applied in counseling and psychotherapy with clients from very different sociocultural milieus was again confirmed in Papua, New Guinea where we had an opportunity to assist the Melanesian Institute, Goroka, in the organization of counselor training with logotherapeutic orientation. Why does logotherapy "work" also in tradition-directed non-European cultures, while other approaches, e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis, usually do not? One reason may he that major personality-forming ceremonials in these cultures have significant logotheraputic aspects. 
Initiation ceremonials have a logotherapeutic function in tradition-directed cultures hy warding off existential frustration and socio-cultural identity confusion in the young, from which noogenic neuroses and anomic depression arise in "modernized" societies. This is achieved by a process of social learning in which a sense of personal re~pomibility for the conduct of one's adult life, and concern for one's elders and peers, is instilled through direct and indirect teaching, revelation of ancestral secrets, testing by ordeal, ego-strengthening rewards. In the initiatory psychodrama of death and rebirth, structurally patterned archetypal symbols are skillfully transmitted by the elders and gain direct access to the initiate's unconscious. The process of initiation helps the young person to establish firmly a sexual and socio-cultural identity as well as a strong conviction of meaning and purpose in life. 
87 
The Papua New Guinea Paradigm 
In the process of Westernizing modernization, the tribal populations of the Third and Fourth World experience an undermining and degrading of their traditional values. They are offered alien ideologies which are contradictory, and the promise of a good life which is obtainable only for a few. Rather than to true acculturation, rapid Westernization more often leads to deculturation, to anomie, the lack of any value system guiding human behavior. Such a societal situation provides the socio-cultural background for that psychopathological state which in North American Indians we have described as anomic depression. 6-10 Anomic depression is a noogenic neurosis, 1,2,3.4 a chronic dysphoric state with feelings oflowered self-esteem and existential frustration experienced in a life which is perceived as devoid of socio-cultural meaning. Anomic depression is often associated with somatizing symptoms in women and with aggressive acting-out in men, leading to suicidal or randomly homicidal behavior under alcohol influence. 
The peoples of Papua New Guinea have only in recent times been exposed to rapid social change under Westernization and have therefore not yet experienced cultural disintegration to the degree experienced by the native peoples of North America. However, under the combined influence of modernization and steadily rising alcohol consumption, the erosion of traditional cultural values is fast progressing_s.9 
In tradition-directed societies, initiation ceremonials are designed to impress upon the young the priority of group needs over and above individual interests and to implant in the adolescent a sense of personal responsibility vis-a-vis the extended family and the ancestors. The initiation period in tribal cultures is analogous to formal schooling, as formulated by Weiser-Aal115 in her study of ancient Germanic youth initiation. The didactic function of initiation is reflected in the verbal and nonverbal teaching of the values and mores of traditional culture with precise definitions of age-, sex-, and status-dependent rights and duties, so that the formation of a social conscience may finally compensate the egocentric strivings of the young individual. The initiate is familiarized with the cultural inheritance of his tribe in order to arouse feelings of pride in his ancestors and loyalty toward his people. In tradition-directed societies it is the young person's task to obtain the ancestral insignia of social maturity in the psychodrama of initiation. Youth initiation is a process of sophisticated cultural learning, in which structurally patterned collective symbols, sanctioned by mythology and skillfully manipulated by the initiators, gain direct access to the young person's unconscious. Social learning, revelation of ancestral secrets, and testing by ordeals, followed by ego-strengthening public rewards, create a feeling of group solidarity. 
We became aware of the important psycho hygienic functions of this traditional rite de passage through personal observation oft he social and psychiatric problems experienced by members of tribal societies under the impact of rapid Wcsternintion in North and South America, Africa, and the South Pacific. We studied the preventive and therapeutic aspects of youth initiation while working and living among the Amerindian people of the Pacific Northwest. 7 When working in Papua New Guinea we had again the opportunity to appreciate the 
88 
psychohygienic functions of traditional ceremonials. Youth initiation in Papua New Guinean cultures. as in other tradition-directed tribal societies, aims at the transformation of an egocentric youngster into a socialized personality. Paraphrasing Levi-Strauss'12 famous title "Le cruet le cuit" (the raw and the cooked) it could be said that the initiate is passing from a "raw" to a "cooked" ~tate (this indeed nearly happens in the Wahgi Valley of the New Guinea highlands where initiates arc exposed to the effects ofextreme heat and smoke). Objectives of youth initiation arc expressed in an initiation song from the Sepik area, recalled by the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea: 13 
"When you live under your mother's leg/ You do what you like/ You have what you want / You ask for food I You receive it / You ask for water .· You receive it / You come and cry / You want to eat a big fish · Your mother cooks it for you/ But now/ Now you come under your father's leg ; Now you pay / For being treated softly at home / A new time begins for you .' When you must know / That you will be a man." 
The unveiling of the sacra (i.e.. the sacred and secret objects) was the central event of the initiation into the mystery cults of classical antiquity. 14 Similarly, the secret and sacred musical instruments, and the myths surrounding them, are revealed to the initiates in Papua New Guinea: flutes, slit-gongs, water drums, bull-roarers and whistles. 
Plutarch's word. "To become initiated is to die," is as true for initiation ceremonies in Papua New Guinea as it was for the mystery cults of ancient Greece. But to be initiated is also to be reborn, to find a new identity and a culture-congenial meaning in life. One of the most powerful universal symbols of humankind ~-rebirth -stands for the primordial idea of psychic transformation in dreams and in initiation rites of all cultures. as recognized by Carl Gustav Jung.0 
The initiatory systems of New Guinea emphasize a clear distinction of the sexes int heir socio-cultural roles and the importance of a well-founded psychosexual identity. To safeguard the survival of the group, New Guinean cultures have developed symbolic structures which strengthen the male ethos hy psychological compensation for the lesser biological endurance capacity of men. Thus. a myt ho-logical need is perceived to correct a structural assymetry of nature -namely the birth of females and males from females only -by providing for symbolic rebirth of male adolescents from male relatives. In order to create mature men out of male adolescents, feminine traits have to be symbolically eliminated. Removal of the "female blood" which the male child received from his mother at birth, is a declared purpose of blood-letting from ritual cutting or puncturing ofskin, tongue, nostrils, or penis, which are at the same time tests of manly self-discipline. With this so-called "female blood," the male adolescent sheds the mother-oriented world of his childhood in favor of his identification with the world of adult men. Scarification by superficial skin cutting is made according to traditional patterns which have mythological significance and which are markers of maturity and prestige. 
89 
We were able to observe a traditional initiation ceremonial in the East Sepik area. The skin cutting ceremony was preceded by several weeks of preparation and fasting. For the main initiation procedures, the candidates -teenage boys -had to enter the haus tambaran (spirit house, Neo-Melanesian Pidgin), shielded off from the view of women and children by a high fence. The haus tamharan represented a gigantic supernatural being. Passing through the front opening, marked by a mask with gaping mouth, the initiates were "swallowed up" by the spirit monster. Inside the haus tamharan, in the monster's "belly," they were immersed in the spiritual world of their forebears. Surrounded by masks and carved figures representing ancestral spirits, and exposed to the sounds of the sacred instruments, they listened to the elders' moral teachings and revelations of secret tribal lore. After having endured their ordeal with dignity, and behaving in accordance with traditional custom, the initiates eventually emerged from the rear end of the spirit house, passing through the legs of their male relatives in a symbolic birth act. Now finally reborn as mature ad ult males they are the pride of their village. Women rejoice at their sight and a sing-sing feast is held in their honor. The women had been excluded from the initiation procedure and were forbidden from entering the haus tamharan. However, they did not appear intimidated by the eerie "spirit noises" their men produced inside the fenced-off compound. To the psychodrama of initiation with its protagonists (initiates) and directors (initiators), the women clearly lent themselves as a cooperative audience. 
The Meaning of Initiation in Men's Quest for Meaning 
Traditional cultures have developed the institution ofyouth initiation, for it is during the period of adolescence and young adulthood that young people are confronted by two major tasks, ( I) they have to achieve a sense of psychosexual and socio-cultural identity; (2) they have to acquire a basic orientation toward meaning, i.e .. the personal conviction that there will be meaning in their lives. Going through initiation in a tradition-directed society, young people are helped both in their quest for identity and in their quest for meaning. Through the initiation experience, they are prepared for finding meaning in their lives by transcending themselves in the service of their community. This enables the young later on to authentically realize their existence in the sense of Frankl's dictum that "self-transcendence is the essence of existence. "2· P· 82 
Initiation takes place at a critical stage in personality formation. The dangers of this stage are anomie, role confusion, an existential frustration, which lead to noogcnic neuroses. especially to anomic depression, and which are mainly responsible for the increase in juvenile psychosociopathology and suicide. In tradition-directed societies, it is the logotherapeutic aspect of youth initiation which counteracts such dangerous developments. In societies where the traditional guiding institutions have been undermined or destroyed by outside influences as is happening now in tribal populations --or where these institutions have lost much oftheir credibility -as in the West -it is often the parent alone who can transmit values and present a role model to the child. But cultural values are not transmitted just by theoretical instruction. they must be lived. Parents who are uncertain about their value system, cannot provide 
90 
guidance: and parents who are confused ahout their own psychosexual or ,ocio-cultural role. can hardly serve as a model for identification. Morejuvenile pathology. juvenile alcohol abuse. and juvenile suicide is to be expected in societies where traditional guiding institutions, such as youth initiations, have disappeared in the course ofrapid modernization. This is the background to the otherwise inexplicable self-destruction among young people in aboriginal 
11
North America. Australia, and in the South . 
Ersatz Religions 
In the West we also sec youth without effective traditional or parentai guidance left to drift into an existential vacuum in a life perceived as without meaning. The young person's unfilled need for guidance, identification and selftranscendence is then exploited by some "charismatic" sectarian prophet or demagogic juehrer-type. It is true. of course, that the techniques of decisively influencing young people in cults and ersa1z-rcligions arc similar to those cmployed in trihal imt i,H1ons: a hove all the skillful use of structurally patterned archetypal symhoh to transmit the personality reshaping message to the unconscious mind. However. as Frankl stated, "what matters is never a technique per sc but rat her the spirit in which the technique is used."J. r 24 Whereas traditional initiations in tribal societies are built upon the experience ofgenerations and supervised by the most respected elders responsible to the community, sectarian cults and totalitarian movements are usually built around one single person who has unchecked control over his followers and who is responsible ,rnly to him-or herself or to hidden interest groups. Furthermore, youth init!at ion in tradition-directed societies is typically sponsored hy the kingroup and hridges the generations, while a youngster's seduction into a sectarian cult often leads to alienation from family and community. Lastly, the purpose of initiation i~ the creation ot rcsponsihle and mature adult members of the community, while cult leaders tend to surround themselves with overly dependent a11d subservient believers who arc condemned to perpetual emotional and social immaturity. 
Modern \Vestern and Westernized people have, as Frankl-' reminds us, no conventions. traditions and value~ that tell them what to do. Young people in the Third World are now also losing the compass oftraditional guidance: many no longer have a traditional initiation into a meaningful existence. To save the young generation from drifting in an existential vacuum cit her to self-surrender or self-destruction, our advice to the educators, counselors and health workers of the Third World is to resort to logotherapcutic counseling in the family, at school. and in primary health care. This advice is based on our own experience that logothcrapy is effectively applicable in cultures as divergent as those ofthe Europeans, Euro-Americans, North American Indians, and Papua New Guineans. 
WOLFGANG G. JILEK, M.D.. M.Sc., F.R.C.P.(C) is clinical professor, 
Department ofAychiatry, andfaculty affiliate, Department ofAnthropologv, 
Universi1y of British Columbia. 
LOUISEJILEK-AALL, M.D., D. Trop. Med., FR.C.P.(C)isclinicalprofessor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. 
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REFERENCES 
I. Frankl. V. E. Theorie und Therapie der Aeurosen. Wien, Urban & Schwar1enberg, 1956. 
2. 
____ Psrch01herapv and Existentialism: Selected Papers on Logotherapv. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1967. 

3. 
____ The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherap1·. New York, New American Library, 1969. 

4. 
____ Das Leiden am sinnlosen Lehen. Freiburg, Herder, 1977 

5. 
Jacobi. .J. The PJychology of C. G. Jung. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968. 

6. 
Jilek, W. G. Salish Indian Mental Health and Culture Change. Toronto, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974. 

7. 
____ Indian Healing: Shamanic Ceremonialism in the Pacific Northwest Todar. Surrey, 


B. C., Hancock House, 1982. 
8. ____ Alcohol Abuse in Papua New Guinea: Socio-cultural Factors. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review. 23: 79-83, I 986. 
9. ____ Psychosocial and Cultural Aspects of Alcohol Alrnse in Certain Tribal Societies of the Circum-Pacific Region. Cur11re (in press). 
10. 
____ & L. Jikk-Aall. Logotherapeutic Aspects of the North American Indian Guardian Spir,t Ceremonial. in Analecta Frankliana: The Proceeding, ofthe First World Congre.,s of Logotherup_\ 1980. S. A. Wawrytko (Editor), Berkeley, Institute of Logotherapy Press, pp. 311-321. 

11. 
Jilek-Aall, L. Suicidal Behavior Among Youth: A Cross-Cultural Comparison. Journal of Operational Psrchiatrr (in press). 


12. Levi-Strauss. C. Le Cruet le Cuit. Paris, Librairie Pion, 1964. 
IJ Somare, M. Papua Ne11· Guinea. C. Ashton (Editor), Port Moresby: Papua New Guinea Office of Information, pp. 2-~
14. Van Gennep, A. The Rites of Passage. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1960. 
15. Weiser-Aall. I.. A ltgermanische Juenglingsweihen um/ Maennerhuende. Buehl, Baden. Konkordia. 1927. 
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Reasons Versus Causes As Explanations of Human Behavior 
Jerry L. Long, Jr. 
The history of psychology is full ofexplanations ofwhy human beings behave as they do. In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first "psychological" laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. He sought to discover the physiological bases of human behavior and the nature of consciousness. As Rubin and McNeil state: "Wundt and hi, followers were called "structuralists," because they were interested in the anatomy or structure of conscious processes ..."20-r 7 
Early Theories 
In the early twentieth century, Sigmund Freud popularized psychology and hypothesized the "inner dynamics" of Id, Ego, Superego, Unconscious, Subconscious, and so forth as the determinants of our behavior. 16 Such concepts quickly became reified: the "ego" became a thing governing and explaining behavior. Freud postulated concepb such as instinctual biological urges, psychic energy, and intrapsychic conflicts, as "drives" for our hehavior. 15·16 Indeed, Freud maintained that "man is lived by the unconscious ..." 19 
At approximately the same time, John B. Watson experimentally demonstrated that human behavior could be controlled, manipulated, developed, and extinguished by altering one's environment. He demonstrated the applicability of classical (or respondent) conditioning to human beings. Theoretically, we could be shaped, conditioned, and manipulated to emit virtually any behavior based upon exposure and repeated association with even the most benign of correlates. Furthermore, Watson established the behavioristic precedent that the only proper subject matter for psychology was observable behavior.20 
Building upon these premises, B. F. Skinner laid the underpinnings for radical behaviorism. This philosophy maintains that our behavior is determined (or caused) by the antecedents and consequences of every specific behavior (or in Skinnerian terminology, an operant) that we emit.22 Ifa behavior is positively reinforced (positive consequence) then the frequency, intensity, and duration of that behavior will increase. Likewise, the opposite is true. Our environment (including people, places, things) determines our behavior: "Man does not act on the environment; it acts on him. "22 The consequences select behaviors; we do not choose to behave a certain way.21.24 
The Existential View 
In sharp contrast to this perspective is the existentialist view of human behavior. Thi, philosophy posits free will: our behavior is not caused by environmental contingencies, hut instead it is freely chosen from a multitude of 
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6•13 18•20 21
alternatives.4· ---27 We determine our own fate. Yalom further delineates characteristics of existential psychology (and existential psychotherapy): 
Existential psychotherapy is a dynamic approach to therapy which focuses on concerns that are rooted in the individual's existence .... the problem of definition ... is resolved ... by listing a number of themes relating to existence (for example, being, choice.freedom . .. [Author's emphasis].27. PP-5-15 
Among the tremendous number ofexistential •'schools ofthought" logotherapy is particularly relevant to a discussion of reasons versus causes as explanations of human behavior because it specifically addresses this issue within a theoretical context.3.9.10.u 
Logotherapy maintains that the primary motivator of human behavior is the search for meaning. 12 We actively seek a meaning in our lives, a reason for what we do. Our ability to find meaning is unconditional. Even in the most difficult circumstances or the harshest environments we can still derive meaning.26 One of the most powerful arguments supporting this notion is the example ofthe life of logotherapy's founder, Viktor E. Frankl. 
From 1942-1945 Frankl was imprisoned in various Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. The prisoners were subjected to 12-15 hours of hard labor each day, often in subfree1ing temperatures with ragged clothing. Their rations consisted of a small cup of watery soup and perhaps five ounces of bread per day as they hourly awaited extermination. Frankl describes how his comrades reacted to the cruel situation confronting them. Indeed, as Freud had postulated, some regressed to an animalistic level of functioning. They fought with others and, through any possible means, scavenged for food. If there ever was a testing ground for discovering how environmental variables affect human behavior, this was it. In a strictly behavioral vein, all contingencies of reinforcement were exi~tent to produce, shape, and maintain aberrant, destructive, and hostile behaviors. But, how do we explain the behavior of those who, in Frankl's words, "became virtual saints"?4 
Founded on personal experience, Frankl describe~ how some individuals, living in identical conditions, unselfishly gave of themselves to aid their fellow prisoners. They comforted those in pain; they listened to friends grieving the loss of loved ones: they gave away some of their own pitiful food, and in some cases willingly gave their lives. Here is one example as told to me by Frankl: 
Some rotting potatoes had been stolen. The guards offered to refrain from punishment if but one person would indicate the guilty party. Not one finger was raised nor one voice heard! The entire camp prisoner population would not betray the man. This action served to antagonize the guards who then decreed that every tenth man would be gassed. Down the line they went -number I, number 11, number 21, and so on. They came to a man who was known to be one of the few whose family was still alive. Instantly, the man behind him -a Catholic priest named Father Colby -stepped forward and asked to be gassed in the man's place. Since the guards were interested only in numbers of prisoners, it was allowed, and Father Colby quietly walked to his death. 
Why did he do this? If his conditioning history mandated that he sacrifice 
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himself to save another, then why did so many with similar theological training fail to give even minor aid to others, much less give their lives? Ifhis superego, by instantaneous conflict resolution, prescribed this action, then why did other incarcerated members of the helping professions remain emotionally disengaged from the entire camp? Perhaps the best explanation can be offered by logotherapy. 
Logotherapy maintains that one's life may be retroactively flooded with meaning up to the final breath. As such, meaning can be derived in a fraction of a second. 7 I contend that Father Colby (later canonized and granted sainthood) sacrificed himself not because he was caused to do so by drives or conditioning but because he saw a reason for choosing to take the man's place ~ he could actualize the ideals of his training, he could transcend the unavoidable conditions of the camp, and he could help a man live to see his waiting family, and a family could have a living father. Father Colby was afforded the ultimate challenge of life~ to face unavoidable suffering with dignity and to transcend his self for the enactment of unselfish love toward a fellow human being. 5-12 His unselfish behavior was decided on in less than a second. As Frankl says: 
It should be made quite clear that there cannot exist in man any such thing as a moral drive, or even a religious drive, in the same manner as we speak of man's being determined by basic instincts. Man is never driven to moral behavior; in each instance he decides to behave morally. I doubt that they (the saints) ever had it in mind to become saints. If that were the case, they would have become only perfectionists rather than saints.4-P· 1sx 
There was a reason for the priest's behavior, but not a cause. To illustrate how reasons and causes operate on different dimensions of existence, I draw upon the following analogy taken from Frankl. 13 
Causes and Reasons 
Cutting an onion, we cry because of the chemical relationship between the juices of the onion and the biology of our eyes. There is a cause for the tears. But we also cry at the death ofa loved one. But, instead ofa cause, there is a reason for the tears! We do not feel sorrow while crying as a result ofpeeling an onion, whereas sorrow and griefarc seemingly omnipresent at the death of a loved one. 
When examined from the perspective of this analogy, a more clear demarcation between reasons and causes begins to evolve. Human beings arc the only living organisms who have a conscience. Psychoanalysts refer to this component (and causal factor) of human behavior as the superego, whereas the behaviorists maintain that conscience is the total conditioning history of the individual with regard to issues judged "right" or "wrong" by society. Skinner maintains that the ultimate goal ofscience is survival ofthe society. 22 According to psychoanalysis or behaviorism, human behavior is caused by environmental determinants or intrapsychic mechanisms. Human behavior is a plaything of forces beyond our control, and conscience is but a conditioned, societally imposed factor. We are "driven" to certain behaviors, or we fall prey to the illusion that we are "choosing" to behave a certain way. According to some 
95 
behaviorists, we merely have failed to identify a given behavior's antecedents and consequences which have formed a conditioning history determining the frequency, intensity, and duration of that behavior. 
In sharp contrast to this causal perspective, reasons operate on a dimension of human behavior which includes the dimension containing causes. That is, the dimensionality of reasons is higher than its causal counterpart. Causes implicate a mechanistic view of human beings, reducing them to a product of instincts or environmental variables. However, reasons provide the cognizance that humans are infinitely more than animals or machines. Reasons allow for self-transcendence of our uniquely human capability to go beyond "drives" or circumstances or, more specifically, to go beyond our self toward something (i.e., an endeavor) or someone (a loved one) greater than ourself. Frankl4 observes that prisoners who had a goal of some kind were those most likely to survive the rigors of the concentration camp. They could see not a cause per se, but a reason for their suffering. For some the reason was family, for others an unfinished work, and for still others, to "hear their cross." They could see beyond their own "ridiculous naked lives. "4 Buss summarizes the reason-cause distinction: 
Causality is a useful and necessary notion in regard to explaining social behavior. When it is totalized and thus transformed into unquestioned dogma, however, it becomes an ideology that obscures and hides, rather than enlightens and informs.2-p. 183 
Seeing one's potentials requires far more than a dominant superego or proper conditioning. It requires the ability to look beyond (i.e., transcend) one's self. Behaviorists maintain that "potentials" are merely the product of our reinforcement history ~ what reinforcements are correlated with what specific behaviors (and consequently, what behaviors are likely to be reinforced, or "have potential"). Logotherapists view potentials as representing the uniquely human ability to see reasons for sufferings bravely borne, for deeds proudly done, for others genuinely loved, or for a death faced with dignity. 
Another distinction between reasons and causes as explanations of human behavior concerns the human ability to observe one's self. Indeed, selfobservation occurs during behavior modification techniques (i.e., self-monitoring, daily logs) and during psychoanalysis (dream interpretation, examination of one's childhood), but self-observation indicative of selfdetachment necessitates a reason to transcend the self. This concept can be illustrated with an example from medicine. 
Cancer victims during the final months of the disease often exhibit an unusual set of behaviors. They don't monitor activities or amount of pain, but are frequently overcome with a sense of calmness. This serenity often results in diminished tumor size and fewer requests for analgesics. Logotherapy explains this phenomenon as self-detachment: by marshalling their uniquely human capabilities (their human "spirit") they separate themselves from their disease, thereby reducing its negative effects. 
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A Three-Dimensional Human Picture 
To recapitulate: human behavior does have causes, and much of what wc do and why we do it has been explained historically in terms of intra psychic conflict resolution ("drives") or by environmental contingencies (external determinants). However, by restricting ourselves to these seemingly bipolar explanations we view the human being in terms of a two-dimensional continuum, thereby reducing humans to less than they are (and what potentials they may have). Only when we consider reasons for explaining human behavior, do we view humans in their real capacity~ as multidimensional beings. This includes those qualities which are uniquely human such as the ability to self-transcend, to observe the self in a detached manner, and to draw upon our "noetic dimension." Only then can we truly search for a meaning to our existence. Franklu draws the analogy between contradicting viewpoints as diametrically opposed figures (a circle and a square) representing the projections of a threedimensional cylinder. 
Fig. 1 Frankl's Dimensional Ontology 

