Resilience, love and loss

Viktor speaks of what aided him in surviving Nazi death camps and focuses on his love and relationship with his wife, with whom he was separated from and had no knowings of her wellbeing. Reading these passages remind me of the relationships that people retain and nurture with loved ones who have died. While the physical relationship has ended, often a relationship with the person continues in other ways...

"Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present., whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance." (p. 38)

"I did not know whether my wife was alive, and I had no means of finding out (during all my prison life there was no outgoing or incoming mail); but at that moment it ceased to matter. There was no need for me to know; nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts, and the image of my beloved". (p.38)

​Source: "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl