Yes To Life In Spite of Everything

by Viktor E. Frankl

I believe that here we are presented with two major options for our way of thinking, each of which is irrefutable, and unprovable! After all, we could well assert that everything is, in the end, completely meaningless, just as we could state that everything is not only highly meaningful, but so meaningful that we can no longer comprehend the meaning of the whole, this universal meaning; that we could, in fact, only speak of an ‘ultimate meaning of the world’. Therefore, one could argue for the total meaninglessness of the world with the same justification as one could argue for an ultimate meaning of the world. With the same justification, which means in this case: with the same justified or unjustified logic. In fact, the decision we are faced with is no longer a logical decision. It would be as logical to argue for the one as for the other. In logic, both possibilities for our way of thinking are real possibilities of thought. The decision we are talking about here is, logically speaking, an unfounded decision; it has nothing as a foundation, its foundation is nothing: in this decision we hover above the abyss of nothingness – but at the same time in this decision we are standing at the horizon of ultimate meaning! A person cannot take this decision on the basis of a logical rule, but only from the depths of his or her own being; that is the only way to decide in favour of one or the other. But we do know one thing: if a human being decides to believe in an ultimate mean...

Pro or against euthanasia