“If meanings and values were just something emerging from the subject himself – that is to say, if they were not something that stems from a sphere beyond man and above man – they would instantly lose their demand quality. They could no longer be a real challenge to man, they would never be able to summon him up, to call him forth.” (Psychotherapy and Existentialism, Viktor Frankl, p. 64)
The third aspect of meaning is “inquiry,” or the meaning of my role regarding these visualized possibilities, a relational quality which causes me to feel that what I encounter is not trivial, that life is asking and even demanding something of me and expecting an answer.
This aspect of meaning is grasped not by paying attention to what is, as in the simple meaning and not by visualizing what ought to be as in meaning-resonance, but by recognizing who I am in-relationship-to and what this relationship requires of me.
Conscience and response-ability
“It is life itself that asks questions of man…The guide which guides man in his responses to the question life puts, in his taking the responsibility for his life, is conscience. Conscience has its “still small voice” and “speaks” to us – that is an undeniable phenomenological fact. What conscience says, however, is in every case a response.” (The Doctor and the Soul, Viktor Frankl, p. 62)
For Frankl conscience is not an element of superego, the part of the psyche that imposes societal rules, reminds us of reward and punishment and make us feel guilty for having fun. Conscience is the “intuitive capacity of man to find out the meaning of a situation.” (Will to Meaning, Frankl, p.63).
Life provokes us, calls us, asks us, requires of us, demands of us, encourages us, challenges us and invites us to respond. Each word carries a different nuance but the “voice” is always a function of hearing this very personal aspect of meaning. It touches us deeply. It calls us out, as if to say “Adam, where are you?” As Frankl said, do not ask what you can expect from life; ask rather what life expects from you.
I’m called upon to take significant action and there is significance to my being called upon to do it. There is something singular about the situation and the individual that offers unique possibilities and opportunities for fulfilling values which cannot be revealed in any other situation and can be fulfilled by this person alone.
Like any authentic relationship, my authentic relationship to the values I hold dear and also perceive as possibilities in my encounter with the world demand and require a response and commitment.
In this place of inquiry we sense that we are here for a reason. The “assignment” comes from beyond me and at the same time I have to have an inner mechanism (conscience) through which to hear the call and take responsibility for the task or mission that I’ve been entrusted with.
“Logotherapy attempts to make both events conscious to man: (1) the meaning that, so to speak, waits to be fulfilled by him, as well as (2) his will to meaning that, so to speak, waits for a task, nay, a mission to be assigned to him.” (Psychotherapy and Existentialism, Frankl, p. 67)
Why is this challenge coming my way? There an interrelationship between what life is asking of me and what I most deeply desire. In other words, if it’s what I’m meant to do in the world, I will want to do it.
Of course there is a difference between what we think we want and what we most deeply want. Moreover, the relationship between what is happening and what you want is not always apparent because at first all you can see is what hurts in the situation, and that is what you don’t want. But once you find the element that you care about and what you can do that will turn your frustration and suffering into an achievement, then you climb out of your rut and you move from a helpless victim to a person who takes your destiny into your own hands.
Thus, it is not enough for the logotherapist to listen to the client. The logotherapist listens together with the client to something beyond both of them.