Existentialism

A while back, a casual whats ap chat with a friend, and she’s like, ‘Know what?…. I feel like dying, committing suicide kinds.'  I’m still trying to figure out what to say and she’s like, ‘don’t freak out and all okay, I’m not sad or anything, you know I’m strong like that. Its just that everything seems so purposeless, I'm thinking about it in a nice and positive way only.’

Intense for sure, and lonf as they don't actually go wrong, they are potentially powerful moments of truth and growth.

Sure they are stretched and scary as they push you into new depths and stuff, but I also believe they can be huge enablers. The process of overcoming them is a catharsis of sorts.....an opportunity to question, to seek .......else how do you find. I personally believe that real learning does also come out of deep cathartic moments like these that enable opening up of more layers of oneself, and the opportunity to higher self awareness. It's definitely worked for me.

The discussion then was of course as existential as Existentialism gets.

All of us at some time or the other hit those spaces, right? It comes out of the basic question of…What is life all about? What is the point of existence? Guess some of us go by without asking, some find their own answers, some don't find answers. A formal asking and some profound philosophical thought thereon was what got labeled as Existentialism.

Existentialism was an intriguing branch of philosophy, and it’s while studying it that I fell totally into fascination with Sartre, Nietzche and Albert Camus. If Advaita and Buddhism gave the spiritual direction, it's Existentialism that enabled the creation of ones identity from solely within. That Camus himself eventually committed suicide only added to the ardour at which one devoured existentialism.

                              

Existentialism is defined as a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe.

An integral concept of existentialism is Alienation. An alienation from the world as a whole. Camus brings this out well in 'The Stranger'.... how we can feel a stranger in the world. You can’t connect. He delves into how you give life meaning, or you consider suicide and its as meaningful or meaningless as you make it out to be. 

Sartre would say 'existence precedes essence...so we are free to define ourselves as we choose. And Nietzche with How to become who we really are. 

Existence precedes essence for humans essentially means that, in contrast to a designed object such as a penknife – the blueprint and purpose of which pre-exist the actual physical thing – human beings have no pre-established purpose or nature, nor anything that we have to or ought to be. Sartre was an ardent atheist and so believed that there could be no Divine Artisan in whose mind our essential properties had been conceived.

Most importantly, it is the arbitrary act that existentialism finds most objectionable..........that is, when someone or society tries to impose or demand that their beliefs, values, or rules be faithfully accepted and obeyed. Existentialists believe this destroys individualism and makes a person become whatever the people in power desire; thus they are dehumanized and reduced to being an object. Existentialism stresses that a person's judgment is the determining factor for what is to be believed rather than by arbitrary religious or secular world values.

Through them, he opposes the view, which is for instance that of the Freudian theory of the unconscious, that there are psychological factors that are beyond the grasp of our consciousness and thus are potential excuses for certain forms of behavior.

The beauty that comes out of this space is ‘Humans are radically free’

And there’s real freedom when you can live without appeal to anything external, no pointing fingers at the outside. Take full responsibility and find your meaning, and then you’ll find all resentment, the negative fall away.

It's summarized well in Camuss': My Revolt, My Freedom, My Passion.

My Revolt : revolt against anything external, against norms, against nothingness, even against suicide

My Freedom: with central theme being Choice.... assigning my own meaning

My Passion: when you make your own choice, you will draw in a passion, even in the very being, it comes out of awareness and choice and responsibility (no place for self pity as its your decision)

An individual living by these would naturally lend himself to a lot of charisma...a lot of positive, of energy, of faith.

Its about Carpe Diem. Seize the day and be in the moment. 

If you can actually get there, it's such a high authentic zone that life becomes a literal love affair.