Logotherapeutic Reasons 
Environmental Contingencies of Reinforcement 
To analogize, the.: circular plane of environmental contingencies of reinforcement suffices to explain human behavior unidimensionally. The square plane of intrapsychic drives serves to explain human behavior in a similar unidimensional manner, albeit using different terminology. Only when viewed in a three-dimensional framework, can we begin to see the cylindrical, multidimensional juxtaposition of the circle and the square forming a figure which is transcendent to drives or environment. 
This transcendant figure represents the logotherapeutic approach to the explanation of human behavior. That is, the cylinder represents infinitely more than a mere combination of drives and environment. If it were merely their combination, we could simply lay the square and the circle side by side. Instead, logotherapy transcends such unidimensionality by venturing into areas such as meaning in life, a human spirit, and seeing reasons (as opposed to causes) for a more comprehensive and inclusive explanation of human behavior. Unequivocally, logotherapy emphasizes that "something extra" which is not "scientific" or easily operationalized. 
The area we have entered with our logotherapy ... is a borderland 
between medicine and philosophy. Medical ministry lies between 
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two realms. It therefore is a border area, and as such a no-man's
land. And yet -what a land of promise!6-P-2s3-2s4 
When we view human beings in a purely scientifically formulated conception of psychology, we remove them from the specifically and uniquely human dimension. We relegate the explanation of human behavior to a constellation of causes. We reduce the human being to a thing whose behavior is unwillingly and unknowingly determined, whereas viewing human behavior in the uniquely human dimension allows for the inclusion of reasons to explain behavioral motivations and choices. 13 Explication ofthis contention is given in the analogy which contrasted tears caused by onions with weeping whose reason was the death of a loved one. 
Logotherapy is not the only subdisciplinc of psychology which openly challenges the validity of psychoanalytic or behavioral assumptions. However, in sharp contrast to those who merely criticize these perspectives on human behavior, logotherapy may claim a more tolerant attitude in a two-fold sense. First, logotherapy views its contribution not as entirely substitutive, but rather complementary (especially with regard to psychoanalysis as reviewed by Frankl).6 Second. logotherapy offers specific criticisms and explanations of how it accounts for these perceived shortcomings ofother "schools of thought." In fact. logotherapeutic principles have been utilized in psychotherapy of a behavioral orientation. 1.P 
A Case Study 
In conclusion, I submit the following case study in support of the logotherapeutic contention that reasons, not causes, constitute the more valid (and human) explanation of human behavior. I know ofa young man who, at the age of seventeen. was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident. He had worked on a ranch and had aspired to a possible career in professional baseball. Ofcourse, these sources of meaning were immediately excluded from his future when he broke his neck. He tells of an incident shortly after his injury when he lay completely immobilized with metal tongs screwed into his skull, and there came a time of decision making in its most fundamental sense. He faced the decision whether he should give up (and probably die within six months) or whether he should at least try to make something of his shattered life. He says, "I thought everything out and decided that I should at least try. There's no way I could discover what's out there if I didn't try." Here was an individual stripped of his ability to voluntarily urinate, or to scratch his nose. or to feed himself. not to mention the loss of his ability to ride horses or throw a baseball. He wanted to live not because he was "caused" to live by contingencies of reinforcement, but because he saw the possibility ofpotentials and the reasons to go on. Tenuous though they may be, these are the reasons he decided to go on. I happily report that since then he has graduated high school, graduated college. completed one year of graduate study pursuant to a doctorate in clinical psychology, published several articles, formed meaningful and la~ting relationships, counseled others, travelled abroad, is living independently, and regards his life as heller than it would have been. He states, "My life is abundant with meaning and purpose," and I know this to be true for the individual about whom I write is me. 
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JERRY L. LONG, Jr. is pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston, TX. 
REFERENCES: 
I. Ascher. I . "Application of Paradoxical Intention by Other Schools ofTherapy." International Forum for Logotherapy, 5 (I). 1981. 
2. Huss. A. A Dialectical Psrchology. New York, Irvington Puhl., 1979. 
3. Fabry, J. B. The Pursuit of Meaning. San Francisco. Harper & Row. 1980. 
4. Frankl. H.F. ,Wan'., Searchjor Meaning. Boston, Beacon Press. 1959. 
5. _____ "Beyond Self-Actualirntion and Self-Expression.".fournalofExistential Psychiarn. 1. 5-20, 1960. 
6. ____ 1he Docror and the Soul. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. 1965. 
7. _____ "Logotherapy and Existential Analysis: A Review." American Journal ofPsychorherap1. 20, 252-260. 1966. 
8. _____ "What i, Meant by !\1eaning0" Journal of t),istentialism, 7 (25). 21-28, l966. 
9. _____ Psychotherap_1· and Exisrenrialism. New York, Washington Square Press. 1967. 
10. _____ The Will to Meaning. New York and Cleveland, The World Publishing Co., 1969. 
11. _____ "Determinism and Humanism:· Humamtas, 7, 23-26, 1971. 
12. ____ 7he l'nconscwus God New York, Simon & Schuster, 1978. IJ. _____ "Logotherapy on its Wa} to Degurufication." In Analecra Frankliana, Sandra Wawn tko. ed. Berkeley. Institute of Logotherapy Press. 1982. 
14. ____ "l"he Rehumani73tion of Psychotherapy." Speech before the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, May 24. I985. J'i. Freud. S. Cil'ili::ation and its Di.,cuntellf.1. New York, W. \V. Norton & Co.. 1966. 
16. _____ /ntrodw 101T LRcrure, on Psrchoanahsis. New York. W.W. Norton &Co.. 1966. 
17. Lanrus. A. BehU\·ior Therapy and Beyond. New York. McGraw-Hill. 1971. IR. Maddi. S Personalirr Theories. Homewood, IL. Dorsey Press, 1980. 
19. Ma\, R. "The O11gins and Significance of the Existential Movement in Psychology." In L-.;i.,rence. May. Angel. and Fllcnhcrger. eds. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1958. 20 Ruhin. Z. and E. McNeil. 7he Ps_\"Chulog_i· ofBeing Human. New York. Harper & Row. 1981. 
21. Schultt. D. P. "frank!\ Model of the Self-I ransccndent Person." In Growrh Psycholog\': .Hodel, ufrhe Heail/11 Penonaliry. New York, Van Nostrand, 1977. 
22. Skinner. B. S, ien,·e and Human Hehavwr. New York. McMillan. 1953. 23 _____ Bciond Freedom and Dignlly. :\ew York, Bantam Books. 1971. 
24. ~----"Selecti,in hy Consequences." Behavioral and Brain S,.·iences, 7, 477-481. 1984. 
25. Soder,trom, D. "Religious Orientation and Meaning in Life." Dissertation, Utah State University. I 976. 
26. Starck. P. l.. ""Patients· Perceptions of the Meaning of Suffering." 17w International Forumfor Lugorherapr. 6 (2). 110-116. 1983. 
n. Yalom. I. D. Fxistenrial P.lnlwrherapi-. New York, Basic Hooks. 1980. 
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Logos and the Farm Crisis in America 
Joseph Graca 
The severe crisis among farmers in America, caused by years of high interest rates, inflated land values, and commodity prices below production costs, has resulted in an alarming increase in farm bankruptcies and bank failures, especially in the midwest. A conservative estimate is that more than one-third of all farmers in the mid west will be forced out of farming in the next two years. This economic crisis has created a spiritual crisis among farmers that severely tests their feelings about life meaning, purpose, and values. 
Every farm family that has lost its farm has gone through a personal tragedy. What has been taken away is more than land and a few buildings. Farming represents more than a job or occupation; it represents a way of life and a family history. 
As a clinical psychologist living in a small farm community in Iowa I have seen the human consequences of the farm crisis firsthand. For the past year I have assisted another therapist in conducting a weekly farm support group. From this experience I have come to appreciate the strong values that farming represents. Common values shared by most farmers are helping others, appreciation of nature, trust, family, and community. The farming lifestyle has given generations offarmers a sense of identity, and has rewarded their hard work by offering a strong sense of meaning and purpose. 
As a trained logotherapist I have been able to turn to the principles of logotherapy in order to understand the farm crisis in human terms and to develop an approach to help these farmers in crisis regain their sense ofmeaning and direction. 
Experientially the loss of a farm is comparable to the loss of a loved one in your family. The coping stages that farm families go through when threatened with loss of their farm, are similar to the stages followed in coping with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Because many farmers value independence, self-reliance and self-responsibility, they react to the threat of loss with self-blame and depression. Others respond with unfocused anger and hostility accompanied by a strong sense of injustice. This hyperreflection on inward or outward blame for the farm crisis can p,ychologically cripple a farm family and prevent its members from going through the healing proce~s of dealing with their sense of loss. 
To allow the healing process to occur, so a sense of meaning and direction can return to their lives, the first step is to assist farm families to recognize and identify what they feel is being threatened by the loss oftheir farm. The question needs to be addressed "what life values are being threatened?" Frequently it is the values offamily, tradition and heritage -they realize they will not be able to 
100 
pass on their farm to their children. What inevitably occurs is a questioning of their values system, especially the values of honesty, trnst and self-reliance. 
In dealing with this crisis in values and the threat to their sense oflife direction and meaning, logotherapeutic principles can be applied to assist in coping. For example, when a farmer states he has lost his ability to trust others, through a Socratic dialogue the person can be led to realize that he has become more guarded in trusting others yet still holds trust and honesty as important to his value system. 

Many farmers who participate in our support group have become peer counselors. They have found a new way to fulfill the value of helping others by reaching out to other farmers in crisis. Through the assistance of the group and the support and understanding that it provided. many farmers have been able to maintain their sense of identity and value system. They are now able to struggle with finding new jobs, interests, and relationships that are congruent with their value system, thus re-establishing their sense of meaning and direction. 
It is important for others to appreciate the human tragedy of the farm crisis among farmers and the threat it represents to their meaning orientation. America's farmers, stricken by an economic crisis that is largely beyond their control, are leading a trend that is sure to continue. In a sense, America's source of values and tradition is dying, and the farmers are only the first to go. Coal miners. oil field workers, steel workers, and longshoremen are also facing a loss of tradition and a way of life. As American society continues to place technological progress above tradition, America may slowly lose its collective meaning and purpose. A philosophy as offered by logotherapy can help people maintain their value system in spite of this aiarming trend. 
JOSEPH G RA CA, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Knoxville, Iowa. 
The Encounter with Meaninglessness in Crisis Intervention 
Roberta G. Sands 

