“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl Viktor Frankl survived the horrors of a concentration camp in WWII and went on to develop, practice, teach and mentor a powerful philosophy of the human Spirit based on his own experience. The “one thing: the last of human freedoms” he talks about is no small thing. It is Everything. There may come a time in each of our lives that our character is the only thing we have control over. We have become powerless over everything else. Through some outside force, or our own self-destruction(!), our external environment has become unmanageable. In this time, the powerlessness of self-pity and playing victim no longer serves us. There are no more rescuers to be drawn into the drama triangle. No more heroes wanting to save us. Our powerlessness now only leads to continued mental, and possibly physical imprisonment. In Viktor Frankl’s story, it led to death. And in this time, the ability to the “fix” the situation has been taken away and is beyond our abilities. Surrender is the only way to avoid annihilation. All that is left is Choice. The power to choose who you want to be and the power to choose your own character. To do that, in that moment, will be the most transformative event of your life. Counter-intuitively this choice is what takes us out of our self-centeredness. It removes us from the bondage of self. It is this choice of character, in this moment, that connects us to the Godhead because it is greater than us, yet only we can do it. When we commit to our character, regardless of the enormity of the circumstances facing us, we find our dignity. Maybe truly for the first time. From this discovery of our dignity, in the most profound of circumstances, we find our Divinity because we know that the power to do this is outside of ourselves. This is Grace. This is wisdom. This is power from powerlessness. Frankl’s story is extreme, and it is a limit story. Like Jesus on the cross is a limit story. The limits of human suffering. But we don’t need to reach our limits to choose who we want to be. To choose to be compassionate, kind, loving and in service of others. To choose to live beyond the prison walls we have created for ourselves. Our minds are prisons, and our external environment is a prison until we choose who we want to be. Freedom is a choice. Our choice. Who do you choose to be? The Way
