EUPHROSYNIAN EXISTENTIALISM
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or, How to Laugh in the Face of Conformity and Maintain a Comfortable Distance From the Ordinary World
I don't know what Life is. Except that it's that Thing that happens after you're born and before you're dead. And that it is, as some of my existentialist heroes would say, Absurd.
Yep, I am quite the lil existentialist. But it's not correct to assume that I discovered existentialism one day and said "O boy! I want to be an existentialist when I grow up!" I mean, that really wouldn't have been very existential of me, would it? No, actually existentialism discovered me about four years ago when I studied Sartre and Camus and was amazed at how much those French guys had in common with me!
Now some people--who tend to be either critics or lay people--associate existentialism with people who wear black all the time and mope about how shitty life is. Existentialism has a weird reputation for being pessimistic and lethargic and gloomy. But in reality, it is actually one of the most optimistic philosophies in the book! I mean, it portrays the human as a being in charge of its destiny, possessing the freedom and willpower to become whatever it wants. The individual is the God of its own universe. Who cares if life is absurd and has no meaning? It's YOUR life and you can make of it what you will. But you MUST take action and exercise that freedom, or else you're no better than a mere Thing.
Being an individual is a huge responsibility, and it's scary. So the majority of humankind resorts to Conformity, that ageless, almost innate defense mechanism. Humans want to live like cattle; it takes responsibility and fear off their heads. Yet Conformity is also a psychosis, for it cripples the very essence of human existence, which is individual freedom. It makes sense. I mean, we weren't created with these immensely complex and powerful minds just so we could live as automatons.
Existentialism is also attacked for being atheistic, although there have been a number of theist existentialists. One thing I disagree with Sartre and Camus on is atheism. I believe in God. Not the Judeo-Christian-Islamic version of God, but a God no less. The traditional view of God is just too cold, distant, and domineering. I think God has a sense of humor, and I think God can be absurd, mischievous, and perhaps a little insane from time time to time (otherwise I probably would have been struck by a thunderbolt by now. And we wouldn't have things like fun and laughter and politics!). I think God likes us and wants us to be all we can be. God wants us to be smart and inventive; otherwise we would be pretty boring, and would have long since been destroyed. This isn't to say, however, that God doesn't have a dark side. God seems to enjoy twisted ironies (have you heard the story of Camus's death?) But overall, my experience has been that God is pretty cool, and definitely not the petty, spiteful, moralizing, wrathful type. I could never like, much less worship, something like that. It's as if there aren't already plenty petty, spiteful, moralizing, wrathful people to deal with!
Well, I think I have made my point. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe. OK, maybe not. What do I know, I embrace absurdity! But I am happy, because I can just laugh at the bizarreness of life. Anyone can if only they so desire. Just as anyone and everyone can break free of Conformity and be their own persons.
All it takes is desire and Will, both of which already reside at our cores whether we know it or not.
Whether we admit it or not.
