Logotherapy and talmudic Judaism

Abstract

Any attempt to correlate logotherapy with some religious group or set of religious ideals is fraught with difficulty, mainly because of the dimensional gap that indicates that logotherapy, as a psychotherapy, and religion work from incommensurate frameworks. Frankl's rightful insistence that logotherapy is a secular theory and practice only accentuates the problem. 1 Nevertheless, because logotherapy straddles the border between medicine and religion, it has attracted the theological attention of many religious groups. Logotherapy's openness to Judaism Logotherapy begins with the basic notion that "the striving to find a meaning in one's life is the primary motivational force in man. ''~ This notion is complemented with the philosophical proposition pervading Frankl's writings to the effect that life itself possesses unconditional meaningfulness in all situations, including suffering and the specter of death. 3 This meaning is objective; that is, it is real and always present. But what is meant or implied in the concept of unconditional meaning? Unconditional meaning, even with the objective meaning idea, remains a mystical concept that, although not out of bounds for the secularist, is enticingly attractive for the religious person. Its attractiveness to Judaism can be seen in Leo Baeck's identification of life task with "Torah," the essence of Jewish life and thought. Baeck also was wont to call logotherapy "the Jewish psychotherapy. ''4 Beyond the notion of meaning itself, man's adherence to life because of meaning is made possible by faith in meaning, in both existential and ultimate contexts. Ultimate meaning is the macrocosmic aspect on which all the microcosmic, individual meanings lean. Faith in ultimate meaning is not restricted to the religionist, but ultimate meaning as a viable concept invites the religious man to embrace at least the spirit of logotherapy. 5 It is only a step from faith in ultimate meaning to faith in the Architect of this ultimate meaning, faith in God. A careful reading of Frankl's work indicates that what he means by Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka, Ph.D., is rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa, Canada. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with the implications of logotherapy's religious nature for specific religious systems. His articles on logotherapy have appeared in the journals Tradition, the Jewish Spectator, Humanitas, and the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. He is the author of' The Wit and Wisdom of the Talmud and co-editor, with Joseph B. Fabry, of the forthcoming volume Aspects of Logotherapy.