man-s-search-for-meaning

Dedicated to the memory of Edith Weisskopf-
Joelson, whose pioneering efforts in logotherapy in
the United States began as early as 1955 and whose
contributions to the field have been invaluable.
LET US FIRST ASK OURSELVES WHAT SHOULD BE UNderstood
by "a tragic optimism." In brief it means that
one is, and remains, optimistic in spite of the "tragic
triad," as it is called in logotherapy, a triad which
consists of those aspects of human existence which
may be circumscribed by: (1) pain; (2) guilt; and (3)
death. This chapter, in fact, raises the question, How
is it possible to say yes to life in spite of all that? How,
to pose the question differently, can life retain its
potential meaning in spite of its tragic aspects? After
all, "saying yes to life in spite of everything," to use
the phrase in which the title of a German book of mine
*This chapter is based on a lecture I presented at the Third World
Congress of Logotherapy, Regensburg University, West Germany,
June 1983.
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