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Cover of Guideposts to Meaning

Guideposts to Meaning

Discovering What Really Matters

Joseph Fabry

A handbook for finding meaning in your life, regardless of the situation.

  • Edited by Charles McLafferty, Jr.
  • Second edition
PaperbackAmazonBarnes & Noble

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Published2021
First published1988
Pages206
ISBN9781948523059

About this book

Human beings not only have a will to pleasure (Sigmund Freud) and a will to power (Alfred Adler), but also a will to meaning (Viktor Frankl). The person therefore is not merely a collection of drives, but also has a uniquely human component—a human spirit. This noëtic dimension gives each individual the ability to face the inevitable blows of fate that life gives us with courage, creativity, and insight. It is not us who question Life, Frankl noted, it is Life that questions us, and to which we must answer.

But how do we do that?

Guideposts to Meaning offers step-by-step processes for discovering what really matters in your life—the personal meanings, beliefs, and values that can truly make your life worth living.

“In the psyche you are driven by emotions, instinct, needs. In the spirit you are the driver.”p. 6

From the book

Frankl sees life as a puzzle with a hidden picture—like a line drawing of trees, clouds, flowers, and houses, with a caption that says: “Find the bicycle in this picture.” You have to turn the drawing this way and that until you discover the bicycle hidden in the confusion of lines. You have to turn life this way and that until you discover meaning.p. 4

Meaning cannot be given to you by society or your parents. Nor can psychiatrists prescribe it like a pill; they may describe meaningful responses to your situation, but it is up to you to discover what is meaningful for you.p. 4

Alcoholics Anonymous long ago found that the best person to help an alcoholic is a recovered alcoholic. Logotherapists have found that the best person to help someone in crisis is another person who is struggling with the same crisis and has discovered meaning in spite of it. Widows can help other widows, people in wheelchairs can help others with similar disabilities, the incurably sick can help others who are terminally ill. In helping another, the helping person achieves self-transcendence that leads to meaning.p. 7

On Joseph Fabry

Dr. Fabry assists his readers to overcome frustration, find direction in situations of emptiness, doubt, and despair, and presents them with comprehensive exposition of my thoughts in popular language.

Viktor FranklAuthor of Man’s Search for Meaning

Contents

  1. Publisher’s Note
  2. Acknowledgments
  1. 1Rx: Search for Meaning1
  2. 2Socratic Dialogue11
  3. 3Dereflection37
  4. 4Modulation of Attitudes47
  5. 5Guideposts to Self-Discovery55
  6. 6Guideposts to Choices65
  7. 7Guideposts to Uniqueness79
  8. 8Guideposts to Responsibility93
  9. 9Guideposts to Self-Transcendence103
  10. 10Values111
  11. 11Meaning in Marriage and Family Life123
  12. 12Sharing Groups135

Appendices

  1. A-HExercises in the discovery of meaning151–191
  1. References and Reading List

About Joseph Fabry

Fabry was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909, obtained a Doctor of Law degree from the University of Vienna, but as a Jew had to flee to Belgium where he was kept in a detention camp, then to England, and eventually to the United States. By 1942, he was writing radio scripts for the Voice of America, even though he had never studied English until 1938. He went on to become an editor for the University of California at Berkeley.

He retired to found the Institute of Logotherapy, a research and training center for the meaning-oriented methods of Frankl and his followers. Long a spokesperson for Logotherapy in the United States, Joseph Fabry wrote or edited a number of books including the popular The Pursuit of Meaning (translated into 11 languages), Logotherapy in Action, and Logotherapy in Sharing Groups. Fabry was director of the Institute’s publication program and Editor of the International Forum for Logotherapy. He taught logotherapy at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, led sharing groups, and gave seminars and training to helping professionals.

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