Freedom Continued from Page 51 that he discovers the true essence of freedom. In his magnum opus, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl writes, “In between stimulus and response there is a space; in that space lies our power to choose our response. And in our response lies our growth, our freedom.” In the midst of death and desperation, he realized: They can take away my possessions. They can take away my family. But they can’t take away my freedom. Because my freedom is in my mind. And my mind is all mine. It’s not the physical action, but our attitudinal reaction that truly determines the nature of our experiences. By giving meaning to our suffering, we transform it into a personal awakening. We all search for meaning; we just look in funny places sometimes. Frankl found it in the strangest of places: in his own slavery. This discovery is what set him free. In the spirit of the season of redemption, I’d like to quote Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”: “Redeem yourself from mental slavery. No one but yourself can free your mind.” Victor Frankl taught the world that you can actually be free while surrounded by captivity. The Shawshank Redemption taught the world that you can actually be in mental captivity while surrounded by freedom. Egypt was not interested in our work as much as they were in its ultimate meaninglessness and the psychological toll this takes on the soul. Men were taken out of their element and were handed kitchen gloves and a mop. Women were taken out of their element and handed hammers and nails. This is not who I am. But I’m doing it anyway. This is the saddest genre of slavery; this is mental slavery. Cognitive dissonance to the umpteenth power. What did all of our hard work accomplish? Nothing. The entirety of our efforts ultimately ended in a giant pile of rubble. The ground swallowed up our work like a ruthless wave demolishing an innocent child’s sandcastle. Learned helplessness is hard to unlearn. Mental slavery is most debilitating, and Egyptians knew this quite well. Every generation experiences some genre of slavery. We 21st-century freedom fighters are not battling on mine fields, but on mind fields. We live with lots of means but a deficit of meaning. It is extremely difficult to find meaning in today’s super-speedy, ever-modernizing world. But without a sense of meaning, freedom erodes into mental slavery. It is meaning that makes freedom freeing, and since our minds are the manufacturers of meaning, it behooves us to become mindful. To awaken. When we make our freedom meaningful, we taste the meaning of freedom. Have a mindful and meaningful Pesach! Doni Joszef is a cognitive psychotherapist practicing with adolescents and young adults in Cedarhurst. He is a member of the DRS guidance department and writes for a wide range of publications. He is available by appointment. Contact Doni at 516-316-2246 or e-mail DJoszef@Gmail.com. For more information, visit DeficitOfAttention.Com.
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April 6, 2012
5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES