When you want to reach a goal and you don’t see how to get there, take one step that seems to be in the right direction and wait and see what happens next. Meaning only becomes apparent after you do the task life is bringing you, not before. Once you’ve responded to the call of the hour and done the task immediately in front of you, everything changes. A wider perspective opens up. The fog begins to lift.
What is the meaning of hope?
You never know what the future holds in store. You’re not a prophet.
Frankl brings by way of example an incident in which a convict is condemned to a lifetime of forced labor on a far off island. Suddenly a fire breaks out on the ship and he saves the lives of ten people. Later his sentence was commuted for his act of heroism. If you had asked this man, whilst being sent to the labor camp, if his life had any meaning to it and whether there was any hope for him, his answer would have been very different from what it was after his release. (The Doctor and the Soul, p. 56)
There is a saying of the rabbis that even if a sharp sword is placed on the neck of a person, he should not hold himself back from compassion. (Berachot 10a) This is usually understood to mean there is always hope. Salvation comes from the Almighty in the blink of an eye. Nothing is too hard for God, whose compassion for you is always close at hand.
Recently I was told of a different interpretation by a holocaust survivor (brought by Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt, in Caring in the Dungeon). Even if a sharp sword is drawn over your neck, do not hold yourself back from being compassionate to others. Do not be absorbed only in yourself and think you are the only person in the world with difficulties. Care for the people around you. When you stop caring about others, you lose your humanity.
That’s what this woman did. She made sure, even in Auschwitz, that she was loving and merciful to the other people who were suffering. This is also what Frankl did when he went from one tent to another in the camps, comforting people.
When you are down and out, it may feel as though that is the last time in the world you want to be helping others, yet it can be the best time. By taking hold of your humanity you save yourself. Easier said than done, perhaps, but true.