Sigmund Freud was convinced that of all the hungers and desires that motivate and drive us through life, the desire for pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, is the dominant one. There is a lot of evidence to support his view. Certainly the entertainment industry has discovered that sex sells movie tickets and raises TV ratings. And even a casual observer of human behavior is aware of the power of desire—not only sexual lust, but also that almost irresistible urge for one more piece of that delicious chocolate cake. The drive toward pleasure is powerful.

Alfred Adler did not deny that longing for pleasure is definitely one of the motivations of human behavior; however, he was convinced that our basic desire or hunger is for power; we want to be in control. Certainly, we all know what it is to want to be in control, and to feel not only uncomfortable but anxious, even fearful, when we are not. The hunger to be in charge and have our will done is a powerful drive. We see it at work in ourselves, and it is even easier for us to see it at work in others.

However, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, because of his experiences in a Nazi death camp, disagreed. He did not deny our human desire for pleasure and our longing to be in control. But when both of these were totally taken away in his experience in Auschwitz, he became convinced that the basic human hunger or the deepest drive within us is our deep longing for meaning and purpose. We want life and our lives to matter.