Meaning is an intrinsic part ofcrisis intervention theory and practice. People go into a state of crisis when their needs, values, and goals are threatened by a precipitating factor and stressful life events.3·17 During the state of crisis, they experience a sense of meaninglessness. Resolution of the crisis involves facing meaninglessness and finding meaning by changing the meaningless situation where possible, or by changing one's attitude where it is not. The work of Viktor Frankl is germane to this process. 
Although crisis intervention theory has been <J.,round for some timc,2·10 little work has been done to link crisis literature with the dimension of meaning. Its eclectic theoretical basis has been recognized by Rapoport 17 and Golan, 11 who noted the relevance ofego psychology, stress theory, sociological literature, and learning theory. Other authors have integrated the issues of loss, identity, and integrity with crisis intervention theory.4·17·19 Even if the goal is only stabilization and return to a previous level of psychosocial functioning, most thcorists2·'·11·" regard a crisis as an opportunity for growth and an improved level of functioning. 
This article looks at the relationship between meaning and crisis intervention. The experience of crisis is seen as an encounter with meaninglessness and an opportunity to discover meaning. Meaning will be viewed from three perspectives -the cognitive-perceptual deciphering of the meaning of a stresssful life event: the existential state of meaninglessness: and the spiritual examination of the meaning of life. The discovery of meaning during crisis intervention treatment will be discussed and illustrated by a case example. 
Deciphering Meaning 
Meaning is the sense one makes oflife experiences. The search for meaning is a universal human activity that occurs throughout the life cycle. This article discusses meaning in relation to life events that culminate in a state ofcrisis. The focus is on the perception of hazardous conditions and the precipitating event that precede the crisis. 
Simultaneous with and following a social interaction, individuals decode, decipher and reorganize what they have seen, heard and felt into a form that is congruent with their individual perceptual pattern. The terms "meaning structure,·· "meaning matrix," and "structure of meaning" are being used in the sense employed hy Binswanger,1 to refer to the individual's unique way of patterning life experiences. Here the structure of meaning is regarded as a gestalt encompassing an individual's values, goals, ideology, life style, significant others, ethnic and personal identity, talents, interests, and self-concept. A structure of 
102 
meaning is created by the individual through social interaction and as such is influenced hy sociocultural and contextual factors. The meaning system is subject to revision as new sources of meaning are discovered. 
In ordinary social interactions, individuals relate what they have experienced to their own meaning constructs, looking for a match between their inner design and outer experience. 14 Although life and conversations are not predictable, 
20
styles of interaction are patterned and normative. 7.10.1 2. When expectations and actual experiences do not match, one endeavors to discover meaning through such strategies as asking for clarification, reframing, and defensive maneuvers. The alternative is a state of misunderstanding or cognitive dissonance5 with it~ emotional counterpart, anxiety. 
During the crisis state one's inner structure of meaning clashes with one or more stressful life events. Experiencing hazardous events can result in a vulnerable psychological state such that a precipitating factor ("last straw") culminates in a crisis. 11 The precipitating event represents a failure at integrating a life experience within the meaning matrix. For example, a person whom one trusted may have violated that trust. thus calling into question the meaning ofa relationship. Experiencing this challenge to an important component of one's meaning matrix, one may question the entire matrix. 
The State of Meaninglessness 
If a life event cannot be fitted into one's accustomed framework for organi7ing experience, an existential crisis and a feeling of meaninglcssne~s may result. !his is a period of intense suffering, grief. and anxiety when one's life, or the terms thut made one's life make sense. no longer congeal. Clinical symptions of depression and anxiety may appear; yet these are not symptoms ofa psychiatric disorder but of maiaise. purposelessness, disorganin1tion. 
In thi~ respect Frankl refers to an "'existential vacuum" --"a total lack, or loss. of an ultimate meaning to one's existence that would make life worthwhile. .,, 
In contrast to clients seeking psychotherapy for ordinary problems in living, for whom the '"existential vacuum'' has resulted in boredom, restlessness, or uncasrness, the client in crisis is in an intense emotional state, often feeling helpless and hopeless. Because these clients may not know why they are in a state of crisis, a cognitive approach to crisis intervention, in which they are he! ped to recogni1c the connection between their emotional state and its cause, 1 is particularly useful. But however helpful this approach may he, cognitive restoration docs not deal with the existential state of meaninglessness. 
An heretofore missing ingredient in crisis intervention theory is facing meaninglessness, ho\\e,cr painful this may be. This entails the emotional experience nf grief over the loss of a previous structure of meaning as well as grief overthe particular people and situation that were part of the crisis. It also re41:ires examining the importance of the individual;'situation in one's previous Ii'..: and why this particular comtcllation was important. Inevitably personal values and attitudes. however irrational, arc recognized and questioned. 
l03 
The Spiritual Crisis 
In experiencing meaninglessness, one is likely to question more than an immediate relationship or life pattern. As Frankl has said, the quest for ultimate or "super-meaning" is important.6 Frankl differs from other existentialists who regard "meaninglessness" as the ultimate but sees meaninglessness (or the "existential vacuum") as a challenge for the individual to discover a deeper significance in life. Thus it is possible for a person in crisis to learn a spiritual or moral lesson from the experience and become more fully human. 
During the spiritual crisis, issues of values, morality, and human purpose emerge. A religious doctrine may or may not be relevant but faith, belief. and confidence are. The spiritual dimension is of particular importance to the person in crisis whose loss of trust in relation to one person or situation generalizes to all people, institutions, and belief systems. 
The most striking example of the spiritual crisis of meaning is outlined in the Book ufJoh. Job was a good man who for no apparent reason lost his family and all his material possessions. This story has challenged religious scholars, poets, and other people to determine its message. Robert Frost\ interpretation sheds some light on this dilemma. God tells Job: 
Too long I've owed you this apology 
For the apparently unmeaning sorrow 
You were afflicted with in those old days. 
But it was of the essence of the trial 
You shouldn't understand it at the time. 
It had to seem unmeaning to have meaning.8 
Frost suggests that there is meaning in suffering but that the meaning is not necessarily apparent to the person in the midst of the crisis. A larger spiritual meaning can be derived from an experience, but while enmeshed in the situation one may not have the necessary perspective to discover it. 
In Vanauken's autobiographical work, the loss of his beloved wife is faced and explained in a religious sense.21 He and his wife Jean had an ideal relationship, one of deep love and understanding, equality, and deep sharing. Yet their life consisted of a "pagan" reverence for nature and love itself. Although Jean had achieved a high level of spiritual/ religious development, Vanauken had not. He describes how his grief ultimately brought him closer to his Creator. 
No matter what one's religious orientation or how one defines spirituality, a crisis is likely to touch one's belief system and challenge the constructs that' one previously took for granted. The crisis may bring about a loss of faith, a change in spiritual orientation, or an affirmation of belief. In any case, the ultimate parameters or meaning, however defined by the individual, are engaged. 
Meaning During Crisis Intervention Treatment 
As shown, meaning is an important dimension in the perception ofthe crisis, the existential experience of meaninglessness, and in the potential for spiritual development inherent in the crisis. The following section describes how this is translated in crisis intervention treatment. It applies to clients who arc clearly in a state of crisis and are seen on a short-term basis. 
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According to most crisis intervention theorists, a major task for the first interview is to identify the event that led to the client's call for help. Frequently this is the last straw in a string of hazardous experiences that have had a cumulatively debilitating effect on the client. However insignificant this event may appear to the therapist. to the client it is laden with meaning. Thus it is important to find out from clients what this event represents to them. They may be asked directly or indirectly, depending on their personality, accessibility, or cultural style. It is important to learn from them how they construct the situation and the parameters ofthe structure of meaning that has worked up to the crisis. 
During the first interview. clients usually talk about the immediate crisis situation and how they feel about it. Ventilation of feelings together with the cognitive restoration performed by the therapist3 help the client achieve control and awareness. Still the question of meaning needs to he addressed. Accordingly, it is helpful if the therapist offers a perspective on the meaning of the immediate crisis and possibilities of making sen~e of this experience in the future. 
During the middle phase of crisis mtcrvcntion treatment. the clients face the meaninglessne~s they arc experiencing as a result of the events that culminated in a crisi~. This is accompanied by a sense of loss. regret, purposelessness. They may feel depressed over the loss and anxious over the lack ofthe anchor the lost person/ situation had provided. Thus the clients have a sense ofaimlessness. It is important that they express their feelings and cognitions related to meaninglessness. The therapist may respond by recognizing the universality of the experience of meaninglessness and the quest for meaning. In keeping with traditional approaches to crisis intervention, the therapist's confidence that meaning can be restored inspires confidence in the client." 
The next step will vary according to the client's situation. In some cases (e.g., a runaway child who has returned). the original life structure can be restored. Still the crisis should stimulate an examination of the basis for meaning for clients and their families, and how they might act to attain what was apparently missing previously. In other cases ( e.g .. battered wife), crisis intervention might require helping the clients to look at the incongruence between their life structure and their life goals. The battered wife would be faced with the destructive nature ofthe marital interaction and how this marriage has provided a vacuous or pseudo-meaning to her. Other styles of marital interaction can be presented as alternative constructions. Ultimately, however, it is up to clients to choose the parameters of their meaning system. 
The final stage of crisis intervention is resolution. By this time the clients are engaged in a spiritual journey of getting to know and understand their personal values. needs. wants. and goals. At this point, in which the therapist is less active, the clients are discover,ng meaning in the crisis. Some people will describe this discovery in terms of fatalism, e.g .. "this relationship was never meant to be ... or attribute the crisis to random naturalistic occurrences. 15 ln any case the crisis will now be described in different term5 and viewed from a different per~pective. Because crisis intervention is so brief, the perspective gained by termination must be regarded as temporary. It is possible that the 
105 
clients will find greater meaning in the crisis after the passage of time. Still the crisis has provided them with an opportunity to recognin: their old system of meaning and make modifications. The new meaning matrix should include the new c;,: rerience and account for it in a broad philosophic sense. 
Case Example 
The following is a case example of a client in crisis in which the dimension of meaning was addressed. 
Mark Stevens. 30. was referred to a mental health center hy a worker at a crisis center. When seen at the crisis center Mark was depressed ahout ,eparating from his wife. He reportedly expressed suicidal ideas. 
Mark\ wife left him and moved away one month prior to Mark's rnrrent difficulties. Since then the client made two out-of-town trips and numerous long distance telephone calls. in efforts to convince her to return. His call for help came the day after a weekend visit with hi, wife. He came to the conclusion that the marriage was over. 
During the early stages of crisis intervention. Mark expressed grief over the loss ofthe relationship. At the time he felt particularly vulnerable. as he had just graduated from law school and did not have ajoh. He had accrued a large deht during law school and was concerned about repaying it. Meanwhile he felt too depressed and disorganized to seek employment. The meanmg of the crisis that ile expressed had to do with the struggle he had endured during the last few years. Both he and his wife were going to school and working. For some of the time they li\'ed in different cities as their educational needs did not mesh. During thi~ period they traveled great distances to see each other on weekends. When they finally were able to arrange to go to school in the same city. his wife expressed dissatisfaccion with the proportion of time he devoted to his school work mer time spent with her. What struck Mark most at the time of his initial appointment was that now when he had completed law school and the ~truggle was over. his wifr was no longer around. He had thought that they shared a common goal. a common anticipation of the life they would live following law school. 1"ow he was to do it alone. 
During suhscquent sessions. Mark talked about how they had met and how different Laurie was from other women he had known. He described her as attractive. unpredictable. and dramatic. She had difficulty being alone: time spent alone was consumed reading romance novels. Mark described his own background -his childhood in a rural community and early adulthood at an Ivy League men·s college. He was a "star" in college and held exciting political jobs in Washington following college. Here he had been exposed to a glamorous life style which stimulated him. but also made him feel dissatisfied and restless. At the time he met I ,auric. to whom he felt strongly attracted. the idea ofsettling down seemed very appealing. 
In later sessions Mark began to question why he married Laurie when they had nothing in common. He described himself as "intellectual," "disciplined," and "organized" and he saw her as "chaotic,""impulsive."and "a creature of her needs." When pressed to look further into the attraction, he said that up until 
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recently he saw himself on a certain track characterized by an Ivy League school, politics, law, and a glamorous looking wife. Yet none ofthese satisfied his inner need for integrity, harmony, and authenticity. The break-up began to look inevitable even though it remained painful to him. 
Around the time of termination Mark met another woman with whom he began to strike up a relationship. He saw her as very different from Laurie, more like himself. She was a graduate student in music and planned a career as a music teacher. Mark decided that he would take his time in pursuing this relationship to avoid falling in love on the rebound. Yet he saw in the new woman the possibility of a stable future in which he could fulfill his need for intellectual companionship. He started to feel optimistic about his future at the same time he felt regrets about the past. 
In this case one can see how hazardous events (completing law school and his wife\ leaving him) and the precipitating factor (the weekend that convinced him that the relationship was over) constituted a threat to the client\ meaning system. During the years in which he was struggling through law ~chool and trying to maintain hi, relationship with his wife, he was sustained by the belief that when school was over he and his wife would be able to share a life together. His wife. who looked for meaning in the present rather than the future. did not share his meaning system. When the time of fulfillment arrived, his wife left. After dealing with his grief and the associated ~ense of meaninglessness, Mark called into que~tion the nature of his relationship with his wife, his perception of her. and their differences. In the course of crisis intervention treatment. he recognized that his wife did not share his goals or interests. that they had different source~ of meaning. Subsequently he questioned his attraction to "glamour"' (represented by his wife. political associates. and his college) over ,ubstance. bringing him into sharper rcai11atio11 of what he really wanted. He began to develop a new gestalt ofwhat was meaningful to him in preparation for discovering richer meaning in the future. 
ROBERTA G. SANDS. Ph.D., is assistant professor. Colleie ofSocial J;J/ork, 
The Ohio State Unil·ersit_i, Colzm1hus. Ohio. 
REFERENCES: 
I. Binswa ngcr. I . RPin1<-in-1he World: Se/ec1ed Papers of' Lud11·1j; Birm\'/mger. New York. Basic Books. 1%3. 
2. Carlan. G. l'rin, 11,le., o/ Prei·cmil·e l'.1rchiatrr. '\;('W York. Basic Books. 1%4. .1 Dixon. S I.. Wurki111; 1rith Peo11le in Cri.,i,. St. Louis. C. V. Mosby. 1979. 
4. ----~·and R. G. Sanus. "'ldcntin :mu the Exr,c11cncc of Crisis." Social Case1rnrk. 19X3. 
n4. 22.'\ 230. 5 Fcsi,ngcr. I .4 lhcorr of Cu1;m1,'1·e Tii,smumce. [vanstnn. Ill.. Row. Pctnson. 1957. !i. hank\.\. f. ,\fo11\ \ermhj,,r .\ft>anin1;. Nc1,1 York. Washington Sqtwre Press. l9X4. 7 ~---~ l'.1_1'< lwrhi'l'a/>.1 and E,i,1e111iali.1111. :',;ev. York. Washington S<.Juarc Press. 19(,: 
8. ho,t. R. "(iod\ Speech to .lob." In S. Rournan (ed.). One !lwulred .Hodcrn l'ue111.1. '.'ic1,1 Y,,rk. Mcntm. 1949.1.121.1.1. 
9. Garfinkel. H .\1L1dies in f-.'1hnome:lu•dulogr l·.ngic,\ood Clift< 1\'J. Prentice-Hall. 1%''. 
10. 
Goflman. L /i11n11 u/ folk. Philadelphia. Univcrsit, ot Pcnmyl,ania Press, 19X.1. 

