Can Having Spiritual Freedom Deepen Our Inner Selves

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Can Having Spiritual Freedom Deepen our Inner Selves? Can having spiritual freedom deepen our inner selves, even in difficult external circumstances? While some may argue that is next to impossible, I for one believe that is very much possible and achievable. Viktor Frankl is living proof that even after all he had to go through inside those concentration camps, all the physical and mental abuse, he was still able to find spiritual freedom. When Frankl first entered the camp he was torn away from his wife, stripped of all his possessions and anything that made him an individual. He was no longer Frankl, but just a number amongst a group of other men who had lost everything as well. In “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Frankl discovers that a person is unavoidably influenced by their surroundings and questions whether or not you can achieve spiritual freedom under extreme circumstances and came to the conclusion that yes, it is possible. His experience showed that people do have a choice of action and can get independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. Everything can be taken from a man except for the last of a person’s freedom and their ability to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. “Fundamentally, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually.” (Frankl, 87) This quote is a perfect example that no matter what kind of circumstances you’re in, at the end of the day only you can choose what happens to you and your spiritual freedom. As hard as the Germans tried to strip the Jewish of their identity and have control of them, the only thing, and most important of all, that they had no control over was one’s inner self and spiritual freedom. Once a person starts searching for meaning beyond material things, they can start
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