A HINT FROM HEAVEN

Those interested in psychology would definitely know Viktor Emil Frankl. He was born on 26^th March 1905 (the day on which Beethoven died) in Vienna, Austria to middle-class Jewish parents. He died on September 2, 1997 at the age of 92. He was a man who experienced the horrors of two world wars. It is from his existential experience in the concentration camps that he developed his theory of logotherapy. Logotherapy literally means, healing through meaning. Life is full of meaning. In his book the Doctor and the Soul he says “It is life itself that asks questions of man. The individual is not required to question; rather he is questioned by life and has to respond – to be responsible to life. But the responses that a man gives can only be concrete responses to concrete “questions in life.” If life is full of meaning, every moment has meaning. As a pious Jew, he was a believer.

Viktor Frankl had had an opportunity to escape the horrors of the concentration camps altogether. Several years before his deportation, he applied for a visa to emigrate to the United States. In 1941, the American embassy called and told him to pick up his visa. By then, many Jews had already been taken to concentration camps. Elderly Jews were being taken first, and Viktor knew his parents might be called up at any time. He had an important job as chief of neurology in a hospital. He knew his position might protect him and his parents from deportation, at least for a while. It was almost certain his mother and father would be taken eventually, and he knew they would need support and care. On the other hand, he felt that if he went to America, he would be able to continue his life’s work – developing logotherapy and making it known throughout the world. Viktor didn’t know what to do. Looking for an answer, he walked into St. Stephan’s Cathedral in central Vienna. Although he was Jewish, he sought out the church as a quiet place where he could look into his heart. He seated himself in the church. All the time, he asked himself, “should I leave my parents behind?... should I say goodbye and leave them to their fate?” he wondered where his grater responsibility lay – in caring for his parents or in going to America. So he could continue his lifework. He left an hour later without an answer, thinking, “isn’t this the kind of situation that requires some hint from heaven?”

When he got home, Viktor found a piece of marble lying on the table. He father told him he had found it in the rubble of one of the synagogues near their home. Nazis and citizens of Vienna had destroyed this and hundreds of other synagogues and Jewish prayer houses. A single Hebrew letter was engraved on the marble. Viktor’s father told him that the letter came from one of the Ten Commandments, the only commandment to use that letter. Viktor was eager to hear which one it was, and his father told him: “Honor thy father and they mother, that thy days many be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Viktor felt that this was the sign he was waiting for. He decided to stay with his parents in Vienna. It was indeed a hint from heaven.

Reflection

• All that we need to do to have a proper direction in life is to seek the meaning of every moment, every situation. Life becomes meaningful when we find that situation and properly respond to it.
• Be a believer. If God is the cause of the universe and the order in it, He is the director. Pay attention to his often silent and subtle suggestions. Pay attention to the hints from heaven.
• A hasty decision might be at times good but it can often serve only the self. But a decision arrived at in silence, questioning, and with proper discernment serves the larger good. Viktor Frankl teaches us to be other-centred, value oriented. One may not see immediate results, may have to suffer for it. But in the long run it turns out to be good.