Existentialism Philosophy






LogoDrama Part 1
 

Man searches for meaning. He tries to find meaning in life and in everyday situations. He tries to search for meaning in things such as suffering, love, free time, and life itself. '

'How' presupposes the knowledge of 'why.' It is only when man knows "why" he exists can he know "how" to do something. "Why" can be substituted with "what is the reason for." When a person asks, "Why should I play football?", he is asking the same question as "For what reason should I play football?" When a person knows the "why" or the "reason for," he can apply the answer to the present situation. "How" something is done is the application of the knowledge of the "whyness." By this I mean that when a person knows "why" something has to be done, he can know or try to do the "how." If a person knows that the reason for (why) playing a game is to win, he will try to score or do that which will reach that goal (how). For example, if the reason for playing football is to win, the person will try to score. How? By scoring a touchdown. We can know that "how" presupposes the knowledge of a "why".The traditional term for 'why" is the "end" and the traditional term for "how" is the means. In other words, doing the means presupposes the knowledge of the end. Or, one must know the end so that he can do the means.

I think most people will agree with me when I say that man tries to make his life worthwhile. He tries to make his life, every moment of his life, meaningful. He continuously asks himself how can make the present moment worthwhile. If he does not, he will become discontent. And to be discontent is contrary to human nature. By this I mean that man always wills a good and to be "not good" is to go contrary to what he wills, which derives from his nature. Even the person who tries to commit suicide believes that "it is the best for himself" to do so. Everything man wills is for the good, at least the good for himself. Even those who believe that life is ultimately meaningless and we simply have to go through evils and sufferings try to make those situations worthwhile and meaningful. How does one act towards an evil like September 11? There is a desire to make it worthwhile and try to see the meaning of all these. There is a desire to help, to do good to others. What is the least can I do but try to help the other?

Hope from Suffering

Man is an "activistic" being. He does not simply receive life, but lives, he wants to live. Man is a being which lives for something. He is a being which looks forward to something. This is what we call hope. What I am about to say is to some, an approach to God's existence, which is a recollection of my experience.

"I look in this world and find that there are sufferings. I see people losing family members and friends. I also see the poor and how they have little food and no place to live in. At the same time, I experience a sort of "lowering down". I feel depressed and sorry because they do not have what I have. They are lacking something. It seems like depression takes away something from them, something which is at the very root of existence. At the same time, I hope that things get better, than they don't become so depressed; it points to something "higher", that they gain what they are missing. In other words, I hope goodness for them because there is some kind of experience which tells me that this is not how it is supposed to be or that there is some kind of injustice. At the same time, this injustice points something higher which cannot be explained. I hope that things just get better and this hope erases all the sufferings or at least, this hope makes me concentrate on a Good without something lacking. It seems that when we hope, we don't "see" anything but good of the person. That things truly get better."

This goodness is something which lacks evil or suffering. It is complete and perfect. And this seems to be the object of hope. When we hope, we hope for things to get better than our current condition, but we never hope for things to get worse, at least, for ourselves. It also seems that our hope is aimed at a trascendent.Can we really have a realistic hope if there is no God, no life after? And if there is no real hope, can life be worth living? Is not life only worth living when we have hope for something? Hope for for the better? Something which we can live forward to? How can we think "everything will be alright" when it will not really be alright? when we know that there is nothing after this life? A person with hope however, can see through the evil and suffering. He can see that the outcome will be good and that it will be actualized.



posted by Ap at 9/15/2003 |


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