Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 13, No.

2, 1974

Application of Logotherapy in
Small Sharing Groups
JOSEPH B. FABRY
During the past five years I have been leading small sharing groups, applying
the principles of logotherapy as developed by Viktor E. Frankl. ~ The groups
met at the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley and at Unitarian summer
conferences; at growth centers, such as Esalen, in the San Francisco and Los
Angeles areas; as part of extension classes for the University of California at
Berkeley and San Francisco and the California State College at Sonoma; for
the California Human Services Organization; and for suburbanites who
planned to join in experiments in communitarian living.
Logotherapy, as developed by Frankl in the thirties and tested in the
merciless laboratory of Nazi concentration camps, is based on three
assumptions: that life has meaning under all, even the most hopeless,
circumstances; that every person has a will to meaning that goes deeper than
does Freud's will to pleasure and Adler's will to power; and that everyone
has, within obvious limits, the freedom to find meaning. 2
Logotherapy is translated as "healing through meaning." In the sharing
groups I interpret "healing" in the widest possible sense: the participants are
not "sick," but simply frustrated, trapped by circumstances, unfulfilled,
caught in unwanted patterns, unhappy, n o t living up to their potentials, or
suffering from an inner emptiness that Frankl has termed the "existential
vacuum." Healing takes place when they fill their vacuum with the specific
meanings of their lives rather than accepting their emptiness in despair or
filling it with popular surrogates such as hedonistic pleasures, alcohol, drugs,
"busyness," power, m o n e y , or prestige.
"Meaning" is interpreted on two levels. The first--Meaning with a capital
M--is seen as an awareness that, in spite of apparent chaos, there is order in
the universe; while chance exists, things somehow hang together, even if I, as
an individual, cannot always perceive the connections; I am part of that
order, and it is m y decision to partake in, ignore, or resist that order; it does,
therefore, make a difference what I decide to do or not do. My participation
in the universal order may take place within the framework of any
belief--religious, atheistic, or humanistic. It makes no difference whether the
order is called " G o d , " "life force," " n a t u r e , " or--to use a modern
Joseph B. Fabry teaches logotherapy at the University of California, Berkeley and San
Francisco, and at the California State College, Sonoma extensions. He is the author of
The Pursuit of Meaning--Logotherapy Applied to Life and Aspects of Logotherapy (in
preparation).
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Application of Logotherapy in Small Sharing Groups

129

t e r m - - " e c o s y s t e m . " The existence of such a Meaning of Life cannot be

proved or disproved, except in t he existential e x p e r i m e n t of living. It is an
assumption. All a person can do is to live as if Meaning existed or as if it did
n o t exist, and see which alternative is more fulfilling.
Being an assumption, however, Meaning with a capital M c a n n o t be
captured and held, just as T r u t h with a capital T or Beauty with a capital B
can n o t be found. These goals are like the h o r i z o n - - t h e y challenge us to
search, b u t the closer we com e in our pursuit, the farther t h e y recede.
There are, however, meanings t hat we can, and indeed m u s t , find if our life
is to be fulfilled. Just as we c a n n o t find T r u t h but m a n y true facts, just as we
can n o t find Beauty but m a n y beautiful manifestations, so we cannot find
Meaning, b u t can have m a n y meaningful experiences. In Frankl's concept ,
every person is a unique individual who f r o m birth to death goes through a
string of unique situations, each o f which offers a specific meaning potential:
to recognize the meaning of the m o m e n t and to respond t o it--to be n o t
only free but also responsible, "able to respond"--is to find meaning. The
meaning of t h e m o m e n t m a y range f r o m the trivial--to drive safely on a
highway, to work, to rest--to the required, and even to the heroi c--t o
c o m f o r t a friend in need, to save a drowning child. In our search for the
meanings of the m o m e n t we are helped by our values--what millions of
people in our culture have f o u n d meaningful in similar situations and what
has come down to us through tradition, laws, and customs. But values give
only general, n o t specific, guidelines. T h e y can contradict each other,
especially in times like ours when traditions are crumbling and a u t h o r i t y is
mistrusted, and we are torn b y conflicting guidelines, or have no guideline
we respect. In such times we are t h r o w n back on our personal resources with
nothing stronger to guide us than the weak and unreliable voice of our
conscience.
To Frankl, the conscience is more than a superego; it is part of a genuinely
h u man dimension t hat he calls the " n o , t i c , " or the spiritual. The n o , t i c
dimension is our healthy core. Our b o d y and our psyche m ay b e c o m e sick,
b u t n o t our " n o S s " ; it may be blocked by physical or psychological sickness,
and it then becomes the task of the therapist to remove the blocks and
enable the person to make use of the qualities of his n o , t i c dimension n o t
where he is driven by impulses, but where he is the driver and makes his
decisions. In his n o , t i c dimension, a person has his uniquely h u m a n qualities
that help him retain or regain his mental health: among these qualities is his
striving to find a meaning in life--what Frankl calls " m a n ' s will to m e a n i n g "
and regards as the primary motivational force operant in man. Other such
qualities are man's goal orientation, his ideals, his creative abilities, his
intuitive perception, his religious faith, his capacity to relate to others on an
I-Thou level, and his conscience, which tells him h o w to behave in conflict
situations, even, where necessary, in opposition to traditional values.
The challenge of sharing groups based on the principles of l o g o t h e r a p y is
to translate its concepts into practice. This is all the m ore difficult because

