Jung and Frankl's Views On Man's Search For Meaning

3/22/2021 An Examination of Jung and Frankl’s Views on Man’s Search for Meaning | HealthGuidance.
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An
Examination
of Jung and
Frankl’s
Views on
Man’s Search
for Meaning
ADAM SINICKI
What is it that drives
us? What is it that
helps give our lives
direction and purpose
when none is
forthcoming? If you
were to believe the
writing of Friedrich
Nietzsche then you
might answer that
https://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17423/1/an-examination-of-jung-and-frankls-views-on-mans-search-for-meaning.html 1/16
3/22/2021 An Examination of Jung and Frankl’s Views on Man’s Search for Meaning | HealthGuidance.org
might answer that
man’s ‘will to power’

is what drives him.
Then again, if you
were to look at the
works of Freud then
you might suggest
that our sex drive is
behind everything we
do – that the ‘Eros’
imperative is our true
motivation for
everything from art to
violence.
But historically there

have also been some
thinkers who put
loftier and more
intellectual aims at
the forefront; who
think that it’s our
search for meaning
and purpose in life

that is most
fundamental and that
helps to give our lives
the structure and the
context we need. Two
of those thinkers
were Carl Jung and
Viktor Frankl, here we
will take a look at
their views on the
role of ‘meaning’ in
the human psyche.
Jung and
Individuation
Individuation is a
term that describes a
‘coming of age’ at
which point an
individual develops a
more concrete and
stable personality
after going through a
period of ‘trying out’
lots of different roles,
beliefs and ideologies.
In most scientific
literature this process
is described as
is described as
happening in the late

teens to early
adulthood. During
these final stages of
development the
youth will often seem
restless and
rebellious as they try
out different styles,
different beliefs and
different careers
before ultimately
emerging with a
better sense of
direction.
To Jung however, this

process doesn’t end
there and instead is a
much longer journey
that goes on until we
reach the latter part
of our lives. It’s only
once we pass middle
age that Jung
believes individuation
occurs, and we
manage to
incorporate our
unconscious selves
into our egos so that
we can emerge with

better self-
awareness,
acceptance and sense
of purpose. While
Jung never drew the
connection himself,
many have suggested
that the mid-life crisis
might represent the
final difficult stages
where we finally
come to terms with
who we are and what
our ‘purpose’ might
be. This could also
explain why elderly
individuals often
describe being
happier than ever
before, and why they
often seem content
and at peace to
observers.
Frankl and
Logotherapy
The above theory is
one example of Jung
moving away from
the ideas of his

mentor Freud. Like
Jung, Frankl was
another
psychodynamic
theorist who believed
Freud placed too
great an emphasis on
sex as a drive for our
behaviour and he too
felt that our search
for meaning was an
important part of our
psychic puzzle.
In fact, Frankl
believed that our
search for meaning
belonged right at the
forefront of studies
into the psyche and
that it was the most
important driving
force in our lives (as
opposed to sex in
Freud’s views).
Treatment that
followed this school
of thought would
later come to be
known as
‘logotherapy’, ‘logo’
literally translating as
‘meaning’.
To Frankl, a sense of
purpose and of
meaning is the most
important ingredient
for a happy and
healthy life,
something he claims
to have discovered
for himself during
World War II when
his sense of purpose
was what helped him
to survive the
Holocaust (you can
read all about it in his
book Man’s Search
for Meaning).
Logotherapy
maintains that
psychological
problems arise when
someone loses their
sense of purpose and
finds themselves in
an existential funk, at
which point it is the
therapist’s duty to
help them find it once

again.
Are They
Right?
Of course these are
just theories however
and old ones at that.
As with most
psychodynamic
theory, it is
unfortunately very
difficult to study or to
prove either way.
But while the

specifics of these
views may be hard to
prove, there is
certainly a lot of
evidence that
suggests meaning is
probably very
important to our
psychological health
and it does make a
certain amount of
intuitive sense.
Another psychologist
who thought along
similar lines was

Maslow who created
the ‘hierarchy of
needs’. This is
essentially a pyramid
diagram depicting all
the needs that we
need to meet in order
to feel happy and
content
psychologically. At
the bottom are the
basic physical
requirements and
impulses such as
breathing, food,
water, sex; then as
you go higher you
reach things like
friendship, family and
self-esteem; and
finally at the top you
have the more lofty
and abstract terms
such as ‘morality’,
‘spontaneity’ and
‘acceptance of facts’.
Several of these
higher-order ‘needs’
could be described as
the constituent parts
of meaning and
purpose, and so you
could argue that the
concept is highly
compatible with the
ideas of Frankl and
Jung.
The Hero’s
Journey
It’s also possible to

see parallels with
Joseph Campbell’s
Hero With a
Thousand Faces. This
book describes the
‘monomyth’ – a basic
structure and series
of elements that
appear to be
consistent across
stories from a vast

range of cultures
including popular
entertainment,
religion, fairy-tale,
myth and legend.
This concept is one
that has close ties
with psychodynamic
theory already –
featuring the major
archetypes that Jung
described as existing
in our ‘collective
unconscious’ such as
the ‘wise old man’
and the ‘trickster’.
According to his
theories, almost every
story ever told
features a protagonist
on some kind of
journey that
eventually involves
him or her returning
home having learned
about themselves and
gained a sense of
acceptance and
understanding.
It may well be that all

of us are on a ‘hero’s
journey’ of our own –
on a quest to find
some kind of
meaning, purpose
and belonging in our
lives. Once we find
that we may finally
find peace, but
remember that the
journey is always just
as important as the
destination!
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3/22/2021 An Examination of Jung and Frankl’s Views on Man’s Search for Meaning | HealthGuidance.

Health A-Z Diet & Nutrition Fitness Beauty Lifestyle

UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 13, 2020 PSYCHOLOGY

man’s ‘will to power’

But historically there

and purpose in life

happening in the late

To Jung however, this

we can emerge with

the ideas of his

help them ﬁnd it once

But while the

similar lines was

It’s also possible to

stories from a vast

It may well be that all

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