What it involves
In logodrama a person imagines themselves at the end of life - “on their deathbed”, in the distant future - and from that perspective looks at their present life. Frankl spoke of a view sub specie aeternitatis - from the perspective of eternity. He described it in his books, among others through the example of a mother who had lost one child and cared for another, disabled one: from the perspective of the end of her life she could see the meaning of what she had lived through.
Why
- to see what remains important from the perspective of transience and what loses significance,
- to confront current commitments with life goals,
- to lighten present difficulties (“what is this compared with eternity?”).
Workshop variants
- writing one's own epitaph,
- imagining what loved ones will find in my room after my death,
- composing a last word to the living.
Frankl placed this perspective far in the future; bringing it closer (“what if it were tomorrow?”) is riskier.
What logodrama is not
Logodrama is imagination, not acting out scenes. When a situation is acted out, it is psychodrama with existential elements.
Sources
V. E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning; The Doctor and the Soul.