11. 
Golan. 1\'. 'Jrea1111e1Jt 111 (n.11.1 S//uatiu111. :\cw York. f-ree Press. 1978. 

12. 
Gurnpc17..J. J. /)is, 011ne c\trtllt'!{in. Carnhri<lge. England. Camhridgc University Press. I9K2. 


U. Keµan. R. Lvo/1·ing .\el). Camhndgc. MA. Harvard l1nivcrsit) Press. 1982. 
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14. Kelly. G. A. Psl'(hologro.f Personal Construct.,·: A Theory ofPersonalitr(2vols.). New York. 
W. W. Norton. 1955. 
15. Kushner. H. S. When Bad 7hings Happen ro Guod People. New York. Schocken Books, 1981. 
16. 
Parad, H.J. (ed.). Cn:1i.1 lmen•ention: Sclect<:d Readings. New York. Family Service Associatir,n of America. 1965. 

17. 
R,.poport. L. "Crisis Intervention as a Mode of BriefTreatment." In R. W. Roherts and R. H. Nee (eds.). Theories ofSocial Case,rnrk. Chicago. llniversity ofChicago Press. 1970. 265-J 11. 


18. Smith. L. L. "A Review of Crisis Intervention Theory." Social Casework, 1978. 59. 396-405. 
19. 
Stickler. M .. and 8. I.aSor. '"The Concept of Loss in Crisis Intervention." Mental Hrgiene, 1970. 54, 301-305. 

20. 
Tannen. D. "What's in a Frame'' Surface Evidence for Underlying Fxpectations." In R. 0. 


Freedle (ed.). Ne11· !)irec1ions in Discourse Proces,ing. Norwood. N.J. Ahlcx. 1979. pp. 137-181. 
21. Vanaukcn. S. A Severe Merer. New York_ Harper & Row, 1977. 
108 
Communicating Logotherapy 
William Blair Gould 

While Vik tor E. Frankl's Logotherapy began as a medical ministry, focusing on the homo patiens, it is also becoming a ministry humane, a human ministry' with its concern for the homo possidens, "the person who takes hold." In her tribute to Frankl's The Unheard Cry For Meanini, 2 Elisabeth Kubler-Ross comments that this book "emphasizes the importance of helping people to find meaning in their lives, and thus to live at their fullest potential." It is not surprising then, that the human ministry of logotherapy is now finding an important place in the classroom as well as in the clinic. 
Frankl and other logotherapists welcome this expanded ministry. Ten years ago when I began teaching logotherapy in an academic setting, it was seen as an experimental venture both by those within the humanities and the social/p5ychological sciences. Today. chairs in logotherapy are being established throughout the world and such key logotherapists as Flisabeth Lukas are publishing books that help both the homo possidem and as well the homo patiens. While students, representing a variety of academic disciplines, regions, and ages, respond to the es~cntial message of logotherapy once it is presented, logothera peutic educators and counselors must recognize the fact that we are facing a communications crisis in logotherapy that prevents Frankl's message from being explored by the students who are essentially interested in humanities and social sciences. The crisis begins with the title of "logotherapy." 
While we are aware of Frankl\ modesty in wanting to avoid the use of his own name in the title, and his honest sensitivity in avoiding the use of the term "existential analysis" introduced by Binswanger, the term logotherapy -as etymologically sound as it may be -confuses students both inside and outside of academe. The word "logo" is one stumbling block. The secular student identifies logos with the ~ign-symbol a firm may use as its hallmark in advertising. The religious student thinks of logos as the theological concept of the Divine Word as defined by the Gospel of John in the New Testament. The philosophy student -if informed by his discipline -associates logos with its use by the sophists: an argument or the content of an argument; the more sophisticated philosopher may recall Heraclitus' doctrine in which the logos appears as a kind of nonhuman intelligence that organizes elements in the world into a coherent whole. Irrespective of which of these definitions is recognized, it does not help the inquirer comprehend Frankl's definition oflogos as meaning. Similarly, the word "therapy" does not fare any better in the student marketplace than logos, but it is more easily identified. Commonly understood, therapy means a treatment for the ill. Thus, when confronted with a course 
109 
entitled "Logotherapy" many students might say -or at least think -why should I take a course for "sickies"? 
It is almost impossible in any group -particular logotherapists -to agree on a common title, and any --if and when one is agreed upon -is almost certain not to meet all the needs ofevery person in the group. But, I feel we must try. A friend, who appreciates Frankl, suggested I examine Garth Wood's The Myth of Neurosis: Overcoming the Illness Excuse. 4 It parallels many of the therapeutic insights of Frankl and because it was written by a man who --like Frankl -is a bridge person between philosophy and psychiatry. My friend is right. The hook is in harmony with the humanistic existential analysis of Frankl. Wood calls his approach ''moral therapy." While it is not a perfect label (for it could be confused with a particular religious form of moral rigorism), it docs express the major thrust of the book: the rediscovery of the conscience as the essential tool in achieving mental health. Wood's use of the term "moral therapy" started me to think again about a brief title that might express the heart of Frankl\ approach. As a philosopher I would probably choose "existential analysis." But, with the general public in mind, I propose that "meaning analysis" be seriously considered in place of "logotherapy" in classes of the humanities and social sciences. In my undergraduate, graduate, and continuingeducation courses, I have moved in this direction entitling the course Frankl\ Meaning Analysis followed by "logotherapy" in brackets. The response has been positive hy the more than 150 students who have taken logotherapy. While the term "meaning analysis" may have its own limitations, it docs incorporate the key concept of Frankl's thought. "meaning." and also avoids the negative connotations of "therapy." 
Guidelines 
How logothcrapy is communicated depends on the nature of the audience and the time alloted for the presentation. Thus the following guidelines may need to be edited to fit a particular situation, as they are designed for communicating to a group that will meet at least for six hours. 
Today's audience -especially in an academic setting -should know the background from which Frankl came. Most American audiences know little or nothing about the cultural climate (education, social events, politics) that helped form Viktor Frankl and which caused him to respond to issues that he felt were important as a young man between the wars. 
Also needed is an acquaintance with the importance of Freud, Jung, and Adler, not only in relation to Frankl, but as pioneers in the neurologicalpsychological revolution that took place. In any presentation it is equally important to share recent critiques of Freud, especially from men like Bruno Bettelheim, who correct the excesses of the nco-Frcudian's treatment of the literature of Freud's psychoanalysis. 
Many of the younger members of any audience have little or no understanding of the events leading up to World War II and the holocaust. If we are to communicate the extent to which Frankl's principles were tested, our students should understand what the concentration camp meant to Frankl in the living 
I IO 
of his theories. The showing of such films as Night and Fog3 communicate quickly and well an experience that is almost impossible to share otherwise. 
The Institute of Logotherapy, through its publications, including The International Forum, has been helpful in interpreting logotherapy. We can support these efforts of communication by the following actions: 
I. Continue to explain the vocabulary and use of terms in logotherapy. 
2. 
Furnish succinct comparisons between those who have influenced Frankl: Freud and Jung, Freud and Adler, Adler and Frankl, etc. 

3. 
Provide material that explains existentially the assumptions of/ogotherapy in light of current crises in human life (both individual and social). 

4. 
Help the logotherapist to pay adequate attention to the noetic dimension, so that members of the audience may be able to help students utilize the dynamics of the noetic within their own spiritual frameworks. 

5. 
Discuss more fully subjects that often need both clarification and exposition. Example: exploring the idea of continuing a "triumphant triad" -healing over suffering, forgiveness over guilt, meaning in the face of the certainty of death: or enabling students to use "the road map of logotherapy" to develop their own response to the "tragic triad." 

6. 
Point out ways of utilizing the Purpose-In-Life test I and other exercises in self-evaluation. 

7. 
Suggest ways as to what proportion of time should be alloted for each of the theories of logotherapy. 

8. 
Continue to furnish case studies that illustrate the problems addressed hy Frankl\ logotherapy. Solicit case studies from clients in the field and invite a panel of logotherapists to respond to ways a particular case might be addressed. 


In our task of communicating logotherapy we need to remind ourselves that most audiences and individuals to whom we are relating contain elements of both the homo patiens (in varying degree) and the homo possidens. Thus, ifwc are sensitive to these two types of persons, Frankl's "meaning analysis" will stimulate hoth our students and ourselves to discover and to present the new ways of meaning. The exciting thing about communicating logotherapy in the 1980s is the utilizing of persons, representing a variety of experiences, who arc now working in logotherapy. For they provide a lively matrix that will expand both the knowledge of logotherapy and ways to share this knowledge. One of the great gifts of Viktor Frankl to logotherapy is his intentionally keeping this movement open so that the exchange of ideas may continue to inform and stimulate those who hear "the unheard cry for meaning." 
WILLIAM BLAIR GOULD. Ph.D., isprofessorofphilosophyandreligious studies and chairperson, Humanities, Universdity of Dubuque, Iowa. 
REFERENCES 
I. Crumha ugh, .James C. and I eonard T. Maholick. 'The Purpose in Life Test," availahle from Psychometric Affiliates. Box 3167. Munster, Indiana 46321. 
2. Frankl. Viktor E. Jhe Unheard Crrjor Meaninf?. New York, Washington S4uare Press. 1985. 
J '"Night and Fog,"availablc from Films. Incorporated. 733 Green Bay Road, Wilmette. Illinois 60091. and also on VCR. 
4. Wood. Garth. The Mrth uf Neurusis: Overcuming the /1/ness Excuse. New York, Harper & Row, 1962. 
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Reviving the Shattered Spirit: The Missing Link in Rehabilitation 
Patricia E. Haines 

