Living as an Existentialist; Finding A Meaning To Life

“Existentialism” is a very broad term similar to “theism”. It’s applied to several subjects of philosophical and psychological thought. The philosophy of existentialism ultimately constitutes that every one of us is ultimately free; i.e we’re to recognize that as human beings we are free to choose, not only what to do when faced with moral choices, but what to value and how to live. Philosophers in the existentialist camp want these facts about the human freedom to be not merely accepted, but absorbed by each person for him- or herself.

Existentialism philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre outlined the philosophy on how to find meaning in your life through existentialism, in 4 easy steps!

1. Understand that existence precedes essence: The proposition that existence precedes essence is a central theme of existentialism, which reverses the traditional philosophical view that the essence (nature) of a thing is more fundamental and immutable than its existence (the mere fact of its being). This simply means that you exist first as a ‘blank’, without essence. You do not possess any inherent identity or value. You are an individual, capable of independent acting and responsibility. Through your consciousness, you create your own values and determine a meaning for your life.
2. Embracing the absurd: In philosophy, “the absurd” refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life, and the human inability to find any in a purposeless, meaningless, or chaotic and irrational universe. To understand the absurd you have to admit that there is no inherent meaning in the world because the world is amoral; i.e it’s unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of whatever. It’s only because you have consciousness, that you feel that life is meaningful but you know that the universe as a whole has no inherent meaning. This would make finding meaning in your life in a meaningless world a contradiction. To live well, you need to overcome this contradiction. You can do this by fully embracing the meaninglessness of existence and giving the world meaning.
3. Facticity: This simply refers to understanding the limits to which your freedom exists and its limits. For example: currently, the situation of a person who is born without legs precludes their freedom to walk on the beach; if future medicine and biotech were to develop a method of growing new legs for that person, their facticity might no longer exclude this activity. The root word of ‘facticity’ is ‘fact’. Some things in your life are monolithic immovable fact, which you have no choice, e.g. your past: your birthplace, race, social class, the language you spoke when growing up, the cultural context in your youth, your education, etc. Whilst you can’t change these facts, the values you derive from them are within your control. Example:

• Fact: I grew up in a religiously conservative environment.
• Choice: But, the values I choose need, or need not be, religiously conservative.

While it’s nice to have this freedom to define your own values. I understand that this freedom, and by extension, responsibility, to define your values, and meaning to your life, may also make you uncomfortable, uneasy, angsty, stirring anxiety and fear. But it’s important to know you always have a choice.

4. Living With Authencity: In existentialism, authenticity is the degree to which a person’s actions are in agreement with their beliefs and desires, despite external pressures to conformity. You have to be true to your own personality, spirit, and character. Perversely, even if you consciously do nothing with your life, you are being authentic, because you made a conscious choice. Lack of authenticity is bad faith; bad faith is the psychological phenomenon whereby individuals act inauthentically, by yielding to the external pressures of society to adopt false values and disown their innate freedom as sentient human beings. As sentient beings, our feelings wants, and desires are pointers to our true personality, spirit, and purpose in life. For we all have different things we derive our fulfillment from.

A common type of bad faith is the denial of one’s freedom in the form of an excuse, typically beginning with “I couldn’t help it…” We hear this in the excuse made by those interviewed Nazi soldiers who insisted “I could not do otherwise” or “I was just doing my duty.” One can always do otherwise: one can quit, or run away, or even choose to be shot. The cost might enormous — even one’s life — but it is never a case of cannot, always of will not. They chose to continue to obey orders: it was not determined by their nature. Existentialism doesn’t allow excuses. There is never a legitimate reason for denying one’s freedom. No matter how oppressed we may be by our situation or circumstances, we know we can always imagine alternatives — and act on them too, if we’re brave enough. The only way to stay in good faith is honestly to continually own up and respond to being free to choose, and accountable for whatever you decide to do.

In the search for the meaning of your life, it’s important to not confuse ‘purpose’ with ‘meaning’. This is the difference. Use the following scenarios;

i. You’re in a restaurant looking at a menu;

What is the purpose of the menu? To help you choose your order.

What is the meaning of the menu? To give you information on your choices.

ii. Now, suppose you’re in a restaurant in France, and the menu is wholly in French, and you don’t understand a word of French.

Purpose: You know the purpose of the menu, i.e. to help you choose your order.

Meaning: Meaningless to you.

So, you can find purpose, but not meaning. And that happens in life outside French restaurants too…

iii. Now, independent of the above scenario, suppose you’re in a restaurant where the menu is in a language that you know but the prices are outrageous.

Purpose: Given the prices, you can’t or won’t order any food. The menu doesn’t serve any purpose for you.

Meaning: You understand the menu fine. Especially the prices.

So, you can find meaning, but without purpose. And that happens in life too…

iv. Now, yet another scenario. Imagine a person who has never entered a restaurant before, has no concept of a menu, and is illiterate.

Purpose: Nil

Meaning: Nil

Now, one last scenario. Suppose the menu is perfectly understandable and includes appetizing photos of the dishes. Imagine the person, instead of ordering food, begins to eat the photos.

Confusing meaning with purpose. The menu is not the meal.

Similarly, “A map is not the territory it represents”. If you trace your intended journey on the map, you won’t get to your destination.

If you already have some purpose, then understanding the meanings of things can help you fulfill your purpose. But, if you’ve no purpose, or can’t discover one, then, meanings are less useful to you. The most accurate map in the world is useless to you if you’re not going anywhere but that said, you don’t always want a map, or need to know where you’re going. Shopping in a foreign city without a guidebook, or exploring the wilderness without a map, can be risky, but rewarding.

Your purpose could be simply to explore and to assign meaning to everything you encounter on your journey…

There is no conflict between existentialism and the major world religions. On the contrary, a major part of existential thought emerged from Christian thinkers. Buddism and Taoism have also influenced existential thinkers. No matter who says what about religion, identity, and life, responsibility, and values. We must realize that all the ideas and philosophies we open ourselves to affect and modify the core/essence of our being.

Reviewing this now I detect in the language I use here the characteristic ‘missionary’ tone of existentialism, which implores us all to experience our freedom to choose and to practice it. Existentialism is a coherent theory rooted in an idealist (that is, a consciousness-based) metaphysics; but it is not enough merely to understand it intellectually in that way. To grasp it properly, one has to engage with it as a practical and committed philosophy — in other words, to commit to being an existentialist. Then you would see yourself as free and autonomous in ways you did not recognize before, and by so doing acquire the power to transcend your facticity.