Reclaiming freedom in a time of powerlessness
In the last several weeks, I, like many of you, have been doing quite a bit of reading.
While what I have been reading has run the gamut, I have been particularly struck of by the writing of Viktor Frankl. As many of you know, Frankl’s greatest work was undoubtedly his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” which he wrote while he was a prisoner at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. I am sure that most of us can relate to feeling like prisoners in our own homes these days, but what Frankl experienced was undoubtedly worse than anything most of us can imagine.
What struck me most about Frankl’s writing was the overwhelming sense of freedom that he experienced while being in the one of most oppressive of situations anyone could ever experience. Besides putting our current situation in a much better perspective, reading Frankl’s book made me think very deeply as to how much control any of us really has over most aspects of our lives.
Richard Rohr once defined suffering as “feeling out of control,” and by that definition, I don’t know of anyone who isn’t suffering to some degree in our current circumstances. When it comes down to it, the only thing that we really have control over is how we respond to any given situation. Frankl said it best when he wrote “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance, to choose one’s own way.”
This last statement has especially significant meaning in our current time when so much seems out of our control. How we respond to the current crisis in our world will ultimately determine our fate and what the world will look like after the current crisis has passed. Many have hypothesized about what the “new normal” will look like. I believe that depends entirely on how we choose to respond to our current situation.
If we respond with love, compassion and forgiveness, the new normal will likely look much better than the old normal. If we respond with fear, hate, and resentment, our post-crisis world will likely be a place that most of us will not want to inhabit. So, the future is in our hands. How things will turn out will depend if we allow the better angels of our nature to win out. I would like to end with another quote by Frankl that I think best sums up what I have been saying.
“For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become worse unless each of us do our best.” Very challenging words for very challenging times. I hope and pray we all will rise to that challenge!
Dr. Angelini is a licensed psychologist and a business and personal coach. He has been in practice for over 30 years. He specializes in assisting individuals in finding and sustaining careers that are rewarding, life-enhancing, and in keeping with their personal and spiritual values. He can be reached by email at rayangel1@live.com or you may visit his website at https://drrayangelini.com.