A Little Philosophy Goes a Long Way (11/22/2017)

In my quest to know myself better, I was inspired to come back to the very basic ideas that we all encountered in Philosophy 101.

But hold on, before you think that I’m being all philosophic and smart, let me tell you that my line of thinking was inspired by the movie “Elf.”  There is a line in the movie where the writers are talking to Myles Finch and they complement his children’s book by the name of Gus’s Pickles by saying:  “It’s existential, yet so accessible.”  I mean, by all means feel free to think I’m brilliant, but know that my train of thought was fueled by a make-believe story (that I do absolutely love, BTW!).

But, back to my ramble about Essentialism vs. Existentialism.  If I remember correctly, the philosophy goes something like this:  Essentialism is a belief system based on human life having an innate or intrinsic purpose, but we each find our own individual life purpose.  Whereas, Existentialism is a belief system that life is the opposite, meaningless and we each must work to bring meaning and purpose to our existence. 

It makes my head spin a little and I can’t help but admit that I would like to skip on down the road holding the hand of each philosophy…happily in the middle.  But, I don’t know if that is possible.  No wonder I’m a mess! 

Ok.  I can break this down and decide which I am having a love affair with, right?  I am going to start with Existentialism, because I feel like I know less about it and tend to lean the other direction. 

The Concepts of Existentialism:

Human free will – Yes!  I’m in.  I believe in free will.  I believe that we have the ability to choose between different courses of action.  I believe in responsibility, praise and judgement to acts of free will.  However, I also believe that what is innately in us, is impressionable and can easily be overshadowed by outside influences. 

Human nature is chosen through life choices – Hum.  I think I walk in the gray on this one.  I believe there is a difference between nature vs. nurture and that nurture can win out over nature.  I also believe that our life choices effect who we are, but that those choices and the consequences of those choices aren’t set in stone. 

A person is best when struggling against their individual nature, fighting for life – Not necessarily.  Can someone be amazing under pressure?  Yes.  Do some people adapt to pressure and struggle by rising to the occasion and finding a way to not only succeed, but excel?  Sure, but is that the way that it should be?  Why do we need to fight and struggle? 

Decisions are not without stress and consequences – Ok, again I’m in the middle of this one.  Yes, decisions have consequences.  Cause and effect.  Of course there is a relationship between things and events.  But, do these decisions and/or the outcome always need to involve stress.  I don’t think so. 

There are things that are not rational – This one makes my head spin a bit.  I do agree that there are many things/thoughts/people that are not rational.  But, are they innately irrational, or is there are a cause, reason or malfunction that causes the irrationality?  To me, this seems a bit in conflict with the above “decisions are not without consequences.”

Personal responsibility and discipline is crucial – Yep!  I totally agree that this is vital, specifically in a society and in the very organized fashion in which nature flourishes. 

Society is unnatural and its traditional religious and secular rules are arbitrary – Whoa!  Now this seems like it should be split up into at least two different points.  First of all, I feel like this is once again in conflict with its aforementioned concepts.  Secondly, I would need to know more about how ‘society’ is being defined in this instance.  I mean, “living/existing together in order” is a society and that sounds pretty logical to me.  Now, you add some imperfect human tendencies to the mix, greed, jealousy, arrogance and suddenly what was a peaceful society is now a big mess…but, in its pure form, I think society is about coming together for the greater good.  Now, religion…I would throw that into the list of imperfect tendencies that fucks up society with ideologies that are mainly meant to control for means of profit, greed and power.  To recap, society, yes…religion, no.

Worldly desire is futile – I will make an assumption that ‘worldly desire’ encompasses the pursuit of tangible material goods (money, land, cars, etc.) or desires of the flesh (power, sex, gluttony).  If in fact this is what is meant by ‘worldly desire’ than I agree to a point.  However, I will also say that all these things in moderation, (money, land, sex, food, etc.) are enjoyable parts of life – gifts – that can be enjoyed in balance.  So my question would be, pointless or useless in what sense?  They bring joy and satisfaction when enjoyed in a balanced manner and I believe that joy and happiness are blessings to be enjoyed with the only caveat being that your joy should not pain anyone else.  All that being said, I feel that this concept has a lot of room for expansion. 

My overview of Existentialism – It seems to me that the belief system of the existentialist revolves around the ideal that human life is unsatisfying, incomplete and that loss, pain and dissatisfaction are a given seeing that we live in an imperfect world as imperfect humans that are powerless to control our own lives.  An existentialist desires individualism and does not want to be governed by beliefs of values that are imposed upon them just for the sake of accepting, fitting in or obeying what one is told.  That in and of itself makes the existentialist feel objectified.  It doesn’t however mean they are lazy or don’t care.  They are constantly questioning and searching for true self.  While I initially thought I was not inclined in this direction, some of this rings very true to me. 

So…now on to the next. 

 

The Concepts of Essentialism:  What I recall about essentialism, what resonated with me was what a professor said to define it in a single sentence:  Essentialism is the art of discerning between external noise and your internal voice.  However, I’m not certain that the following concepts fully embrace self-discernment. 

All things are born with a set/fixed/absolute properties or “essence” that defines them – This conflicts with evolution entirely.  While I myself am a creationist, I do believe that things evolve and that to make the statement that something is absolute is in direct conflict with reality.  I can’t wholly say that there is an absolute, knowing that part of what makes us human is our ability to adapt and that means we grow and evolve.   

Life has an intrinsic meaning and purpose, but it is up to the individual to find that purpose – I stumble a bit here.  This seems, at first glance a bit cruel – Like the big kid who shoves a smaller kid into the deep end of the pool and holds the life preserver just out of reach.  Nope.  I don’t like this one. 

Essence precedes existence – I think…think…this means that there is a fixed trait in each of us that to exist.  Meaning that the meaning of life for each individual is innate and just has to be discovered. 

The acceptance of the social, political, and economic structure of society – I understand societal constraints.  I am grateful for some of them.  I believe that the majority of the structure built was for the purpose of creating a peaceful place for us to safely exist.  It is human imperfect that messes this up. 

Provide an educated basis for disciplined, practical minds – I don’t know.  I don’t think it is all bad to provide for and encourage well-rounded and character building knowledge in a belief system.  The issue, in my mind, is when this desire to educate is for the purpose of controlling, profiting or increasing power over someone to the point of inhibiting free thought and or free will. 

My overview of Essentialism – It seems to me that essentialism is based on ruling – and not in a kind and empathetic way.  I believe in a creator.  I don’t however believe that we were created as a cruel joke.  I don’t think that our turmoil, pain and suffering is just entertainment.  I think I am losing my objectivity here based on my initial reaction, but there are more things that don’t resonate with me that I recall. 

 

In general, I will say that I have muddied the issue in my head more than cleared it up.  I think that while in opposition to each other, Essentialism and Existentialism have comparable views.  There are similarities.  I find the fact that both touch on and support a meaning to life comforting.  I wonder if both, the scientific and the literature based are not in fact fundamental to a balanced understanding of our existence. 

So, I have not given my heart to one, but continue to embrace the middle ground between these two.  Ah, but I am not quick to settle knowing that there are others to consider….Nihilism, Structuralism.

I say maybe we are making it too difficult.  Maybe all these theories, definitions and philosophies and just a way to incite thinking and grown.  Maybe we are looking too hard.  Maybe it is way more basic than that.  Maybe if we just focused and looked for peace, kindness, beauty, joy and happiness we would find fulfillment.