This article explores the idea of imtilling the concepts of meaning into the rehabilitation process for physically, emotionally, vocationally, socially; and educationally disabkd persons. Today rehabilitation programs often concentrate on restoring the part, which results in ignoring the whole. Yet, this dimension of wholenes~ must he included in the restoration process in order to rehabilitate the total human being, which encompasses the spirit within debilitated individuals. Frankl 's notion of using suffning as a positive energy source, which. if used to its best advantage, can play a key rok in establishing a meaningful existence despite the severity of the disability. 
Medica I personnel describe death in terms of cessation of vital bodily functions. Persons who experience an interruption in their ability to function effectively in today's world refer to their existences as "living death." Clinicians specializing in physical and emotional restoration arc placing greater emphasis on the need to rehabilitate the total person. The <.kvastation brought on by trauma or turmoil brutally intrudes upon the lives of families and demoralizes the spirit of the one who face5 a long, arduous road to recovery. The ,uffering can be instantaneous and all-inclusive. The concept of total rehabilitation encompasses the building of meaning into the recovery process which exceeds isolated restoration of bodies and minds. 
Human Nature as a Stumbling Block 
Humans have the capability to think an<l to behave productively or counterproductively. Because they lack self-confidence and self-esteem, they attend to negative thoughts more readily than they do to pmitive ones. They arc suggestible and internali1c responses from others. Many times positive responses. when internalized, are fleeting and easily replaced by negative ideas. A person may have begun the day on top of the world, but let someone remark, "You really could have done that job better," and suddenly the person feels incompetent and worthies~. an utter failure! People tend to generalite the specific and to hold onto destructive concepts. Physically and emotionally disabled persons "become" their disabilities. Clinicians add to the dilemma when they refer to clients as "the paraplegic" or "the amputee." 
Human, talk as though they believe they have control over their destinies, yet lament their lots because they have no control. They view themselves as inept, physically unattractive, and defective in some way. Disability, especially deformity. validates the self-concept of unattractiveness. In reality humans want to be loving. generous, and self-sufficient: however, they find themselves to be bitter, resentful, self-centered, and restricted, not only regarding the disability, 
112 
but about everything. Disabled individuals initially believe the abnormality controls them and they lose perspective that they have the power and means to build a meaningful life around it. 
Disability Defined 
Although it once connoted a physical debilitation only, the term disability today is used to CO\ er a broad spectrum of conditions. In fact, the field of rehabilitation knows no bounds. Persons are considered disabled when they are incapacitated in some physical, emotional, vocational. educational, or social aspect. For example, couples experiencing cont1ict in their marriages arc, in a manner of speaking, disabled. Their day-to-day functioning i~ impaired and their quality ofliving is diminished. The educationally deprived or impaired do not perform to capacity. Their horizon~ are limited. Chemical dependency profoundly alters their lifestyle. Those with no marketable skills fed emotional pain because of their inability to obtain gainful employment. Theirs is a constant search for self-respect which can he provided by profitable endeavor. 
When Disabilit)' Strikes 
Disability is often the catalyst that brings to the surface ail the failures. guilt. and shame ofa lifetime. Despair and loss of hope sap strength from victims. The pn.:vailing attitude is. "I can't live with this because I only know how to live the way I was." The intrusion of illness or hardship into one\ world over a period of time. or perhaps suddenly, can incarcerate the free spirit of humans into a physical or mental prison, leaving only the mind to wander aimlessly and mercilessly. Mandino expresses the feelings which surface in many disabled persons: 
You weep for your childhood dreams which have vanished through the years. You weep for all your self-esteem which has been corrupted by failure. You weep for all your potential which has been bartered for security. You weep for all your talent which has been wasted through mi~usc. You look upon yourself with disgrace and you turn in terror from the image you see in the pool. Who is this mockery of humanity staring back at you with bloodless eyes of shame? Where is the grace of your manner, the beauty of your figure, the quickness of your movement. the clarity of your mind, the brilliance of your tongue? Who stole your goods? ls the theifs identity known to you as it is to me?1· rr. ,'!·90 
To deai with the disability by itself without establishing meaningful results promotes a delusional system which says as long as function is restored. the client has been successfully rehabilitated. Much effort is spent restoring the nonfunctioning part. while the spirii of the person -where the real wound lies open, where suffering is the most intense --is ignored. 
Frankl's concept of homo patiens suggests that suffering individuals should learn how to mold suffering into achievement. "Really the dimension ofhomo patiens . .. is a higher dimension. for by changing ourselves (if we can no longer 
113 
change our fate), by rising above and growing beyond ourselves, we exercise the 
most creative of all human potentials"2· P· 42 
Rather than trying to alleviate suffering, where this is impossible, it is 
important to teach debilitated people to suffer constructively. In rehabilitation 
efforls, counselors will never remove from clients' inner selves the pain or 
anguish emanating from the original trauma or illness. However, suffering can 
he used as a building block to create meaningful rehabilitation. even though the 
dysfunctional part may not be completely restored. 
According to Frankl,2 meaning can be achieved under the worst possible 
conditions. He points out that counselors are responsible to show clients ways 
to use suffering to achieve a greater depth to personal meaning which is within 
their gra~p despite the hardship and in spite of the ~ometimcs overwhelming 
odds against them. 
Suffering Becomes Courage 
There is a woman in her thirties at the university. Her body is crippled and her speech is barely intelligible. As one watches her struggle to move, as one sees her expend monumental energy to take hut a few steps, the "healthy" individual cannot help wondering what is the point in all of this? Why docs this woman subject herself to the aggravation every day to pursue a higher education'? What motivates her? What docs she possibly have to offer? One tends to look upon such a creature with pity. And, no doubt, there are certain purists who would not hesitate to say, "This is a perfect example ofa situation where it would have been humane to see to it that she had never been.·· 
Yet, she is hy no means a passive participant. She takes part in cla~sroom discussions. She articulates laboriously. Her words, though garbled, carry wisdom of life experience and clarity ofthought, dispelling the idea that twisted limbs represent the substance of the woman. 
However, even more impressive than this is he1 spontaneous sense of humor. At times something strikes her funny and she breaks out laughing in class. Her laughter resounds and soon classmates laugh with her. With the severity of her disability, she is not capable of talking and laughing at the same time; therefore no one knows the source of her humor and nobody really cares. Her laughter is hearty and deep from within, the kind of laughter that can only come from a happy spirit. 
Pity her? Those who know her n:cogni1e that, if anything, she should be exulted because she has managed to turn tragedy into triumph and has unlocked the secret of successful living from inside her "prison." 
Helping Suffering Disabled Persons Find Their Meanings 
Polster and Polster give their concept of meaning: 
Meaning evolves out of the sequentiality of life and the natural rhythms between experience and the attribution of meaning. In psychotherapy, the symbol is most powerful when its meaningfulness arises out ofexperiences which exist first for their own sake and then project themselves into a natural and evident meaningfulness which helps tie experiences together.4-PP-Jh-1 7 
114 
When counseling disabled clients, counselors should create avenues through which individuals can attach meaning to experiences as they go through the rehabilitation process. Instead of strictly focusing on change ofbehavior, those involved in every facet of the restoration process -physicians, physical therapists. counselors, occupational therapists, activity therapists, vocational rehabilitation counselors, educators --are empowered to bring clients to awareness of personal meaning in what they are doing. More meaningful than the end result can be the road to getting there. 
Frankl offers this guideline regarding ways in which a person can find meaning: 
The first is what he gives to the world in terms of his creations; the second is what he takes from the world in terms of encounters and experiences: and the third is the standhe takes to his predicament in case he must face a fate he cannot change. This is why life never ceases to hold a meaning, for even a person who is deprived of both creative and experiential values is still challenged hy a meaning to fulfill, that is. by the meaning inherent in the right, in an upright. way of suffering. 1-r -11 
Frank]! indicates the people do have control over their attitudes. They can choose to change. structure. and restructure themselves. Perhaps disabled persons cannot eradicate pain. but they have the ability to master it. 
To rehabilitate the total person. an added dimension must be incorporated into the traditional approachc~ already being used in rehabilitation counseling. It is pos,iblc not only to restore debilitated bodies and dysfunctional minds, but abo to help clients examine their inner selves and the world around them with a more critical eye and with increased sensitivity. The process to explore for meaning can be made an adventure. It is structured and deliberate. It involves action rather than sitting and waiting. Disabled persons are taken beyond the scope of their limitations to reach out and say, "Why not?" 
The words of Frankl arc the essence of modern rehabilitation ideas: 
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation as its helpless victim, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then counts and matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its hest. which is IO transform a tragedy into a personal triumph, to 
-r 39turn one's predicament into a human achievement.2 
PA TRICIA E. HAINES, R.N., is a counselor at Akron, Ohio, and a doctoral .11uden1 at Kent State Cniversity. 
REFERENCES: 
I. I-rank!.\'. 7he J,Vi/1 w ,}franing. ;'l;cw York, The World Puhlishing Co., 1969. 
2. ____ 7he L'nheard Crrfi,r Meaninx. New York, Touchstone, 1978. 
J. Mandino. 0. The Creates/ Miracle in the World. New York. Bantam. 1975. 
4. Pobtcr. L. an<l M. Polster. (;estah 7herap_1· lntegrared New York, Brunner! Mani. 1973. 
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The Ground of Meaning: Logotherapy, Psychotherapy and Kohlberg's Developmentalism Robert E. Carter 
Liberalism, Conservatism, Pluralism 
The liberalism that died in our culture sometime during the last decade or so was a liberalism of uncritical toleration without embarrassing evaluation: or so it has been caricatured. The delicious irony is that the vanguard of contemporary intellectual theorizing is stridently pluralistic in stance. Pluralism has far more in common with liberalism than it has with any of the conservatism5 oft he present decade. Pluralism differs from liberalism, however, in critically focusing on differences, and in making clear what is gained and lost by adopting one ism over another. Liberalism reduces differences to a thick porridge of sameness, maintaining that all paths really lead up the same ultimate mountain peak, and that all people value the same (few) basic things. whether they know it or not. Conservatism argues that there is but one mountain peak, that all peopk ought to value the same things, and that there i~ but one right way of proceeding up the path. Conservatism is an ideology with a sirtgle aperture. It is non-hypothetical, and proceeds from a world view erected firmly on ''axioms" which themselves are taken to be self~evident. or beyond debate. tc a collection of fixed truth claims. Pluralism asserts that any world view is but one of many possible world views, even though each may be convincingly self-consistent and self-evident from within its own perspective. Whether one adopts a world view or not will. for the pluralist, depend on the degree to which it produces insight, and yields valw: in the living of one's life. Something has value for someone when it is experienced as meaningful, i.e., when its direct-experience tone is selected as preferable to the other alternatives available at the time. or simply when it is found directly worthwhile in itself. A pluralist assumes that one chooses one's world view on the basis ofthe meaningfulness of the value cluster derived from it, and not because it is the "only" one, or the sacred one, or the "American" one. The ultimate criterion of meaning is the value accruing from the direct experience gained as a result of living within a specific perspective. Howe\cr complex the background of a so-called "meaningful life·• is, the meaning itself is directly experienced. And the ultimate ground of meaning ariJing is the individual human being. While the sources of meaning are almost predictably outside the individual self, the experiences of meaningfulness are necessarily someone's experiences. 
Logotherapy as Pluralistic 
Viktor Frankl has noted that logotherapy has been accused of hovering "close to authoritarianism," and of"taking over the patient's responsibility and 
116 
When counseling disabled clients, counselors should create avenues through which individuals can attach meaning to experiences as they go through the rehabilitation process. Instead ofstrictly focusing on change of behavior, those involved in every facet of the restoration process -physicians, physical therapists, counselors, occupational therapists, activity therapists, vocational rehabilitation counselors, educators -are empowered to bring clients to awareness of personal meaning in what they arc doing. More meaningful than the end result can be the road to getting there. 
Frankl offers this guideline regarding ways in which a person can find meanmg: 
The first is what he J?,ives to the world in terms ofhis creations; the second is what he takes from the world in terms of encounters and experiences: and the third is the standhe takes to his predicament in case he must face a fate he cannot change. This is why life never ceases to hold a meaning, for even a person who is deprived of both creative and experiential values is still challenged by a meaning to fulfill, that is, by the meaning inherent in the right, in an upright, way of suffering. 1· r ,o 
Frankl I indicates the people do have control over their attitudes. They can choo~e to change. structure. and restructure themselves. Perhaps disabled persons cannot eradicate pain. but they have the ability to master it. 
To rehabilitate the total person, an added dimension must be incorporated into the traditional approachcs already being used in rehabilitation counseling. It is pos~ible not only to restore debilitated bodies and dysfunctional minds, but also to help clients examine their inner selves and the world around them with a more critical eye and with increased sensitivity. The process to explore for meaning can be made an adventure. It is structured and deliberate. It involves action rather than sitting and waiting. Disabled persons are taken beyond the ~cope of their limitations to reach out and say, "Why not?" 
The v.ords of Frankl are the essence of modern rehabilitation ideas: 
We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation as its helpless victim, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then counts and matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its hcst, which is to transform a tragedy into a personal triumph, to 
r 39turn one·s predicament into a human achievement.2· 
PA TRICIA E. HAINES, R.N., is a counselor at Akron, Ohio, and a doctoral studem m Kent Stme Universitr. 
REFERENCES: 
I. Frankl. V 7he Will 10 Meamng. '.',ev, York, The Wori<.l Publishing Co.. 1969. 
2. _____ 7he [ 'nheard Crrji,r ,\leaning. New York, Touchstone, 1978 . .l Mandino, 0. The Cirea/est Miracle in the Warfel. New York. Bantam, 1975. 
4. Pnl,tcr, E., and M. Polster. Ge.1wl1 Therapy lntegrared. New York, Brunner; Ma?el. 1973. 
115 
fact_ meaningful. What is required on the part of the therapist is the ability to deal with the patients who have a spiritual or philosophical "knot" to untie, or whose world view is inconsistent, or woefully unexplored, or frightening (perhaps by being out ofaccord with the world view of the family or group to which they belong), or which appears to them to be "sinful" or "immoral." To quote Frankl. 
What is needed here is to meet the patient squarely. We must not dodge the discussion, but enter into it sincerely. We must attack these questions on their own terms. with the weapons of the mind. Our patient has a right to demand that the ideas he advances be treated on the philosophical level. In dealing with his arguments we must honestly enter into these problems and renounce the temptation to go outside them, to argue from premises drawn from biology or perhaps sociology. A philosophical question cannot be dealt with by turning the discussion toward the pathological roots from which the question stemmed, or by hinting at the morbid consequences of philosophical pondering. This is only evasion. being a retreat from the plane upon which the question is posed --the plane of the mind 
4. pp 14-15 
Frankl's emphasis on the philosophical is long overdue in the psychiatric field, for it makes clear that all positions, however partial they might be, arc. or should he seen to be imbedded in a wider perspective -a world view. or "whole story" about human beings, the world. the cosmos. and the various relations amongst them. All of us live from. or are in search of. a philosophv ofl[fe. A "neurotic" world view needs to be listened to. i.e., genuinely encountered, for it may yield more meaning than another. But it might also be responsible for the patients' guilt. or psychic pain, or emotional suffering, and so will have to be altered. or integrated with other factors in their lives. Such probing is typically philosophical -Frankl's work is drenched in what has historically been termed normative philosophical theorizing, or the search for a philosophy of life. Logotherapy is inextricably involved in creating a systematic and meaningful "whole story" which serves to provide answers to the questions of importance in an individual's life. 
The "Whole Story": Kohlberg and Frankl 
How does one attempt to "establish," or "justify" one's meanings, one's values? The simple answer is that one does so on the basis ofwhatever sources of meaning one already has, and by selecting those which are likely to contribute the most, or are the most continuingly bountiful sources of meaning. One supports one's choices, as best one can, by telling the "whole story. "and not just a small part of it. Whether a Freudian, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Humanist," an Agnostic, one is only able to explain one's stand on a particular issue by telling the whole story about why one holds the vast and complex array of value positions one holds. 
It is in this spirit that R. M. Hare writes that 
118 
... if pressed to justify a decision completely, we have to give a complete specification ofthe way of life ofwhich it is a part ... Ifthe enquirer still goes on asking "But why should I live like that?" then there is no further answer to give him, because we have already, ex hiputhesi, said everything that could be included in this further 
r 09answer.0· 
The way of life described is not, on these personal grounds. the only possible way, hut only the one thus far carved out of the rock of possibility, hy this particular individual. It has no "self-evidence" about it, except from within its own terms-of-reference. for someone who already shares the same or similar presuppositions and experiences. It is plura/im1 which best describes this stance of recognizing the existence of many ways of life. each offering values and meaning specific to it, and excluding other sorts of meaning which another way of life might offer. It is precisely this appeal to a "whole story" that motivates Lawrence Kohlberg's proposal of a seventh and final stage in the process of moral growth and development. 
The familiar firq six stages of moral development identified by Kohlherg culminate in the normative and final seventh stage. 11 To decide to be moral at all is already to have included morality as a central feature of one\ way of life, and one can only explain and justify one's moral world view by telling one's whole ,rorr. Stage seven is the normative whole story for Kohl berg. the complete and systematic theory without which none of the earlier stages-as-chapters seem to have a clear point ur authority. Stage seven is the bedrock, or ground of normativity. even of Kohlberg·s seemingly final stage six.justice. Stage sc,cn is Kohl berg\ "ideal." or most complete. or most meaningfully rich st,Jry. It serve~ as the ground of all meaning and valuation. insofar as it is the articulation of a per5pectival web and its interlocking support system. Without the whole story of stage seven there is a tenuousness about all valuation, moral or otherwise. in that one can easily dispose of all value attempts by simply asking why one ,hould hother or care about such things in the first rlacc. An example of the evaporation of the capacity to evaluate in anything like a meaningful way is provided hy the account of the mental crisis of the brilliant and steadfastly socially minded .John Stuart Mill who. at the age of 19, in 1826. feared the existential vacuum which he was overwhelmed by: 
I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to: unsusceptive to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement: one of those moods when what is pleasure at other times, hccomes insirid or indifferent ... In this frame of mind it occurred to me to put the question directly to myself: "Suppose that all your objects in life were realized: that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you are looking forward to, could be completely effected at this very instant: would this be a great joy and happiness to you?" And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, "No 1' At this my heart sank within me: the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell down." Jc. r 11.1 
119 
Stage seven is the highest valuational court of appeal. It is the last court, to which all earlier courts and views implicitly appeal. There is more to ethics than justice reasoning. even at stage one, and that "something more" might be expres~c:d simply as the search for greater fulfillment. or for life's meaning, or for the summum bonum. 01 tor wisdom. Stage seven i, the value base from which all value distinctions flow, and the norm by which we determine the better and the worse. 
The Characteristics of Stage Seven Thinking 
Kohlberg has four chief examples of stage-seven thinking: the Roman emperor and philo~opher, Marcus Aurelius; a contemporary American woman, Andrea Simpson. who as a layperson treated mental hospital patients; the 17th century philosopher, Spinoza; and the 20th century theologian, Teilhard de Chardin. All of them are described by Kohl berg as belonging to the mntica/ tradition. They all affirm "a consciousness of the Oneness of everything. ..-· P-"'" The unity grasped is transformative in that the whole is now the dominant realization, against which the parts make sense for the first time. This new "cosmic" perspective or consciousness represents "a shift from figure to ground. from centering on the self's activity and that of others to a centering on the wholeness or unity of nature or the cosmos."W. P ·''' We now identify ourselves with the cosmic perspective. and "we value life from its standpoint.'' 10 P--'4' Indeed, I suspect that we now do all our (genuine) valuing from its standpoint. for it is the ground of valuation itself. 
Kllhlherg does not propose a detailed theory ofmysticism, yet it is instructive to see ju~t how tar he is willing to go in his account ofstage-seven consciousness. He does quote Teilhard, who admits to "an intuition that goes beyond reasoning itself," 10 P-36(, hut he also includes Aurelius. whose "rational mysticism" does seem to be an intellectual awareness of the oneness of things, with no claims to having had an experience of oneness. or to needing an emotional or nonrational capacity with which to apprehend one's merging with ultimate reality. If mysticism is a direct nonrational awareness of one's merging with the One, then Aurelius is not a mystic. Certainly Teilhard and Simpson are, and likely Sprnoza, although he may he a borderline case. What difference all of this makes is that (I) it isn't mysticism that Kohlherg advocates. but a grasp of the figure I ground oneness of the cosmos, and (2) I suspect that Koh Iberg would have much more work ahead of him. were he to chain himself to the mystical description of stage seven. for the nonrational, intuitive, emotional feature of mysticsm would make it just that much more difficult for him to speak of stage seven as a stage of reasoning. Aurelius is helpful precisely because he is not a mystic, hut a rationalist who takes the cosmic perspective ofoneness. Ifit is the cosmic perspective, rather than the cosmic experience of oneness and merging that is important, then stage seven may sometime he mystically derived, but it is rationally described. Because it is a rational state of awareness. it need not be mystically based. 
Perhaps this chart will help fix the point. 
120 

