A Short Note On Existence
I’m a philosophy major. Inevitably, I’m asked the dreaded question: What can you really do with philosophy? Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio famously said, "We need more welders and less philosophers.” Well, fuck that guy. I’m currently in an Existentialism class. It’s about the nature of existence and how we should act. It’s actually interesting enough to remind me why I struggle through classes like The History of Analytic Philosophy. Here’s some Existentialism:
We are a peculiar species. We’re animals that eat, fuck, and sleep, but we’re also spirits who think, contemplate, and dream. We are individuals, forever trapped in the topsy-turvy world of our own minds, but also inseparably interconnected to everyone around us. It is impossible to make a decision that doesn’t affect every other living thing, and that can be overwhelming.
The ultimate question remains: How do we live in response to our strange predicament of being the drawer and simultaneously the hand that is being drawn?
Religion and ethics don’t provide answers to some of life’s most difficult questions. Should I join the army and fight for my country or stay at home and care for my family? Country or Family? Only I can answer that question. No bible or ethical code can account for the infinite complexity of the real world and provide me with specific answers on how to act.
The problem is you can’t walk into an existentialist cafe and buy your life’s purpose for $3.50. You won’t find it in a foreign country or on a meditation retreat, you will find your life’s purpose once you create it. The paradox is that we are both the art and the artist. Despite this paradox, we all have a responsibility to make the best choices possible for mankind because we collectively create what it means to be human.
Existentialists want you to DO. To get out in the world and actualize who you are, whatever you want that to be.
My Music (The link is there it’s just invisible and I can’t figure how to make it not invisible): https://soundcloud.com/user513119453
