A comparative comparison of meaning of suffering in the thought of Victor Frankl and Rumi

Subject Areas : Comparative Literature Studies

Shabnam Ghadiri yeganeh ¹ , Ismail Azar ² , sara Zirak ³

1 - PhD student of Department of Persian and literature, Islamic Azad university, Science and Research branch, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor of Department of Persian and literature, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad university, Tehran, Iran. (corresponding author)
3 - . Assistant Professor of Department of Persian and literature, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad university, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2021-08-17 Accepted : 2021-08-17 Published : 2021-08-23

Keywords: "Attitudinal values", "Suffering", " Logo therapy", " Victor Frankl ", "Rumi",

Abstract :

The concept of suffering is intertwined with human life and is an integral part of the material world. Every human being somehow tastes the bitter taste of pain and suffering destined for him. Understanding what suffering is and what it means is at the heart of the research in the thought of Victor Frankl, the founder of the theory of meaning therapy, and Rumi, a seventh-century mystic. By enduring suffering in Nazi concentration camps, Dr. Frankel made a meaningful view of suffering one of the cornerstones of meaning therapy. He believes that one of the ways to give meaning to life is to understand the meaning of inevitable suffering and believes that attitudinal values make it easier to accept and endure suffering. Rumi is also a mystic who is aware of the psychological realm of human existence. He faces many sufferings in life and expresses the meanings of destined suffering and sorrow with an existential and philosophical worldview. According to him, existence is mixed with inevitable sufferings, but with a closer look, one can understand the esoteric meaning of sufferings. If a person understands this meaning, he will accept the sufferings and will not be impatient. Findings show that both thinkers have the same developmental view of suffering and consider human suffering to include concepts and meanings, but in the works of Rumi there are more components of meaningful suffering and allegorical meanings for the meanings of suffering. More has been said.