ABSTRACT
Viktor Frankl worked as a psychiatrist and neurologist in Nazi Austria until 1944, when he was sent to a concentration camp, where he was held until the end of World War II. During his time first in a labor camp and then in a camp for individuals like himself who had contracted typhus (Redsand, 2006), Frankl was nearly starved and severely beaten. However, his transcendent belief in a larger purpose kept him going. During his time in the camps, he reflected deeply on his purpose and on the importance of leading a life of purpose. He also thought seriously about the nature of purpose, as evident in this quotation:
Being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself—be it meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself… . What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.
(Viktor Frankl, 1959, p. 109) Clearly, Frankl viewed purpose not as something nice to have but instead as something essential to human survival. He noted that of the individuals in the concentration camp who had the opportunity to survive, only those with purpose lived.