IQ + EQ + SQ = PsyQ - The Integrally Emerging Intelligence

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. IQ + EQ + SQ = PsyQ - the integrally emerging intelligence. Developing personality - Acting humanly
1.1 Introduction
1.2 “What you wish done to yourself, do to others!”
1.3 “Know thyself!”
1.4 “I know that I know nothing”
1.5 „What are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?“
1.6 “The whole is more than the sum of its parts”
1.7 “The journey is the reward”
1.8 “Listen to your conscience”
1.9 “See the writing on the wall”
1.10 “It’s not what you say, but how you say it”
1.11 Concluding remarks

2. IQ + EQ + SQ = PsyQ - discovering the human potential. Guided imagery on the subject of a Global Ethic
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Preparations
2.3 Guided imagery script
2.4 Exchange circle
2.5 Finish

3. Notes and references

4. Index of authors

1. IQ + EQ + SQ = PsyQ - the integrally emerging intelligence. Developing personality - acting humanly.

1.1 Introduction

„Our world is experiencing a fundamental crisis: A crisis in global economy, global ecology, and global politics. The lack of a grand vision [is] seen everywhere. Humankind urgently needs social and ecological reforms, but it needs spiritual renewal just as urgently. […] Earth cannot be changed for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed. We pledge to work for such transformation in individual and collective consciousness, for the awakening of our spiritual powers through reflection, meditation, prayer, or positive thinking, for a conversion of the heart.“¹

These impressive words, not to say words of wisdom, stem from the so-called Declaration towards a Global Ethic. A declaration signed and acknowledged by representatives of all religions at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1993. A declaration drafted and developed by the renowned theologian Hans Küng. His intention was to present “a minimal fundamental consensus concerning binding values, irrevocable standards, and fundamental moral attitudes.“² And this consensus is called Global Ethic. The declaration mainly consists of two basic principles and four directives - ethical guidelines, which can be found in all world religions and humanistic philosophies³. In that sense, Global Ethic is not meant for people of with a religious background only, but for all people. Moreover, it claims universal validity. For, “the principles expressed in this Global Ethic can be affirmed by all persons with ethical convictions, whether religiously grounded or not.“⁴ Without any doubt, the need of such a common ethical ground seems to be obvious, should globalization ever succeed. However, as emphasized in the declaration itself, this can only be the first step. The second, and more important step is to put these principles into practice. It is not enough that we just know or admit them. They need that we also act according to them. The only way out of the global crisis we face right now seems to be that humankind starts to apply them into words and deeds. For that reason a transformation of consciousness is demanded in the Declaration of a Global Ethic. And thus the challenging question is, how can this transformation of consciousness be accomplished? How do we, as human beings, become able to establish a truly ethical life? How is this “conversion of the heart “⁵ to be done - how can we raise our human awareness? Educating consciousness development becomes the key issue.

When reviewing these questions we arrive at an intersection between applied ethics, psychology, as well as personality development. Therefore, this article was mainly written by a philosopher, but supervised also through contributions from a clinical psychologist, a teacher and a psychotherapist⁶.

In the following we, the authors, would like to give ideas and possible answers to these questions on an applied Global Ethic. For that purpose we present the Trilogos-PsyQ®Method (TPM), which is a method for personality training and consciousness development - developed and practiced at the TRILOGOS institute in Zürich⁷. Of course, this method can be applied in various fields but due to our experiences with this approach, we claim that it also could be one way to contribute to this transformation of consciousness, as demanded in the Declaration of a Global Ethic. In the following we will also describe how and why we came to this conclusion.

1.2 “What you wish done to yourself, do to others!”

The Golden Rule is an essential part of the so-called Global Ethic. It reads “What you do not wish done to yourself, do not to others!”, or, in the so-called positive formulation “What you wish done to yourself, do to others!” This Golden Rule represents a concrete, practical guideline for ethical behavior according to the first principle of the Global Ethic “Every human must be treated humanly”. If we treat others inhuman - if we resort to violence in deeds or words - we forfeit humanity within ourselves.

In this way the Golden Rule refers to Kant’s categorical imperative “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law“. Furthermore it is closely related to the Christian commandment “Love thy neighbour as thyself!”

In order to know what we want or don’t want, to be able to love ourselves, and to know what is truly human in us - in short: to be able to encounter our fellow humans in an ethical manner, we have to know and “investigate” ourselves. For that purpose self-reflection is required: “Know thyself!” as Socrates put it.

