The Wisdom Letter #253

Logotherapy does not see this frustration as mental illness, the way other forms of therapy do, but rather as spiritual anguish—a natural and beneficial phenomenon that drives those who suffer from it to seek a cure,

Aside from the relief Freud offered to the afflicted, he can also remind the rest of us that we are all troubled souls in one way or another, that the seemingly robust and successful types that we envy may, more than anyone, be assailed by feelings of self-doubt and failure. To allow for natural unhappiness in our lives and not berate ourselves for

Suffering is a moment of clarity, when you can no longer deny the truth of a situation and are forced into uncomfortable change.

As therapy sees it, the chief difficulty is not to identify someone’s problem but to help them see, feel, and accept it. Were the truth to be baldly laid out before most clients, they would leave at once in a mood of incensed fury

Moreover, I have this to add: It is a complete illusion to believe that pain and suffering are terrible in themselves. Please, try to understand what I am saying. Humanity’s inordinate fear of suffering is utterly unrealistic and, again, an erroneous product of the mind. People fear pain and suffering mainly because they believe they have nothing t

Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.