"They called those mad who did not suffer from the general madness." - Madame Roland
I've put up a few posts on sociology here, here, and here - about how we get along in society, and the behavioral limits that we allow society to place on us, in exchange for being able to participate in society.
Today's post contains a bit of psychology - how we function in our own head.
Before starting, I'd like to briefly discuss Stoicism - a system of *internal* principles of behavioral guidance. The modern definition of Stoicism probably goes something like: "Unresponsive to pain, uncomplaining, passive, and apathetic".
Stoicism is not that. The philosophy of Stoicism appeared in Hellenistic Greece in about 300 B.C. The Stoic philosophy is about being morally good, behaviorally correct, and living in accordance with nature. Health, wealth and pleasure are, in themselves, neither good nor bad - but they do add value to one's life. Nevertheless, one's own good virtue is all that is truly necessary for personal happiness.
This Stoic school of thought is echoed in the New Testament, in many of the teachings and parables of Jesus. It is later echoed in the Protestant Work Ethic - and as will be seen shortly, in the works of Dr. Viktor Frankl.
Before continuing, it's worth noting that for many years, the field of psychology operated on the basis of stimulus - response. Hit a rat enough times, and soon enough, the rat starts running when it sees the stick. That's stimulus and response. There are plenty of experiments that can confirm this sort of behavior, whether the stimulus is rewards or punishments. And you can play unbelievably evil games with these sort of stimulus-response experiments where the subjects completely give up, and no longer bother to respond. This condition is called "learned helplessness", and this is the state of the society we now live in.
Stimulus and response are primitive kinds of behaviors though. The reality is that most people are far more complex than that, as are several species of animals. Apparently it never occurred to these people that there might be a third possibility: Stimulus - Deliberation - Response. This vital step between stimulus and response is the realm of the Stoic. The term for this is "Autonomy", or more recently, in newspeak, of "having agency".
And now we get to Dr. Viktor Frankl. Some readers may be aware of who he is, or possibly heard the name in passing. I'll block quote his Wikipedia page for a bit, out of sheer laziness.
"Viktor Emil Frankl (26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997)[1] was an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor,[2] who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force.[3] Logotherapy is part of existential and humanistic psychology theories.[4]
Logotherapy was promoted as the third school of Viennese Psychotherapy, after those established by Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Adler.[5]
Frankl published 39 books.[6] The autobiographical Man's Search for Meaning, a best-selling book, is based on his experiences in various Nazi concentration camps.[7]"
And...
"In 1942, just nine months after his marriage, Frankl and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. His father died there of starvation and pneumonia. In 1944, Frankl and the surviving members of his family were transported to Auschwitz, where his mother and brother were murdered in the gas chambers. His wife Tilly died later of typhus in Bergen-Belsen. Frankl spent three years in four concentration camps.[7]"
While incarcerated in three different concentration camps, Frankl observed a handful of other prisoners who did not seem emotionally bothered by their surroundings. He himself found that although surrounded by death and despair, it was possible to find inner peace - thus perhaps finding a modern take on the ancient virtues of Stoicism - or re-discovering it. Frankl was an amazing man, humanist and scholar - unfortunately, he had a thick Austrian accent and I found it very difficult to understand him during interviews. I was forced to use a narrated video about him.
I'll leave you with a really inspiring and uplifting video about a man who lost more than most readers here (I include myself) ever will.
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