What is Spiritual Freedom?
“The highest and greatest of the human freedoms is to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
~ Viktor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
The concept of Spiritual Freedom grew from Viktor Frankl’s incredible accounts of how some men triumphed emotionally and spiritually over the most horrific circumstances, Auschwitz.
“Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical distress.”
Each inmate ultimately chose whether to succumb to prison camp mentality and become a mere product of their environment and experience or to try to triumph spiritually and be something more, better and different.
“Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.”
Frankl’s comments underscore a basic tenant of the Happiness Habit -
“If we don’t consciously decide what sort of person we want to be and become, our environment and our experience determine our identity and our destiny for us.”
Beyond the barbed wires in life, there is always a wide expanse of opportunity for spiritual freedom and emotional independence that frees us from being dominated and controlled by our circumstances.
A key to happiness and spiritual success is to always try to look past the barbed wire!
Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.
Apr 29th 2007 at 10:02 pm
Hi I enjoy your site and the writing of Viktor Frankl who in my early days of psychology had a big influence on me. We do decide what kind of person we will be and how we will experience out life.
I write about living life fully with purpose and passion. I can see past the struggle and it is a beautiful world. Check me out at www.explorelifeblog.com.
The sign in thing is a hassle. I bet you can turn it off?
Keep up the inspirational stuff. It is so needed. Joseph