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Journal of Religion and Health

logotherapy disdains "techniques" and "gimmicks." The essence of its

teachings is to see human nature not only as nature, with its limitations, but
as human, with its potentials. To use techniques would reduce the human
creature to a machine that can be manipulated. He needs to be motivated to
make decisions, to free his n o , t i c dimension from all obstacles so he can use
its contents--the creativity, the h u m a n relationships, the will to meaning--to
the fullest.
Occasionally, the participants in logotherapy groups are disappointed
because "all we do is talk." After having paid the price of a weekend
workshop in a growth center, some people expect something more dramatic
than mere word exchanges. Yet, while touching, hugging, role-playing may
come up spontaneously, they are not planned as techniques. The most
important part in a logotherapeutically oriented sharing group is to develop
an atmosphere of trust where people will risk cautiously taking off their
masks and looking at themselves not only as they are but as t h e y have the
vision of becoming. I make it a point early in the session to assure the
participants of one principal rule: No one will be forced to speak about
matters he does not wish to discuss; he is free to pass up any question that is
directed at him. But if he decides to answer, he is to commit himself to
honesty. The purpose of the sessions is to help the participant to become
aware of the healthy part in him and to expand this awareness. I often start
the session by asking everyone to write on a piece of paper the things he
likes best about himself and what he likes least, with the assurance that, if he
so desires, this will remain private information. The participants are asked to
reveal only what they feel comfortable about sharing with the others. The
emphasis is on the positive aspects of the person, what he has found
meaningful in his past, his goals, his visions of himself, but also what is
holding him back and what he thinks he can do about the roadblocks, traps,
and unwanted patterns.
The function of the leader in sharing groups has been defined by Robert
Leslie, a student of Frankl's and professor of pastoral psychology and
counseling at the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley. The leader, he says,
is " n o t to solve problems, nor understand their origins, but simply to
acknowledge them, encourage full expression of them and relate them to
observed patterns of behavior; to provide support where needed, pursue
tentative expression until the real emotion is revealed, and protect members
from attack; to challenge the group and its members toward growth, point
out learning as it is experienced, help self-understanding and understanding
of others; and help people feel accepted as they are, without hiding the
darker side. ''3 In m y groups, I make it clear that neither I nor anyone else in
the room will "prescribe" meanings to anyone, but simply open doors to
meaning potentials that the participant may not have seen and through
which he may decide to enter. In this effort all others in the group can help.
But it is always up to the individual to make the decision himself.
There are, however, several ways in which doors to meanings can be