It is the embraciveness ofthe perspective which is important, I think, and one can easily sec how it is required by virtue of the partial and uncomprchensive nature ofthe previous stages. If one sets out on the path of increasing awareness of one's relation to another, a small group. a large group, and then all human beings. it 1s as if one would need a reason to stop short ofconsidering the widest context -the cosmos, or God. This, however, is a stage of reasoning, albeit the final stage. Now ask the question, why do I care about my neighbor, or even about the cosmos, and the only possible answer is that you are a part of the cosmos. or the cosmos itself, and so one would need no additional reason to avoid one's own pain or destruction. It is our fundamental reason, as stage-one egoism affirms, and stage seven has simply substituted a comprehensive cosmic "I," where once there was only a phenomenal ego. It is Natural Law theory which advises us that the same laws found in the self are found throughout the universe, and vice versa. 
The characteristics of stage seven include (I) realization of the oneness of mind with the whole of nature, w. v 343 and hence, (2) the taking of a cosmic perspective ("as opposed to a universal, humanistic stage-six perspective"). (3) a shift of focus from figure (or foreground) to ground (or background, i e .. the whole is now the focus, and the individual is seen as but standing out of the whole to which it remains connected), (4) an identifying of oneself with the 
121 
cosmic perspective, from which (5) both peace and life-meaning arise, ,o. r 345 and hence, "to see life whole is to love and accept !if e because it is to see ourselves as necessarily part of life." IO. P-362 And this last is why we can now answer the questirn "Why be moral?" by somehow already having decided to be moral. 
Why Stage Seven? 
Why ought one to adopt stage-seven thinking as one's own? Two sorts of answers might be given. First, one ought to strive for a stage-seven state of consciousness because it is one '.I· whole story ofmeaning, morality, metaphysics (religion?), and epistemology. It is the limit of reason. i.e., it is our whole story rendered as completely, embracively, systematically and integratedly as is possible. Every comprehensive account of human nature, the world, and the cosmos is a stage-seven account. Nevertheless, it remains to ask, "why accept Kuhlherg :1· account of stage seven?" 
Secondly, there are no reasons, beyond those given by Kohlberg, which can be used to establish one's own stage-seven-like philosophical perspective. Kohlberg is building us a system to investigate, and he is defending it in all the ways he can. We can do no more than to be critically open, and he can do no more than work out the details and the defences. the evidence and the network of availahie support. If we are still unconvinced, he must. as Hare remarks, simply tell us the whole story again, and we must tell him ours. The final justification available is the whole story itself. 
We might remain unconvinced for the same reason that a Buddhist is unconvinced that he should become a Christian -because his starting points arc different. his evidence is different. and his "ideal'' is different. Yet his stage is post-justice. for he speaks of compassion, of union and oneness, of direct experience of ultimate reality, of the emergence ofthe unitive selfand the death of the ego of selfishness. His self is integrated, peaceful, loving. and transparently open to whatever and whomever is before him. There arc, however. several candidates to choose from amongst: Spinoza, Aurelius, Simpson. Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism. Shinto, Islam, Humanism. and others. This is not to say that they are equal. but that they are all stage-seven achievements as sketched out above. Ofcourse. any religion, or metaphysical position. or morality may he expressed as being at any of the stage levels. It is very common indeed for one to he religious for stage-one reasons! It is rare for one to be a stage-seven Christian, or Buddhist. If the mystical requirement is added (my potential "stage eight"), it is rarer still. For the purposes of this exploration. however. it is enough to hold that the characteristics of stage-seven consciousness are encapsulated as being cosmic in their embraciveness, and loving -to the point of identity --in their form. Stage seven is also value-foundational in that it is, or contains. the value assumptions. or "oughts" which transform all appropriate "is's" into oughts. An "ought" is an "is'' that measures up to the ideal. 
Meaning 
Stage-seven consciousness raises, and attempts to answer, the questions relating to "the meaningfulness of one's existence as a rational being -a 
122 
question at the heart of religion -and [one which] in some sense requires a religious answer. "10-P· 122 Bennett argues that questions about the meaningfulness of life "can be translated into talk about intrinsic value without loss of content." 1• P-''' A further specification ofthe issue oflife's meaningfulness or its lack is offered by Bennett:"... rather than asking, 'what is the meaning oflife?' it seems more helpful to ask. 'under what conditions can life be experienced as meaningful?"'!. r 5, 3 Stage seven, I have suggested. specifically describes the conditions of. and environment conducive to, a truly meaningful life. The blueprint yields a life worth living, and found valuable in the living of it. If meaning is translatable as the intrinsically valuable, then. as I have argued at length elsewhere. we must take the term "intrinsic vaiue" to mean "basic" or foundational value in that it. and it alone, stops the regress, otherwise infinite. of extrinsic value.c Something is extrinsically valuable only insofar as it will, or may, iead to another value which is extrinsic ... until finally one comes to the bedrock of value. i.e.. it is valuable 'ior its own sake.' and not because of something ebe to which it lead~. Only experiences may be intrinsically valuable, and therefore. meaning rn life is to be found in life's experiences. One such source of the intrinsically \aluahlc experience is morality. The moral life is rationally required. and concciYably grounded in our nature and in the nature of the cosmos (natural law morality). Yet there is far more to life, meaning and \aluc than morality. Meamng ames from loving interaction with others, with the \\orld's animates and inanimatcs. and through identification of oneself with the entire cosmos. It arises out of acts of self-realization. self-expression, the appreciation of beauty. intellectual achievement. and e,·en good food and a congenial cmironmcnt. In thi~ seme. the theory ohaluc requires the articulation and living of life rn specific ways -it descrihcs a war oflife, as almost all religions have observed. 
Conclusion 
Meaning is immediately given in experience, if one is open to it: "Meaningfulncs, is the objective impressioon that an event has had a contributory value or influence upon some aspect oflik."9-r ~0-' In Frankl's words. the individual is ··responsible for fulfilling the meaning of his life. "6· r 121 I.ogotherapy has no standard answers to questions of meaning. for "it is the patient who must answer them. logothcrapy can only heighten the patient's innate awareness of his responsibility, and this responsibility includes being responsible for one's answer to the question of how to interpret his life ...."6· r 121 It is the logotherapist as meaning facilitator, as a valuational resource person, and as educator who leads patients beyond their and our present sensitivity to meaning. tu a richer perspective still. As Viktor Frankl wrote: 
In an age of the existential vacuum ... education must not confine itself to and content itself with, transmitting traditions and knowll'dge. but rather it must refine man's capacity to find those unique meanings which arc not affected by the crumbling of univers: ! \'alucs. This human capacity to find meaning hidden in unique ,ituations is conscience [which, I would argue, also arises out of 
123 
one's whole story perspective]. Thus education must e4u1p man with the means to find meanings.'· r. '' 
To find meanings where one previously did not. or to find greater meaning from a rclc ,ionship, event or object, is to transcend one's previous condition and capacity. Self-transcendence. rather than self-actualization, is the perpetual challenge of logotherapy. To self-actualize is to achieve a previously established goal. and this could well lead to a habit-driven and dogmatic repetition ofwhat one had assumed human beings capable of. This is the formula for conservatism. Self-transcendence takes one always and continua/Ir beyond one's past achievements and assumptions about the self and its possibilities. to realms of 
· P· 125 It is
meaningfulness and value hitherto unknown and possibly unthought. 1 a constant goad in one's search for a more complete. more systematic, more comprehensive. more loving. more moral. and more valutationally rich whule story than one has ever before encountered. It is this search for meaning that is a central part of the end or goal, as well. The search for meaning is the transcendence of (previous) meaning. and the task of logothcrapists and logotheorists and logo-appreciators like ourselves is to share. explore, and to be open to each other's whole story. The stories are numerous. and the sharing of them requires a pluralistic stance such that we arc willing to place our story at genuine risk. That is why it makes no sense to ask what the final story will be like. The final story for each of us is but the first story for a new generation. We do the hcst we can with our whole stories. and it is well that we hold them both firmly. and loosely. for they need to be lived. and yet to he transcended by ourselves. and by 
our successors. 
ROBERT E CARTER, Ph.D., isprufessor ofphilosophy, Trent University. 
Peterhurou1;h, Ontario, Canada. 
REFERENCES 
I. Hen nett. Jame, 0. "The Meaning of Life: A Qualitative Perspective." The Canadian Jourrwl ol Philo,ophy. X/V(4). 1984. 
2. Carter. Robert F. [)1ml.'nsion c>f Moral t.'ducation. Ioronto. I !nivers1ty of Toronto Press. 
1984. 
3. 
frank!. Viktor E. Mans Search/in· Meaning. J\.ew York. Simon and Schuster Pocket Books. 1963. 

