Viktor Frankl's "Experiences in a Concentration Camp" was a fantastic piece about the goodness of suffering. The piece described Frankl's experience in a WW2 concentration camp. Although I have not gone through anything nearly as horrific as him, through his narrative I was able to get a detailed perspective of what prisoners had to go through. As Frankl put it, "Those who have not gone through a similar experience can hardly conceive of the soul-destroying mental conflict and clashes of will power which a famished man experiences." (43)
One of the main ways they dealt with the obvious trauma of being in a concentration camp was through apathy. A general numbness to what was going on around them kept the prisoners from having to constantly take in the absolute hell they were living in everyday. An interesting thing Frankl said that could become of such extreme mental and physical anguish was an increased spiritual life. Those "able to retreat from their terrible surroundings to a life of inner riches and spiritual freedom" ended up being the ones to come out the best at the end. (47) Overall, the damage to their inner selves was less extreme. But Frankl's most significant and mesmerizing discovery came to him with the rising sun on an early morning march to that days work sight- love is the ultimate goal for man to achieve. That's wonderful. Its not wonderful that he had to wait for such a horrible experience to inspire him to think that thought, but its wonderful how simple the thought was! No matter how horrible something may be for someone, they can find happiness, if only for a second, in thinking of a loved one. Through "loving contemplation" one can achieve fulfillment.
Another idea brought up was that of nature and art. When one has nothing else in their life, like Frankl and his fellow prisoners, they come to experience the beauty of art and nature much more intensely. He described how, despite their complete loss of hope for life and freedom, he and his fellow prisoners were still in complete awe of nature's beauty whenever they got the chance to see it in full. Suffering results in an increased appreciation for all that was taken for granted before the suffering began. I think that that is such an important concept for all people to carry with them.
I really like your analysis. I did not read this article, so it was good to read this and understand everything better. I really love the part about suffering and art. I too, think that when someone is suffering, they really do look around and see the random little things that are beautiful in the world.
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