First, I would like to convey that I share the convictions of the philosophy of Victor Frankl. It seems to me that I had come to similar realizations, at an unconscious level, far prior to reading the entirety of Franklian Psychology in Victor Frankl's books.
Here are some of my life’s key defining moments and responses, during the time of intense experiential learning:
1. Responsibility and responsibleness
2. Demand quality of life
3. Concept of dimensional ontology
1. RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPONSIBLENESS.
"Our freedom to choose may lead to either a meaningful or an empty life. To be meaningful, life must be lived freely and responsibly. There is a distinction between responsibility and responsibleness. Responsibility is imposed from the outside; responsibleness is freely chosen”.
I completely agree with this statement because this is how I have always felt. For example, when something or someone from outside of me made me feel obligated or responsible to do something, I felt that I had to do that thing, not because I wanted to, but because I felt that I was forced to; consequently, I did not feel free or comfortable.
However, if on the contrary, I made a decision based on my inner convictions and felt responsible for its implementation, then I was in a position to exercise freedom; I felt liberated and carried a heightened level of personal energy. I also felt confident about being able to do the task and felt my sense of self-worth grow as I moved towards implementing the decision.
2. DEMAND QUALITY OF LIFE:
Challenges arise in every human life. In responding to the best of our ability, the “defiant power of the human spirit" can be activated to meet life demands. This is what Frankl called the demand quality of life”.
I agree with this notion. I believe that not a single person is without suffering and not a single life is complete without anguish. Having said this, the questions that now arise are: What is the best way to handle this suffering? What can one use it for?
The way we meet life’s demands seems to me to be an indicator of our level of self-knowledge. If at any place or time in our lives, we feel challenged or feel that difficulties arise in our lives – then it is the very exact point where we should look for, explore, and identify our restrictive beliefs.
Personally, I am grateful to the complex requests of my life. In being forced to respond to those challenges, I came closer to my demand quality of life. Without those complications and challenges, I would not be who I am.
3. CONCEPT OF DIMENSIONAL ONTOLOGY
I do not doubt the correctness of this concept. A person can be considered as existing in a plane of three core dimensions: the psychic, the noetic, and the bodily dimensions.
The noetic dimension is instantiated due to the human capacity existence for transcendence. “When man does this, he rises above the level of the somatic and the psychic and enters the realm of the genuinely human. This realm is constituted by a new dimension, the noetic, and the dimension of the spirit. "
Understanding and accepting this assumption makes it possible to use logotherapeutic methods, leveraging the human capacity for transcendence.
My personal, deeply held, internal agreement with the above statements allows me to not only better navigate my Self, but also to move to a different and higher level of interaction with clients.
The introduction of transcendence-based methods into my work has made my work more productive and allowed me to solve problems that I was not able to solve before I took into account the above-mentioned statements. This is especially true for problems relating to obsessive states and compulsive problems.
I am very grateful to the authors of logotherapy and its methods for contributing immensely to the depth of my cognitive insight.