"Dostoevski said once, "There is only one thing I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings." These words frequently came to my mind after I became ac… - Viktor Frankl

حينما يجد الإنسان أن مصيره هو المعاناة، فإن عليه أن يتقبل آلامه و معاناته كما لو أنها مهمة مفروضة عليه، وهي مهمة فريدة ومتميزة. و عليه أن يعترف بالحقيقة بأنه حتى في المعاناة فهو فريد و وحيد في الكون. لا يستطيع أحد أن يخلصه من معاناته أو يعاني بدلاً منه. ففرصته الفريدة تكمن في الطريقة التي يتحمل بها أعباءه و متاعبه

And if there is a fundamental difference between the way people perceived the world around them in the past and the way they perceive it at present, then it is perhaps best identified as follows: in the past, activism was coupled with optimism, while today activism requires pessimism.

The existential vacuum is a widespread phenomenon of the twentieth century. This is understandable; it may be due to a twofold loss which man has had to undergo since he became a truly human being. At the beginning of human history, man lost some of the basic animal instincts in which an animal's behavior is embedded and by which it is secured. Such security, like paradise, is closed to man forever; man has to make choices. In addition to this, however, man has suffered another loss in his more recent development inasmuch as the traditions which buttressed his behavior are now rapidly diminishing. No instinct tells him what he has to do, and no tradition tells him what he ought to do; sometimes he does not even know what he wishes to do. Instead, he either wishes to do what other people do (conformism) or he does what other people tell him to do (totalitarianism).