The Door of Happiness

Cardinal Maradiaga presents books on Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl
Date: 2011-12-17 08:00:00December 17, 2011. (Romereports.com) Eugenio Fizzotti was a student of the famous Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. He has presented at the Vatican “La porta della felicità,” or “The Door of Happiness”. It's a book about the work of his teacher. He was accompanied by Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga.

The title “The Door of Happiness” refers to an observation made by the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, who said that opening the door of happiness for others, is the key to finding it yourself. 

Eugenio Fizzotti

Author “La porta della felicità”

“This sentence shares one of the fundamental concepts of the theory of Frankl, that being human means being open to reality, especially interpersonal reality, paying attention to the questions, emergencies, any type of problem, not just economic, but also in the family, culture and education.”

After surviving four Nazi concentration camps over the span of three years, Viktor Frankl founded the Logotherapy School in Vienna. According to the school, to find happiness, man must find self-transcendence, which is to set goals outside oneself.

Among his many fans is Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who considers Frankl as a model for all people.

Card. Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga

Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras

“Above all he was a man who lived the experience of pain and suffering and carried on without resentment, and therefore has sent a message of peace that is still relevant today.”

Viktor Frankl died in 1997 of a heart attack. He published over 30 books among which was “Man's Search for Meaning,” in which he recounts his experience in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

AO/AE