Victor Frankl was a psychiatrist working on a new theory for psychological well-being when he was taken to Auschwitz in 1942. His manuscript had been sewn into the coat SS guards took from his back, and it seemed his life’s work would also be eradicated by the Holocaust. Frankl could not let go of his theory, however, and spent the next three years rewriting his theory on bits of scrap paper. A year after his liberation, he released Man’s Search for Meaning. Within his text, Pink summarizes, Frankl demonstrates that meaning—profound, life-long meaning—can be found despite suffering, and perhaps even because of it. This is not to say that all suffering brings forth meaning, nor that suffering can be understood as good because it led to meaning. Rather, the search for meaning is an innate aspect of humanity that drives individuals to find it under any circumstances.

One of the first steps to achieving Meaning is to begin taking spirituality more seriously. Typically, spirituality is associated with religion, but Pink wants to separate spirituality from spiritualism and make it more about believing in something larger than just individualism. Taking on spirituality involves understanding that humans are inherently social creatures who seek “a sense of coherence and purpose” (222).