Application of Logotherapy in Small Sharing Groups

131

opened. The first is to assure the participants t h a t the feeling of

meaninglessness, which Frankl calls the "existential v a c u u m " and which is so
pervasive to day, is no disease but simply p r o o f t hat t h e y are human. Only a
human being searches for meanings, has doubts, and feels frustrated if he
cannot find them. The second assurance is to point out the ways in which,
according to logotherapy, meanings can be found: in activities, paid and
unpaid; in experiences through art, nature, and hum an relations; and in
attitudes. The first two are obvious, but the third is the guarantee t hat
meaning is available even in apparently meaningless situations of which the
concentration camp provides a stark example. The inmates whose at t i t ude
was, "Why did it happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?" ended in
despair, because the questions had no answers. But those whose attitude was,
" I t happened--I d o n ' t know why. What can I do n o w ? " saw an outline of
meanings emerge. One does not have t o be in death camps to experience the
agony o f unavoidable and undeserved suffering. Every person may find
himself in concentration camp situations where he feels trapped b e y o n d
hope. One participant expressed one possible meaning in those traps by
saying, " T h e meaning of suffering is t o understand the sufferings of others,
so y o u can he l p. " Helen Keller is a prime example. Organizations like
Alcoholics A n o n y m o u s and Syna non make use of t he meaning potentials of
sufferers who have decided to help others in the same situation. No one can
help an alcoholic as well as someone who has gone through t hat hell himself.
Only an incurably sick person can show his fellow-sufferers how to live in
dignity while facing death. A young man told our group: "When Grandpa
died it was he who cheered us up when we visited him. We kids never
t h o u g h t mu ch of the old man, but he taught us a lesson I'll never f o r g e t . " As
Frankl once said, even our last m o m e n t s can retroactively flood our entire
life with meaning.
In the deepening climate of trust, members of sharing groups can be led to
see several areas in which meaning suddenly may illuminate their life. T h e y
may, for instance, see meaning by discovering a t rut h a b o u t themselves--not
a truth learned through someone else, b u t a personal revelation. This
happened to Carolyn, a self-assured w oman in her forties, a successful nurse
who had expressed her disbelief, even c o n t e m p t , when others had talked
ab o u t their insecurities. Later in the session, a y o u n g man told a b o u t his
wife, who had left him for anot her man who, in turn, had abandoned her
when she developed heart trouble. The husband decided to take her back to
care for her, although she had told him that she no longer loved him.
Carolyn burst into tears, shouting: " W hy can't s o m e o n e care for me t hat
much? I would be a loving wife, and y o u waste y o u r s y m p a t h y on a bitch
like t h a t . " She quickly caught herself and dried her eyes. T hen the following
brief exchange occurred:
A n o t h e r male participant (to Carolyn): "I di dn't like you. But now when
y o u admit weakness, I feel soft and warm and helpful toward you. I d o n ' t
want to misuse y o u r weakness and hurt y o u . "

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Journal o f Religion and Health