4. 
7he [)octor and the Soul. New York. Alfred A. Knopf. 196.l 


5. 
7he Will to Meaning. New York. The Wodd Publishing Co,, 1969. 

6. 
The Unconscious God New York. Simon and Schuster, 1975. 

7. 
Happob. F. C. Mrsticism: A Srudr and an Antholog!'. !larmondswnrth. Penguin Books. Ltd .. 1964. 

8. 
Hare. R. M. '/he !11nguage of' Morals. Oxford. Oxford University Pres,. 1952. 


9. Kisch. Je1-cm, and Jerome Kroll. "Meaningfulness versus Effectiveness: Paradoxical Implications in the Evaluation of Psychotherapy." Psychotherapy: 771eory. Research and Pranice, 17 
(4). 1980. I0. Kohlherg, Lawrence. 7he Philosophy ofMoral Develo11ment. San Francisco. Harper & Row. 
1981. 
11. 
_____and Cbrk Power. "Moral Development, Religiou, Thinking and the Question ofa Seventh Stage. Z1gon. 16 (3), 1981. 

12. 
!viii!. John Stuart. Autohiovaphr. London. Oxford University Press. 1958. 


124 

Logotheory: Implications for Personal Goals 
R. R. Hutzell 
Personal goals arc what we consciously decide to accomplish -what we decide to achieve. what we decide to experience, and the beliefs or attitudes we decide to live up to. 
Using logotheory as a basis, this article discusses some important, in some cases seemingly radical, implications ahout personal goals. 
Through Personal Goals We Experience Meaning 
We are given the opportunity to actualize our values hy acting upon only a few of the many potentials awaiting us while ignoring many others. Logotheory stresses our capability for making choices. Through making our choices. and acting upon them. we do something ahout situations confronting us to change reality, thus experiencing meaning. If we establish personal goals, we choose to participate in actions and experiences that allow us to actualize our personally meaningful values. Without personal goals. we may spend much of our time adrift or in actions that actualize the values of others rather than our own. Such action is subservience or slavery rather than meaningful life. 
Values Awareness Should Precede Goal Setting 
Goal setting is not the appropriate starting point for any course of action. This is in conflict with what many goal-attainment workshops would allow us to believe. Rut in order to he on target in actualizing our personally meaningful values, we must first be aware of what they are. The goal-setting step must be preceded by a step we can call values awareness or values clarification. 
Values awareness might occur intuitively, but often self-searching or even formal values-clarification exercises arc necessary. It is easy to follow the values of others, rather than determining our own personally meaningful values. Usually we are not taught how to determine which values are personally meaningful, and are told over and over again which ones other persons would like us to believe in. Often it seems easier to accept the values we are told to believe in, rather than search ourselves for our own values. 
If we do not clarify our own personally meaningful values before setting goals, we may set goals that will actualize values that are important to others but not to ourselves. Thus, before the goal-setting step, we must clarify values we find personally meaningful, and then we can choose goals which allow us to actualize those values. 
125 
Include Goals for the Immediate Future 
Personal goals are not limited to those for the distant future, but also have to be set for the present. We defined personal goals as those we consciously decide to accomplish. In virtually every second of our waking life we have the opportunity to decide to take an action, have an experience, or take a stance. If we do not choose --do not set a personal goal -we will be adrift, not necessarily set on a course of actualizing our personally meaningful values and therefore not necessarily experiencing meaning oflife. Planning for the immediate future is an important enough concept in logotheory to have been given its own term; it is known as "the meaning of the moment." 
Most Goals are Interchangeable 
Most specific goals are interchangeable because numerous goals can actualite a particular value. If this is so, then achievement of one particular goal usually is not of ultimate importance. Alternate goals that will actuali1c the same value might fulfill our will to meaning just as effectively. 
Let us suppose. for example, that through careful self-analysis, you determine that being in control is personally meaningful to you. Once you are aware of this fact. you can see that many goals could be used to actuali1c the value of "control." You might set a goal of becoming president of the United States. But you might decide that you either don't want to, or are unable to, become president. Then perhaps becoming president of a company will allow you to actualize your value for control. Or perhaps you could go into business for yourself --being in control of making all of your own business decisions. Or, looking at actuali7ing your value for control from a slightly different perspective, you might choose to become an over-the-road trucker -if you have ever been in the dri,er\ scat of an 18-wheelcr, you know the strong sense of control you feel OVlT the machinery and ovf'r the road. From still a different perspective, you might actualize your value for being in control by becoming a little-league umpire, or a basketball referee. As you put you·r mind to the task, you can identify many goals that, when accomplished, will allow you to actuali1.e the value of control. Failing to accomplish one of the goals does not mean that you are unable to actuali7e your personally meaningful value. Selecting a different goal may actualize that same value. 
Suppose you are disabled to the degree that you cannot accomplish any of these creative goals. You still have the opportunity to actualize experiential values regarding control.You may find meaning in the enjoyment of observing a loved one exercising control over his or her life: an artist or a craftsman over his or her chosen medium. And you always have the opportunity to take a stance ---to exercise a life-belief or attitudinal value. You can always take the stance that even if you cannot accomplish any ofthese goals you will not let this fact get you down and cause you to give up trying. You can take the stance that you will remain in control of your attitude and continue looking and being open for any opportunity that will allow you the possibility to exercise control. 
One of our patients, through an accident, was totally paralyzed and ventilator-dependent. Cognitively he was intact; but physically all he was able to 
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do was blink his eyes, and that with considerable effort. All of his normal activities ofdaily living had to be taken care of hy nursing personnel. Yet he did not give up hope. He maintained a stance that he could eventually discover a way to gain some control over his life. During the months following his accident, it was discovered that he could communicate through a system that used eye-blinking. Very slowly, he could spell out words and communicate with another human being. This was a source of satisfaction and control for him. Later, a computer set-up was developed that used a combination of the direction of his eyes plus his blinking to allow him to type out his thoughts much more rapidly. With this he was able to further increase his control over his life because he was now able to send letters to others and even to offer to teach others about his system. This patient now has died, hut his computer set-up is loaned to other individuals in similar circumstances to help them increase their independence and self-control. 
Do Not Interchange Goals Cavalierly 
The fact that goals are interchangeable does not mean, however, that you can lightheartedly switch from goal to goal. It is through actuali::ing our personally meaningful values that we experience meaning of life: not through simply deciding to actualize those values through one particular goal, then switching to another goal, and then to another, so we never in reality accomplish anything and ne,er actualize any of our personally meaningful values. You may substitute one goal for another (and indeed this is recommended when you have set an impossible goal), but you cannot cavalierly switch from goal to goal and expect to actuali1c meaning of life. If you do not seriously attempt to achieve the goals you do set. then you will be drifting at the mercy of actions, experiences, or attitudes that happen to be placed in front of you through random circumstances. You might get lucky and actualize some of your personally meaningful values, hut more likely you will find that the haphazard selection of situations placed before you is unfulfilling. 
Goal Achievement Does Not Guarantee Meaning 
Some high achievers consider their lives dissatisfying and meaningless. Individuals who appear to have heen exceptionally successful in their personal achiewments, have felt their lives to be so meaningless that they have attempted to end it all. Frequently such persons may have been trapped into achieving goals that actuali1e the values of others rather than their own. Another possibility is that such people have a pyramidal value system. Logotheory suggests that a parallel value system is superior to a pyramidal value system. This implies that \\ e need to actualize manr of our personally meaningful values; not just one or a few. Some people may find their lives meaningless, not because they arc actualizing the wrong values, but because they are not actualizing a broad enough domain of their personally meaningful values -they have some ignored or leftover values. The scupe ofthe individual's actualirntion of pr.rsonally meaningful values may need to be expanded, rather than changed, for their lives to be meaningful. 
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Do Not Limit Goals to External Achievements 
Although we live in a society oriented toward external achievement, we need also to 1-ie aware of the existence of our personally meaningful experiential and our !if-:-belief or attitudinal values. Some individuals have successfully established a number of means by which they actualize their personally meaningful creative values quite effectively. Yet they have ignored their experiential and life-belief values and have found life dissatisfying enough to seek help from a psychotherapist. Often I see people who have become financial successes but have been unable to actualize or maintain any love relationships. These people arc depressed: they have invested their time and energy in actualizing their personally meaningful creative values while largely ignoring their personally meaningful experiential values and their life-belief values. Commercially, they arc a success: in their satisfaction of lik they are a failure. 
Actualize Important Values Often 
We have noted that we should have goals that allow us to actualize creative. experiential. and life-belief values, that we should plan for the present as well as the future: and that we should striw to actualize a parallel value system. In putting these implications together, we can conclude that within the limits of our capabilities and opportunities, we should attempt to actualize as many of our important values as we possibly can as often as we can. This is not to say that every single day must be filled with maximum actualization of every single personally meaningful value -opportunities and capabilities would not allow that. But our important values should be considered either intuitively or consciously on an almost daily basis. Many may be actualized on an almost daily basis. Others may be indirectly or partially actualized. Still others may be set aside purposely while we actualize more fully a different value. 
Failed Goals Offer Meaning Potential 
Logotheory holds that every failed goal has the potential to be experienced meaningfully. Failure usually carries a negative valence. We can chuuse to focus and ruminate upon that negative component of failure. But, as logotheory maintains, we do have the freedom to make choices and to take stands even against our failures. We can choose to wallow in the negatives of failure or focus upon the experience learned through the course ofthe failure. We can grow with each failure just as we can grow with each success if we choose to focus upon the learning experience gained. 
What if we let ourselves down, though? If one part of us, say our body, lets us dliwn by de\ eloping a terminal illness, does this failure also have the potential to be an actualizcr of personally meaningful values? The implication from logotheory is "yes." We probably all have known persons who let their life-beliefs or attitudes shine through although suffering from terminal illness. Logophilosophy maintains that there are no tragic or negative aspects of life which, by the stand taken toward them, cannot be transmuted into positive accomplishments. 
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Goals Are Launching Points 
Goals are not end points; they are launching points. Once you have achieved a goal, you cannot stop there and say, "Now I have exercised my freedom ofwill to fulfill my will to meaning, and from now on I experience the meaning of my life." Indeed, at that point you do experience life meaning. But, time is not frozen at the specific point at which you achieve any particular goal. The next moment arrives with a multitude of possibilities for actualizing the "meaning of the moment." Achieving goals then, becomes not only a means by which you can fulfill your will to meaning, but also becomes the point from which you start to work toward accomplishing your next personal goal. Each accomplished goal tells you more about yourself and provides you with additional experiences. As noted earlier, each failed goal has the potential to do the same. Thus, each goal we work toward provides us with additional information that we can use to launch ourselves into our next goal to again help us experience meaning of life. 
In the final analysis, conscious goal setting helps us take command of our responsibility to set a direction in our lives that will allow us to fulfill our will to meaning. Logotheory offers implications and tools to help us do that. 
R. R. H UT7EIL Ph.D., is clinical psychologist at the V.A. Medical Center, Knoxville, Iowa, and regional director of the lnslitute of Logotherapy. The article is adap1edfrom lhe opening plenary session address to the 5th Annual Spring Logotherapy Conference ofthe Kansas City Chapter ofthe Institute of Lo[?urherapy, April 12. 1986. 
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The International Forum for 
LOCOTHERAPY 
IOLJRNAI OF Sf ARCH FOR ,\,H ANINC