1.3 “Know thyself!”

When looking for common ground between psychology, pedagogics and practice- oriented philosophy, we found self-knowledge to be one of them. Each of these disciplines has developed various approaches and different methods for this purpose. Seen from a historical point of view, especially Freud’s dream analysis has to be highlighted. Freud was the first who employed dream interpretation and free association as means for acquiring self-knowledge. Furthermore, he deserves credit for revealing the influence that our unconscious has on our behavior. After him psychologists, psychotherapists and philosophers have further developed his dream interpretation approach in various ways. In general terms, dream analysis can help a person to use his or her dreams, and its included symbolism, as a “mirror” for self- reflection - and in that way increase the knowledge of the self. At the TRILOGOS institute we call such reflective procedure symbolic communication - as it facilitates a confrontation and communication with the unconscious. It provides access to suppressed feelings, traumata, beliefs and emotional imprints, which unconsciously influence human behavior.

According to Erich Fromm, the most important foreign language is the so-called symbolic language, the language of dreams. He goes further to state that it is the “only universal language the human race ever developed”⁸. By learning this language suppressed contents from the unconscious can be brought back to awareness. It is only first when a person is aware that something can be changed and transformed.

To give an example: A man dreamt that he was standing on the top floor of a skyscraper. Suddenly the skyscraper started to shake. It seemed to collapse. In his dream the man got scared. When waking up, he can ask himself: “What does this skyscraper as well as the fear I experienced in this building, have to do with me? How is this dream and its symbolism related to me, my behavior, my everyday life?” By putting himself, his behavior and his current life situation into question due to his dream experience the man starts to reflect himself. He tries to relate the images and feelings of his dream in order to view his personal existence in a different light. For example, the man could pose the existential question: “Am I afraid to loose footing in my life sometimes - do I lack of stability and poise?”

As already mentioned, this approach can help to become aware of emotional patterns, like existential anxiety. Without any doubt, existential anxieties can influence the behavior of a person. Therefore it can also influence ethical behavior, making it relevant for ethical concerns too.

Another illustration is the girl who grew up in a poor household. Her parents always had to struggle to earn enough money. So she experienced poverty in her early childhood. When she became a woman, she worked hard to have a better life than her parents. She had success and became the CEO of an international company. Her living standards were incomparably higher than what she grew up with. Nevertheless, she still had the impression that what she had would not be enough to safeguard her future. Unconsciously she still entertained the belief that she was a poor girl. And this belief made her greedy. In her position as a CEO she started to exploit her employees for her own benefit. Not because she was a bad person in principle. But because she was afraid she would not survive in the business world without these measures.

In this respect greed can be seen as a coping style triggered by the emotional pattern of death anxiety⁹. If this anxiety gets too strong, it can make a person to oversee the needs of others. The person can become egoistic without even realizing it, like the business woman in this example. Only if she would become aware of her anxiety and acknowledges it, she would be able to transform her greedy and unethical behavior. Thus, one of the key questions of this article reads: How to employ dream interpretation, free association and symbolic communication to foster ethical behavior?

Since Freud a countless number of books and articles on dream interpretation has been written. Today there are different positions concerning this issue. The TRILOGOS institute assumes the opinion in respect of dream interpretation that “there are as many interpretations of the truth as there are individuals”¹⁰. With this statement we emphasize that one dream symbol can have various meanings. In this regard we refer to C.G. Jung who states:

“Symbols have not only one but many meanings […]. The right interpretation depends on the context, that is, the associations and the actual state of mind of the dreamer.”¹¹

A person who dreams about a certain symbol can make free associations to it. In that way he or she can become aware of different interpretations of the symbol. Then, he or she has to decide which of the interpretations seem to be relevant and appropriate in the current situation. Which of the interpretations attracts or makes sense and give meaning to him or her? Which of them feel right ? “Fantasizing, free association as well as symbolic communication assist to give certain dream images, figures and symbols an individual meaning.”¹²

In regards to self-knowledge, one aspect seems to be important when dealing with dream images: It becomes obvious that we as human beings are not only influenced and guided by reason and rationality. Also feelings, emotional patterns, desires and fears affect our actions. They influence - whether we like it or not - our attitudes and mindsets as well as our daily activities. And therefore, as already mentioned, also our ethical behavior.

If we base our doing and being only on reason, then we cut ourselves off from our using our emotional world consciously. Then all the “inhabitants” of this inner world, i.e. emotions, come back to our reality through the “backdoor” of our unconscious. For the purposes of in-depth self-knowledge reason and rational knowledge alone is insufficient. Socrates commented the insufficiency of rational knowledge with his famous quote: “I know that I know nothing.”

1.4 “I know that I know nothing”

What was it Socrates intended to say with this statement? It is well known that he practiced philosophy by conducting dialogues with people from different areas of society. He posed critical but fundamental open-ended questions to them. And, by that, he could mirror them that their own attitudes towards life - including their ethical attitudes - were not based on some kind of universal truth, but rather on beliefs: They were convinced of something, they believed in something - but they did not know it for certain. So the behavior of those people was not guided by consolidated knowledge but rather by beliefs, conscious and unconscious.

As a consequence, we are convinced of certain things, even though we don’t know how or why. But for what reason are we convinced of them? Why do we believe in them? Because they seem to be coherent, they “feel” right to us. And it is this “feeling” which points out the connection between our beliefs and our emotions. Therefore, we can speak of emotionally generated beliefs.

In his works the psychotherapist and co-founder of Radical Constructivism Paul Watzlawick focuses on unconscious beliefs. Especially in his book “The Situation Is Hopeless, But Not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness”¹³ he gives elucidatory examples on this issue. There, he shows how we are guided by beliefs in our actions.

Even though they might be unconscious and emotionally charged. In his remarks on self-fulfilling prophecies he sets the following example:

“In March 1979, when the newspapers in California began to publish sensational pronouncements of severe gasoline shortages, California motorists stormed the gas stations to fill up their tanks. This filling-up of twelve million gasoline tanks (which had been, on the average, 75 percent empty) depleted the enormous reserves and brought about the predicted shortage practically overnight. The public’s effort to keep their fuel containers as full as possible instead of buying their gas when the tank was almost empty - the usual practice of the vast majority of motorists - resulted in endless lines and hours of waiting time at the gas stations, which in turn increased everyone’s sense of panic. After the excitement died down, it turned out that the gasoline allotment for California had hardly been reduced at all.”¹⁴

In this example it was not the reduction of the gasoline allotment for California that caused a gasoline shortage. Rather, it was caused by the inhabitants of California who believed there would be a shortage. Thus, acting on this belief the fuel shortage became a reality - a collective, unconscious belief; unconscious and therefore so effective. What if the Californian inhabitants would have known that it was simply their belief in the gasoline shortage that would cause it? They probably would not have acted upon it and the incident wouldn’t have happened.

In addition, there were also “emotional” consequences, caused by this common belief in the gasoline shortage. The emotionally “tinged” belief increased the fear to be cut off from a vital resource - from gasoline - sometime soon. The way to work, sometimes even work itself, the heating at home, and many other daily routines depended on it. Life as they knew it would stop and the belief in a shortage provoked existential fear - death anxiety, to put it in other words.

Paradoxically, it was only this emotionally charged belief and the subsequent behavior that finally affirmed this existential anxiety. Therefore, when Paul Watzlawick states on another occasion “We cannot not communicate”, we have to state here “We cannot not believe”¹⁵ and “We cannot not feel”.

In this respect, Socrates’ quote “I know that I know nothing” can be interpreted in a quite distinct way: the human being is not only a thinking, but also a feeling and believing being. With this interpretation we intentionally refer to three human, psychic abilities, respectively three kinds of intelligence. They read:

First, rational or mental intelligence (IQ) as the cognitive ability to think rationally. This intelligence is what we know as the intelligence of reason. Among others, it includes the ability to evaluate available options in a given situation, i.e. to find “pros and cons”, to find arguments for and against something.

Second, emotional intelligence (EQ) as the ability to perceive information also emotionally¹⁶. In simple words it means, to be in contact with ones emotional world as well as with those of others. It is the ability to feel and to respond to the feelings of others in an appropriate manner. We also use emotions to help us sort out “pros and cons”, by weighting the arguments put up against each other.

And finally, there is spiritual intelligence (SQ) as the ability to rely on and believe in something, which is supposed to be “bigger” than the individual who believes in it. This concept of intelligence seems to be the least established one. Nevertheless, what does spiritual intelligence imply? One of its key features is the ability to deal with so-called worldviews. In other words, the ability to deal with fundamental ideas, concepts and believes about a “bigger whole” in which our existence is embedded and a part of. In this regard, religions can be seen as prime examples, of course. They offer ideas and reference frames about such a “bigger whole”. They offer worldviews by which a human being can perceive and experience a deeper meaning of existence.

“In 1993, when Hans Küng’s documentary “Tracing the Way” was broadcasted on the TV-channel 3SAT, impressive images appeared on the screens of the viewers: fascinating insights into the worldviews, values and traditions of the world religions. It was remarkable to see how a common faith in an ultimate meaning, shared by all members of a faith community, energized them - for good and for bad, for salvation armies or for children’s armies. But it was not only the meaning and therefore the orientation the individuals found in their lives due to this common faith. There was also something else that showed up when tracing this way: The belief in a transcendent reality, a hereafter, a nirvana etc. In whatever kind of form this transcendent reality was conceived, it always had a major impact on the way people lived together in a community. It highly influenced the way people created a peaceful and cherishing environment. The stitching between value and meaning in life, between ethics and spirituality is conspicuously narrow here - no matter which culture or religion we are talking about.¹⁷

But we don’t want to give a false impression: Religious people don’t have to be spiritual necessarily. Also, spiritual intelligence is not restricted to the religious domains:

“It is important to stress once again that the use of the world spiritual in relation to intelligence has no necessary connection with institutional religion. A person may be high in SQ but have no religious faith or belief of any kind. Equally, a person may be very religious but low in SQ. Religion is based on particular set of customs, beliefs and values, like being a Christian, Muslim, or Jew. Which, in any religion we follow usually depends upon culture and upbringing. SQ, by contrast is an innate capacity of the human brain - it is based on structures in the brain that give us that basic ability to form meanings, values, and beliefs in the first place. SQ is pre-cultural, and more primary than religion. It is because we have spiritual intelligence in the first place that humanity later evolved religious systems as answers to the questions that SQ makes us ask.¹⁸

By SQ I mean the intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value, the intelligence with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving context, the intelligence with which we can assess that one course of action or life-path is more meaningful than another.”¹⁹

How do spiritual intelligence and the search for meaning relate to each other? What do Zohar and Marshall intend with their statement that spiritual intelligence is the ability “with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaninggiving context”?²⁰ To further investigate these questions we would like to refer to three fundamental philosophical questions: „What are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?“

1.5 „What are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?“

Those three questions seem to be as old as philosophy itself. Maybe because a final answer to them still has to be found? Nevertheless, or exactly because of that, they still invite us - not to say, force us - to reflect on our human existence. They ask for “a wider, richer, meaning-giving context”²¹ in which “we can place our actions and our lives”²². They demand self-reflection.

To experience a more comprehensive, even ultimate meaning in life, we have to find our own answers to these existential questions. Of course, the answers can only be of a temporary character, and personal, since they are based on beliefs rather than on knowledge. And they can change over the time. But still, they affect our doing and being as well as our “becoming”, which is our individual as well as collective creation of the future.

The psychotherapist and philosopher Viktor Frankl claimed: „Man’s concern about the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.“²³ On another occasion he stated:

“Human existence […] is always directed to something, or someone, other than itself […]. I have termed this constitutive characteristic of human existence ‘self-transcendence.’²⁴ What is called “self-actualization” is ultimately an effect, the unintentional by-product, of self-transcendence.“²⁵

In this respect, spiritual intelligence can be seen as the ability to investigate the transcendent, the transpersonal. It is the ability to generate a wider meaning-giving context, which transcends us out of our individual existence. Due to spiritual intelligence we can perceive a “bigger whole” in which we ourselves can feel embedded. It is the core ability to trust and experience ultimate meaning. In this regard, Frankl conceives „belief and faith as trust in ultimate meaning“²⁶. Trust in an ultimate meaning can be seen as a vital force that helps us to cope with and improve the quality of life. In other words: Trust in ultimate meaning is about fundamental beliefs through which we perceive, experience and impact our existence. Therefore, Frankl argues that “Human existence is spiritual existence”²⁷.

