Victor Frankl
I may give the impression
that the human being is completely and unavoidably influenced by his
surroundings. But what about human
liberty? Is there no spiritual freedom
in regard to behavior and reaction to any given surroundings? Is that theory true which would have us
believe that man is no more than a product of many conditional and
environmental factors—be they of a biological, psychological or sociological
nature? Is man but an accidental product
of these? Does man have no choice of
action in the face of such circumstances?
Man does have a choice of action.
Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of
mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can
remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away
their last piece of bread. They may have
been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be
taken from a man but one thing: the last
of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Even
though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental
stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in
the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became
was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences
alone. Any man can, even under such
circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a
concentration camp. (pgs. 86, 87)
No comments:
Post a Comment