The Meaning-Centered Mindset—Freedom and Responsibility

With logotherapy and existential analysis according to Viktor E. Frankl (in short: original logotherapy), a philosophy is available that makes it possible to explain the concept of Ikigai approximately for the non-Japanese cultural area. The aim of this chapter is therefore to explain essential thoughts of the original logotherapy that are important for understanding a meaning-centered mindset. Thus, the concept of meaning is first explained in more detail before discussing Frankl’s image of man. After this, the human’s orientation towards meaning arises from its noetic (= spiritual) dimension and represents its basic motivation. Realization of meaning is to be understood as realization of values: The individual can and should contribute his or her uniqueness, among other things, to the community, from which a continuous exchange of values between the individual and the community develops. The chapter concludes with a summarizing description of eight important aspects (“Octagon of the meaning-centered mindset”).