A s e c o n d m a l e p a r t i c i p a n t : " I o n l y w a n t t o h u r t y o u w h e n y o u have y o u r
armor on."
C a r o l y n ( s o f t l y ) : " W h e n y o u see m y a r m o r I feel m o s t v u l n e r a b l e . " She
b u r s t i n t o s o b b i n g again, a n d b o t h m e n w e n t t o sit b y her.
T h e t r u t h s h i d d e n b e h i n d m a s k s u n b l o c k a p e r s o n ' s n o , t i c core and tell
h i m t h a t it is all right t o a d m i t w e a k n e s s a n d r e a c h o u t f o r help, a n d t h a t t h e
w o r l d will n o t c o m e t o an e n d if o n e a d m i t s failure, a n x i e t y , and anger. B u t
t h e leader m u s t w a t c h o u t t h a t t h e p e r s o n s t o p s his u n m a s k i n g , as F r a n k l
w a r n e d , w h e n he reaches his h e a l t h y self; o t h e r w i s e he will t e a r o f f n o t o n l y
his m a s k s , b u t his t r u l y h u m a n m o t i v a t i o n s - - h i s love, his h o n e s t y , his ideals.
I f h e r e d u c e s love to n o t h i n g b u t a s u b l i m a t i o n o f sex, a n d c o n s c i e n c e to a
m e r e s u p e r e g o t h a t has to b e o b e y e d , he will have s u r r e n d e r e d t h e essence of
his m e a n i n g p o t e n t i a l , w h i c h is t h e f r e e d o m to m a k e decisions in m a t t e r s
that concern him.
A s e c o n d area of m e a n i n g p o t e n t i a l is choice. T h e l o g o t h e r a p e u t i c a l l y
o r i e n t e d g r o u p m u s t h e l p t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s realize t h a t , in spite o f all physical,
p s y c h o l o g i c a l , and e n v i r o n m e n t a l l i m i t a t i o n s , every p e r s o n has a core in
w h i c h he d o e s have choices; being a w a r e o f t h a t c e n t e r o f choice m a y m a k e
t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n a m e a n i n g f u l a n d a meaningless life. Choice is central
in l o g o t h e r a p y , as it is in m o s t existential therapies. F r a n k l e m p h a s i z e s " t h e
d e f i a n t p o w e r o f the h u m a n s p i r i t , " w h i c h enables a p e r s o n t o o v e r c o m e ,
and even o p p o s e , t h e l i m i t a t i o n s of t h e b o d y and t h e p s y c h e . " O n e does n o t
have t o s t a n d f o r all t h a t n o n s e n s e f r o m o n e s e l f , " he advises.
T h e r e are m a n y w a y s to p e r s u a d e a p a r t i c i p a n t to list t h e choices he has to
escape an u n w a n t e d s i t u a t i o n , or t o r e a c h a desired goal. O t h e r p a r t i c i p a n t s
can h e l p , n o t b y m a k i n g t h e choice f o r t h e p a r t i c i p a n t , b u t b y recalling h o w
t h e y h a d c h o s e n in a similar situation. B u t m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h a n helping a
p e r s o n in a t r a p t o m a k e a choice is t o m a k e h i m aware t h a t he a c t u a l l y has a
choice. A p a r t i c i p a n t in a g r o u p of counselors recalled having b e e n
t e l e p h o n e d b y a m a n a b o u t to c o m m i t suicide. T h e c o u n s e l o r said: "All
right. Y o u have a choice. E i t h e r y o u can kill y o u r s e l f , or y o u can c o m e t o
m y o f f i c e a n d we can t a l k things o v e r . " T h e m a n s t a m m e r e d : " I do have a
c h o i c e ? I - - d i d n ' t t h i n k I h a d a n y . " He c a m e t o t h e c o u n s e l o r , w h o r e p o r t e d
t h a t : " O n c e a p e r s o n realizes t h a t he has a choice, he can go a h e a d t o find a
solution."
In s i t u a t i o n s o f u n a v o i d a b l e suffering, t h e choices m a y be limited t o t h o s e
o f a t t i t u d e s . This is t r u e o f t h e w a y we decide to c o n s i d e r o u r past. No o n e
can alter the facts o f his past, r e m o v e c h i l d h o o d t r a u m a s , u n d o m i s t a k e s , or
change his early e n v i r o n m e n t . T h e c h o i c e h e r e consists o f either letting past
m i s t a k e s drag us d o w n or letting a lesson c o m e t h r o u g h the e x p e r i e n c e s ,
using e n v i r o n m e n t and t r a u m a s as excuses for p r e s e n t failures or as
challenges t o be o v e r c o m e . T h e p a s t is n o t o n l y a h o r r o r c h a m b e r , b u t also a
t r e a s u r e chest o f a c h i e v e m e n t s to be p r o u d of. B e a u t i f u l e x p e r i e n c e s c a n n o t
b e relieved, b u t can serve as assurance t h a t s o m e t h i n g similar m a y h a p p e n
again. A w o m a n w h o had f o u n d m e a n i n g in her college studies and h a d

