C.G. Jung and Viktor Frankl on the Meaning of Life

“Man’s search for meaning” — central to the thought of C.G. Jung — also happens to be the title of a small, widely-read, and powerful book by Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1905-1997). Jung saw psychotherapy as a pathway to finding a deeper connection with the meaning of life. For him the quest for meaning was part of individuation, a process that reveals the core archetype of the self. Drawing on his own darkest experiences of imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, Frankl came to see meaning as something that emerges from the way we relate to the outside world. For all their differences, both Jung and Frankl agreed that crisis and suffering could offer an opportunity for emotional growth. Join Camilla R. Nielsen as we explore the ways in which Frankl’s ‘will for meaning’ and C.G. Jung’s ‘drive to individuation’ not only diverge, but also possibly converge and complement each other.