In his book „Man’s search for ultimate meaning“ Frankl extensively discusses human spirituality²⁸. He describes it as „a specifically human phenomenon in contrast to the phenomena that we share with other animals. In other words, the ‚spiritual’ is what is human in man.”²⁹ Therefore, the search for ultimate meaning is not only a spiritual enterprise. In a double sense of the word, it is also a human enterprise. But this ultimate meaning is not to be approached intellectually, with the IQ. The spiritual, transpersonal dimension cannot ever be entirely known or conscious. Otherwise we would know the final answers to the questions raised above and life would become static - which is against the very essence of being dynamic and human. Therefore, Frankl assumes also a spiritual unconscious:

„Freud saw only unconscious instinctuality, as represented in what he called id; to him the unconscious was first and foremost a reservoir of repressed instinctuality. However, the spiritual may also be unconscious; moreover, existence is essentially unconscious, because the foundation of existence cannot be fully reflected upon and thus be fully aware of itself.”³⁰

The roots of our existence can never become entirely conscious. That applies for individuals as well as for collectives. These roots are only to be approached by trust and faith³¹. Nevertheless, they are of essential importance for the way we cope with life. If we are lacking this trust it can lead us to existential anxieties and fundamental doubts about our existence.

Therefore, spiritual intelligence is the essential resource to find, generate and experience meaning in life. It is the ability to overcome the essential anxieties of death, freedom, meaninglessness and isolation³². It is the ability by which faith and trust can be discovered as existential and essential human coping skills.

1.6 “The whole is more than the sum of its parts”

At the TRILOGOS institute we assume that the three abilities, namely our rational intelligence (IQ), our emotional intelligence (EQ) and our spiritual intelligence (SQ), are interacting, dynamic forces. When interacting they generate an integrally emerging force by which we can conceive and create our existence. They influence and coin our attitudes and our behavior, even our ethical, in a decisive way. Due to their dynamic interplay IQ, EQ and SQ may also be referred to as psychodynamic or psychospiritual intelligence, as PsyQ³³. In short: „IQ + EQ + SQ = PsyQ“³⁴ - the integrally emerging intelligence, as it is also called. Furthermore, the three forces can also be described as human potential or as human qualities (“human” in the sense of humanness)³⁵.

But of what “quality” they are, is another question, of course. PsyQ would be the integral quality that a man or woman would encounter his or her existence with. That means, encountering him- or herself and others. Man can face a specific situation, respond to it, with his or her thinking, feeling and believing. For this response, for the behavior in this situation, man is responsible³⁶. „Being human is being responsible - existentially responsible, responsible for one’s own existence.”³⁷ as Frankl once put it. Therefore, PsyQ is the way, if and how someone is acting in a self-responsible way. Hence, PsyQ can be seen as the quality of integrity in man. The quality of this responsibility finds its expression in the quality of life. It is of an “increment value”. Therefore, PsyQ can be seen as an integrally emerging intelligence. Thus, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

But what is specifically meant by psychospiritual intelligence in detail? For that endeavor let us begin with the IQ: With this intelligence we can solve an arithmetic problem. To meet an emotional challenge, we can apply the EQ. If we search for meaning in life, we might use the SQ. We are aware that this is a quite simplified explanation. But we intend the following: Solving an arithmetic problem, for example, is not only a question of the IQ. In the context of everyday life, in the concrete “here and now”, EQ and SQ play an important role too. Let’s give an example: A young man has to solve an arithmetic problem as part of a final exam. He can still remember how he felt the last time, when he failed. In the specific circumstances of this final exam he faces also emotional and existential challenges due to his test anxiety. In addition he has no high hopes for the future. He believes that there are no big chances to find a job after he once has finished school. So, this person could entertain the fundamental belief “I’m afraid, I can’t do it - and I’m at destiny’s mercy anyway. What is that all good for?” Combined with the test anxiety this belief is of course the worst possible pre-condition for him to make an optimal use of his IQ. Hence, it is quite doubtful that he would be able to pass the exam - even though his IQ and arithmetic skills would be high enough to help him deal with it. In this example we see how EQ and SQ are influencing the situation as well. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that those three kinds of intelligence, those three psychic abilities are interconnected when applied in practice - as so-called PsyQ.

[...]