Application of Logotherapy in Small Sharing Groups

133

married could, at the age of 45, not become 18 again, but she could take
advanced courses in college. Another woman, age 60, 20 years before had
had a religious experience that had illuminated her life with meaning, but the
experience had faded and no return to the same church had rekindled it. She
kept searching, because she knew she had the capacity to feel the way she
had once felt; her search, rather than a new "conversion," gave direction and
focus to her life.
The third area in which meaning can be found lies in the individual
uniqueness of the person. Most people who are suffering from an existential
vacuum feel replaceable in their work, their c o m m u n i t y , even in their family.
If a person is prompted to recall moments of fulfillment, he will remember
incidents of personal human relations and creative activities: Only he could
relate to a friend just the way he did; only he could make a poem just the
way he wrote it. A student said: "To sit in a class of 500 is no achievement;
but I know if I d o n ' t go and help Tom [a youngster in a deprived
neighborhood] with his homework, no one else will." Similarly, a professor
of zoSlogy said: " I n science today, everyone is working on the same
problems. But when I make collages from pebbles and driftwood, I know
that no one would make them just the way I d o . "
Logotherapy stresses two more areas in which meaning can be found. They
are less comfortable than the three mentioned, but t h e y need to be
emphasized in sharing groups. Everyone likes to find the truth about himself,
make decisions, and feel unique. But logotherapy is a strict taskmaster and
reminds us that freedom is not likely to bring meaning if it is not exercised
responsibly. This message is not accepted cheerfully by group participants,
especially the young. They sense authoritarianism behind the demands for
responsibility--an attempt, as one young man expressed it, " t o sneak the
Puritan ethic in by the back d o o r . " Another resented the observation that
"always to have a task to fulfill is therapeutic." Frankl, however,
distinguishes between responsibility that is given to us as a d u t y and
responsibleness that we assume ourselves as a self-chosen commitment. In
the past, the task prescribed to us by an authority figure--a father, a priest, a
king--was meaning fulfilling, but increasingly the guidelines of authority are
questioned and resented. Where duties are rejected, a self-chosen commitm e n t must replace responsibilities with responsibleness. This, however, m a n y
people find difficult to accept; they wish " t o do their thing," but freedom
without responsibleness brings not meaning but meaningless arbitrariness.
Closely connected with responsibleness is the fifth area of meaning
potential: transcendence. Meaning comes with a c o m m i t m e n t that transcends personal interests. Frankl speaks, in this context, of "self-transcend e n c e " and defines it as the fact that h u m a n existence is intrinsically
directed " t o w a r d something other than itself--be it a meaning to fulfill or
another h u m a n being lovingly to e n c o u n t e r . " In other words, meaning comes
with reaching b e y o n d the self toward causes to fulfill or people to meet.
Meaning comes with acting " f o r the sake o f " something or someone outside

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Journal of Religion and Health

