The Pursuit of Meaning

Viktor Frankl, Logotherapy, and Life

Joseph Fabry

Discover the true meaning of your life…
one that only you can find.

With a preface by Viktor E. Frankl
Used in logotherapy training courses for many years

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Published2013

First published1969

Pages184

ISBN9780982427897

ISBN, hardcover9780982427842

About this book

Contains the essence of the logotherapeutic writings of Viktor Frankl, who noted that many readers report that they understand some parts of logotherapy for the first time after reading this book.

Logotherapy, the unique system of “therapy by meaning,” encourages us to discover the true meaning in our lives, build a realistic self-image, and find the creative power within ourselves.

“Life does not owe us pleasure; it does offer us meaning.”p. xix

From the book

The struggle for meaning is not easy. Life does not owe us pleasure; it does offer us meaning. Mental health does not come to those who demand happiness but to those who find meanings; to them happiness comes as a side product. “It must ensue” noted Frankl. “It cannot be pursued.”
Logotherapy maintains and restores mental health by providing a sound view of the human being and the world as we know it. It draws on the huge reservoir of health stored in our specifically human dimension—our creativity, our capacity to love, our reaching out to others, our desire to be useful, our ability to orient to goals, and our will to meaning.
Logophilosophy emphasizes what is right with us, what we like about ourselves, our accomplishments, and our peak experiences. It also considers the qualities we dislike so we may change them, our failures so we can learn from them, our abysses so we may lift ourselves up, knowing that peaks exist and can be reached.pp. xix-xx

Endorsements

Dr. Fabry assists his readers to overcome frustration, find direction in situations of emptiness, doubt, and despair, and presents them with a comprehensive exposition of my thoughts in popular language.… Many [readers] have confided to me that some of the logotherapeutic ideas and concepts they first encountered in my writings became completely clear to them only when they read them again in Dr. Fabry’s formulations.
Viktor FranklAuthor of Man’s Search for Meaning

In the press

Holds out the light of Dr. Frankl’s charisma to a broader audience.
Murray ZimmermanLos Angeles Times

A simplified explanation of Viktor Frankl’s ideas.
The New York Times

A moving and accurate account, well illustrated and documented.
Paul E. JohnsonChristian Theological Seminary

Very readable… will appeal to anyone interested in the purpose of life.
Choice, Books for College Libraries

A book of lasting value.
The Boston Globe

Foreword by Viktor Frankl (1987)

—Foreword by Viktor Frankl (1987)ix

1Personal Discovery1
2The Human Dimension14
3What is the Meaning of Life?30
4The Value of Values48
5Our Intuitive Conscience57
6The Essence of Humanness71
7Our Crumbling Traditions84
8The Challenge of Freedom99
9Applications of Logotherapy115
10The Reality of Religion134

About Joseph Fabry

Draft, for review

Joseph Fabry was born in Vienna in 1909 and took a Doctor of Law degree at the university there. As a Jew he had to flee in 1938, first to Belgium, where he was held in a detention camp, then to England, and eventually to the United States. He had not studied English until 1938; by 1942 he was writing radio scripts for the Voice of America, and later became an editor at the University of California at Berkeley.

Fabry reached logotherapy’s central insight on his own, before he had read Frankl. He later read Man’s Search for Meaning, which verified insights he had already found. For example: the question “why did it happen to me” had no answer; instead, we should ask what is still possible in our most difficult situations. On meeting Frankl in San Francisco he found, in his own words, “my personal gropings justified by a professional.”

He founded the Institute of Logotherapy, directed its publication program, edited the International Forum for Logotherapy, and taught at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California.

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