“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
—Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
I just pored through Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search For Meaning for the nth time. It is an eye-opening and brain-enriching piece of work. Essentially, it tells us that finding meaning in life is one of the most important things to find out to enjoy one’s existence. This enables us to push through adversity.
Why do we go through tough exams as medical students?
Because we know that after all the hardships, we can be doctors who can make a difference in the lives of others. Through the long hours of study and sacrifice, we see an end that is meaningful and productive. Future earnings may be a good motivation, but once a certain amount is reached, having more may no longer inspire.
Passing through this current medical crisis and the challenges and heartaches it carries is taxing to the psyche. It also exposes the different ways people react to trials. Some become numb and resigned to fate. Some become ultra-aggressive and take advantage of others. But a few find the courage to live through the pandemic by being of service to others.
Frankl tells of how the prisoners in the Nazi camps of Auschwitz were dehumanized and reduced to mere numbers for identification and segregation. The only things that were left were his belt and his eyeglasses, as all including his family was lost. What kept him going was his ability to see the world as it is and find meaning to it. Being human is always directed towards something or someone. Self-actualization is a transcendence of the human self. The fulfillment of a human need is only attained through others.
As a physician, this is what we must be able to emphasize to our patients. We tend to paint a picture of life’s beauty for those who have lost hope in living, imposing our will in the process. Probably, a better approach would be to give our patients a “new pair of eyes” to see meaning without imposing. It is indeed more therapeutic when you discover meaning by yourself. This makes you own the goal, and with the support of others, this makes the goal a shared ideal which can foster bonding and camaraderie. Maybe it’s time to shift the patient’s focus to something other than their own predicament.
Suffering ceases to be suffering once it finds meaning. We might mourn indefinitely for our loved ones who suffer from debilitating diseases and die, impacting our daily existence. When this happens, we must look for hidden tenets of wisdom to make sense of the situation. What if you were in the situation of your loved one? What would you have wanted them to do under the circumstances? The truth is, we may have to flip the page to see the other side of the passage.
We are not just numbers or pieces of DNA. Science tends to do this — reduce us to mere pieces of data to find objectivity. However, life is never fully objective and impartial, for we are human. We have feelings. It is what makes us who we are. It is the essence of our existence.