of ourselves. This demand quality of meaning is difficult to get across to

people. Intellectually they know that this is what t h e y " o u g h t " to do, but it
requires patient effort to motivate them. In universal stress situations,
transcendence comes naturally--in beleaguered cities or after an earthquake.
The young find transcendence in the ecology movement; t h e y are beginning
to see that the entire earth is in a universal stress situation, and that the
meaning of the m o m e n t for mankind is to help each other in order to
survive.
Such considerations are far too theoretical for most participants in sharing
groups. They have to be led, by personal recollections of instances, to see
that life does not owe us pleasures, but offers us meanings. If we become
conscious of these offers and respond to them, pleasure and happiness will
come automatically as by-products. As Frankl is fond of saying, happiness
cannot be pursued; it has to ensue. Group members also have to be led to see
the validity of another Frankl insight: that a person's goal of living is not to
eliminate all tension, but to live in the " h e a l t h y " tension field that exists
between what a person "is" and what he has the vision of "becoming." The
healthy tension is caused by the pull toward his goals and potentials.
To translate such basic philosophical concepts into a group experience that
will motivate the participants is a challenge to both the leader and the
participants who are always invited to share the responsibleness for success
of the group. Together they explore the truths about themselves, their
freedom of choice, their uniqueness, responsibleness, and transcending
outreach. The most practical advice that can be given to participants,
however, is to look for the meanings of the m o m e n t , step by step. As one
participant, a scientist, put it: "Frankl uses a scientific approach. His
hypothesis is that life has meaning. He asks us to test that hypothesis by
picking up a lamp and stepping into the dark. By holding up the lamp, we
will see one or two steps ahead. We are encouraged to take these steps and to
hold up the lamp again. With patience and effort we will find our p a t h . "
It has been objected that logotherapy uses an intellectual approach. It is
true that it is based on a philosophical concept of the nature of man and his
place in the universe. But it becomes obvious in groups that the " m a n in the
street" intuitively understands its message, and often on a deeper level than
does the intellectual. It has been objected also that logotherapy is religiously
oriented. This is true to the extent that it attempts to achieve what religions
have always wanted to achieve: to give man a purpose. But logotherapy does
not "give" meanings; it asserts that meaning exists and leaves it to the
individual to find it within the framework of his belief--theistic, atheistic, or
humanist. I have found this approach supportive in sharing groups. It focuses
the healing process on what pulls a person toward goals rather than on what
drives him to satisfy a need, as it centers on what is right rather than on what
is wrong with him. The group allows the participant to see himself in his
visions and dreams and to find himself in an environment where he can
express his hopes without being knocked down. The primary aim of the

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Application of Logotherapy in Small Sharing Groups

group is not to adjust a person to society, but to allow him to be himself

despite the limitations society has placed on him. The emphasis on choice
makes him aware that he can act against some conditions of society with
which he disagrees, and that meaning will come from taking up such causes.
But logotherapy also shows him that meaning possibilities are still available
in areas where change is not possible. The leader in such a group is an
integral part of it, searching and reaching toward growth as are the
participants. He serves as an example in his pursuit of meaning rather than as
a "healer."
A survey of 82 participants in sharing groups showed that 46 said they had
found new directions; a high percentage of these, 38 of the 46, asserted one
year later that they had learned to formulate their own meaning orientation.
The most important discovery, 35 participants said, was not a specific
meaning but the awareness that meaning existed and was available for their
discovery. Asked what they had found most valuable in the groups, 14 listed
the step-by-step approach to meaning, 12 their awareness of choice, 10 their
recognition of their uniqueness, 6 the emphasis on responsibleness, and the
rest the general philosophy of logotherapy. Almost two-thirds, 52
participants, had found comfort in the idea that the existential vacuum was
no s y m p t o m of an approaching neurosis, but rather a challenge to fill it with
meanings.
A second survey checked the long-range effect of the groups on
interpersonal relationships. As a result of the group experience, most
participants said they had learned new things about people's behavior (53
yes, 6 no) and listened more when people talked (43 yes, 18 no). Forty-three
found that the experience had a significant influence on how they felt about
themselves, while 21 found no such influence. Almost half the participants
said that the group experience had brought significant changes in their lives
(25 yes, 29 no). Here is a breakdown of the ways participants felt affected in
their relations with others outside the group:

Get along with

Better

Worse

Same

Spouse
Children
Boss
People in general

17
18
6
31

2
0
1
0

17
22
19
20

Written comments indicated that a significant number of the people

surveyed found that important insights about themselves, others, and
meaning orientation had come as a result of the group experience " o n the
way home from the meeting," talking to a spouse or a friend who had n o t
attended the meeting, or " b y thinking about it."

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References
1. Frankl, V. E., Man's Search for Meaning. Boston, Beacon Press, 1962. - - ,
The
Doctor and the Soul. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. - - ,
Psychotherapy and
Existentialism. New York, Washington Square Press, 1967. - - ,
The Will to Meaning.
New York, World Publishing Co., 1969.
2. For a full discussion of the principles of logotherapy and their applications to life, see
Fabry, J. B., The Pursuit o f Meaning, Boston, Beacon Press, 1968.
3. Leslie, R. C., Sharing Groups in the Church. Nashville-New York, Abingdon Press,
1970.