Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Viktor E. FranklRead
To draw an analogy: a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the "size" of human suffering is absolutely relative.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Suffering is a universal experience that affects everyone, regardless of its intensity.
In this quote, Viktor E. Frankl draws a parallel between the behavior of gas in a chamber and human suffering, illustrating that suffering occupies the entirety of a person's consciousness regardless of its magnitude. This analogy emphasizes the subjective nature of suffering, suggesting that it can feel all-encompassing to the individual, irrespective of the specific circumstances surrounding it.
Themes
SufferingGasAnalogyHuman ExperienceConsciousnessRelative Suffering
In practice
Example use cases
In a talk about mental health, one might quote Frankl to highlight that everyone experiences suffering differently.
More from Viktor E. Frankl
All quotes →The crowning experience of all, for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear anymore—except his God.
Viktor E. FranklRead
Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
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It is the pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.
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Logotherapy sees the human patient in all his humanness. I step up to the core of the patient's being. And that is a being in search of meaning, a being that is transcending himself, a being capable of acting in love for others.
Viktor E. FranklRead
The more one forgives himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.
Viktor E. FranklRead
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