Hello friends!
Today we are taking a break from the videos of the Nightingale-Conant group and go to a legendary men. His name is Dr. Viktor E. Frankl and he is a man of Jewish descent, who survived the Nazi atrocities during World War II. Below you can watch his video of his speech in front of some students, as well as check out his book "Man's Search For Meaning" on Amazon.
In the video Frankl shares a quote by the great Goethe, which might create some controversy. I will leave it to Frankl to present it and will not discuss it here. I would, however, like to share with you some insight from Frankl's book. The insight is on freedom and liberty. As Frankl was is a Nazi concentration camp, he was tortured by the Nazis. In one such experiment he was being cut up, and he was in great pain. And then a great realization dawned upon him. He realized the difference between liberty and freedom. He was a prisoner, so he had no liberty. But he had the freedom to think as he wish, and so he imagined his life after prison, and what he would do there. He was free to choose and that was freedom to him. His torturers, on the other hand, had liberty, as they were not imprisoned. They had, however, given away their right of freedom to the Nazi machine. Their thoughts and actions were controlled, and thus they were not free.
This, according to Dr. Frankl, is the difference between freedom and liberty.
In the contemporary world we all have liberty, which is really good. But do we all have freedom? Do we all have complete control of our actions and thoughts, or have we given this control up to someone else? I believe that it would be worth it to contemplate this issue for a while.
Have a great day and be free!