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¹ (Declaration toward a Global Ethic, 1993 : 4f)

² (ibidem)

³ 2 principles
- “Every human being must be treated humanely” (ibidem : 6)
- The Golden Rule: “What you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others“ (ibidem : 7)

⁴ directives
- “Have respect for life!“ (ibidem : 8)
- “Deal honestly and fairly!“ (ibidem : 10)
- “Speak and act truthfully!” (ibidem : 11)
- “Respect and love one anothers!” (ibidem : 12)
4 (ibidem : 5)

⁵ (ibidem : 14)

⁶ (for further details see 4. Index of authors)

⁷ (see: Roethlisberger, 2006b)

⁸ (Fromm, 1951 : vi)

⁹ (see Yalom, 1980)

¹⁰ (Translated from the German by the authors: „Es gibt so viele Interpretationen der Wahrheit, wie Menschen“, Roethlisberger, 2006a : 45)

¹¹ (Translated from the German by the authors: „Symbole haben nicht nur eine, sondern mehrere Bedeutungen […]. Die richtige Interpretation hängt vom Kontext ab, das heißt von den mit dem Traumsymbol verbundenen Assoziationen und dem tatsächlichen Geisteszustand des Träumers.“, C.G. Jung, 2001 : 50)

¹² (Translated from the German by the authors: „Phantasieren, freies Assoziieren und symbolisches Kommunizieren helfen im Anschluss, den jeweilig »geträumten« Bildern, Gestalten und Zeichen eine individuelle Bedeutung zu verleihen.“, Roethlisberger, 2006b : 112)

¹³ (Watzlawick, 1983)

¹⁴ (Watzlawick, 1984, quoted in: Capps, 1998 : 99)

¹⁵ (Translated from the German by the authors: „Wir können nicht nicht glauben“, Weiss, 2008) 11

¹⁶ (see Goleman, 1996)

¹⁷ (Translated from the German by the authors: „Faszinierende Einblicke in die Weltanschauungen, Werte und Traditionen der großen Religionen taten sich auf. Besonders auffallend war, wie in jeder Religion der gemeinsame Glaube an einen höheren Daseinsgrund den Menschen unglaubliche Kraft verlieh - im Guten wie im Schlechten, ob Heils- oder Kinderarmee. Aber es war nicht nur der Sinn, den der Einzelne dadurch in seinem Leben finden konnte und durch den er Orientierung bekam. Es gab noch etwas anderes, das bei dieser Spurensuche zutage trat: der Glaube an eine transzendente Wirklichkeit, an ein Jenseits, Nirwana etc. In welcher Form diese transzendente Wirklichkeit auch in Erscheinung trat, sie hatte immense Folgen auf die Art und Weise, wie Menschen in Gemeinschaft zusammenlebten, darauf, wie sie ein friedliches, wertschätzendes Miteinander gestalteten. Die Verknüpfung zwischen Sinn und Wert im Leben, zwischen Spiritualität und Ethik ist hier auffallend eng, und zwar unabhängig davon, um welche Kultur oder Religion es sich handelt.“, Weiss, 2010 : 27f)

¹⁸ (Zohar & Marshall, 2004 : 65)

¹⁹ (Zohar & Marshall, 2000 : 3f)

²⁰ (ibidem)

²¹ (ibidem)

²² (ibidem)

²³ (Frankl, 1999 : 112)

²⁴ (Frankl, 1960)

²⁵ (Frankl, 2000 : 84)

²⁶ (ibidem : 17)

²⁷ (ibidem : 32)

²⁸ (see ibidem)

²⁹ (ibidem : 28)

³⁰ (ibidem : 31)

³¹ “What is “unknowable” need not be unbelievable. In fact, where knowledge gives up, the torch is passed on to faith. True, it is not possible to find out intellectually whether there is ultimate meaning behind everything. But if we cannot answer the question intellectually we may well do so existentially. Where an intellectual cognition fails an existential decision is due. Vis-à-vis the fact that it is equally conceivable that everything is absolutely meaningful and that the scales are equally high, we must throw the weight of our own being into one of the scales. And precisely therein I see the function to carry out my belief. In contrast to what people are prone to assume, namely, believing is not at all

some sort of thinking minus the reality of that which is thought, believing is rather some sort of thinking plus something, namely, the existentiality of him or her who does the thinking.” (Frankl, 2000 : 146)

³² (see Yalom, 1980 : 8)

³³ (see Roethlisberger, 2006b : 22)

³⁴ (Roethlisberger, 2006b : 22)

³⁵ (see Khan, 2000 : 37)

³⁶ („Man has to answer to life by answering for life; he has to respond by being responsible; in other words, the response is necessarily a response-in-action. While we respond to life “in action” we are also responding in the “here and now.” What is always involved in our response is the concreteness of a person and the concreteness of the situation in which he is involved. Thus our responsibility is always responsibility ad personam and ad situationem.”, Frankl, 2000 : 29)

³⁷ (Frankl, 2000 : 32)