Existentialism

Finding Your Eternal

“The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within you.”

John O'Donohue

First term, Freshman year in college, when I was barely eighteen, I enrolled in a philosophy class—it was an elective, and by the time freshmen were able to choose courses, available electives were few and far between. I had graduated from a small-town high school close to the bottom of my class, having flunked algebra and made a few C's and D's along the way in other subjects. I had no idea what philosophy was, and it was a 300 level class designed for upperclassmen, so I was the only freshman there. Suffice it to say, it was love at first sight. I absolutely found my voice in that class. My favorite philosophy was existentialism.

Existentialism emphasizes the individual. It holds that we exist with freedom and choice, and that we attach our own meanings to life events. We are certainly impacted by other people and circumstances, but the meanings we create are entirely of our own making. Despite the fact that conditions around us may be completely irrational and unpredictable, we attempt to create rational explanations on which to base our decisions. In other words, it is the nature of human beings to try and make sense of things, and that sense-making is an individual choice. This explains why you and I may see the same thing and interpret it two different ways. We may even see the same thing, or read the same thing, and declare our interpretation of it to be “the only Truth.”

The existential view of the world and of the human race made sense to me. It explained some of the utter confusion I had always felt about life. As children, we so often see things that make no sense to us, then listen to adults tell us how we should interpret them, while our instincts tell us the exact opposite. It is confusing, and, at times, we feel extremely lonely, as though we've been marooned on an island while the rest of the world sails past in a fancy yacht. Being an independent individual has that downside--existential loneliness. However, when one begins to embrace one's own individuality in full, and all that it means, there is a feeling of standing firmly on solid ground. In the words of John O'Donohue, “When you acknowledge the integrity of your solitude, and settle into its mystery, your relationships take on more warmth.” That is because there is a “you” there, or as Martin Buber called it, an “I and Thou” of equal importance. We can disagree and still respect each other's interpretation of ideas, beliefs and events. Today, I hope I and Thou will give that a try.

                                                        In the Spirit,

                                                            Jane