Existentialism Is Living In The Present Moment
Sumit Paul
|
Intellectuals as well as sciolists (pretenders to knowledge) all over the world are familiar with two words: Existentialism and Kafka.Whether or not they've understood existentialism is inconsequential. The same can be said about Franz Kafka and his Kafkasque philosophy .The very concept of existentialism evokes negative feelings and some even term it as cynical philosophy and equate it with negativism or nihilism. But this perception is totally flawed.
Says Bimal Krishna Matilal of Oxford University where he was the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics “Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Jaspers ... is perhaps the only philosophical and ideological assertion of positive individuality.“
No other philosophy has put so much emphasis on man and his actions. Sartre states in his `Being and Nothingness' that, “We need an idea that's not fatalistic“ and that way , existentialism makes a man directly responsible for his actions. He has no room or excuse to ascribe his failures and misfortune to an imaginative higher agency , force or fate.
The 20th century had been very significant in the sense that it witnessed contradictory belief systems and philosophies grow simultaneously . Nietzsche's audacious proclamation, `God is dead' engendered existentialism.And the two World Wars made people, especially philosophers, question the very existence and purpose of human beings and their life on earth. It is in such hard and confounding times, that both faith and agnosticism grow. And agnosticism culminated in existentialism.
Camus wrote in the prelude to his novel `The Rebel', “Until an individual rebels against the established notions of fatalism and creates his own destiny , his existence on earth will be like that of a crawling worm, likely to be trampled over any moment.“ From this perspective, existentialism is a celebration of individuality and a reminder in the words of Robert Browning's Andrea del Sarto', “Ah, but a ` man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for?“ Existentialism exhorts human beings to examine and re-examine the rigid patterns and ossified ideas of life.Existentialism is the reassessment of life and its purpose. To go against all that's viewed as sacrosanct or an established truth, is the key to existentialism. Existentialism believes that there're no facts, only interpretations. It's an open-end philosophy .
When Anais Nin wrote, “I must be a mermaid, Rango. I've no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living,“ the essence of existentialism made its presence felt. Because existentialism is delving into life and human issues like a pragmatic seer and not as an indolent, lotuseating saint or a priest. The very moment you live in, is the moment that exists for you. This is the crux of existentialism. All other things don't exist or matter.
American poet and T S Eliot's friend Ezra Pound emphatically said, “Just this moment is for you ... the past is lost and the future is unknown.“ Some readers and scholars may feel and find the echoes of the Bhagwad Gita's Karma Siddhanta and Purushartha in existentialism: Kshanam Vadanti Just this moment, nothing else. This is the philosophy of pragmatism and sagacity because it urges man to own up the responsibility of his success and failure and it precludes him from imputing his highs and lows to his fate and a fabricated god.
Says Bimal Krishna Matilal of Oxford University where he was the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics “Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Jaspers ... is perhaps the only philosophical and ideological assertion of positive individuality.“
No other philosophy has put so much emphasis on man and his actions. Sartre states in his `Being and Nothingness' that, “We need an idea that's not fatalistic“ and that way , existentialism makes a man directly responsible for his actions. He has no room or excuse to ascribe his failures and misfortune to an imaginative higher agency , force or fate.
The 20th century had been very significant in the sense that it witnessed contradictory belief systems and philosophies grow simultaneously . Nietzsche's audacious proclamation, `God is dead' engendered existentialism.And the two World Wars made people, especially philosophers, question the very existence and purpose of human beings and their life on earth. It is in such hard and confounding times, that both faith and agnosticism grow. And agnosticism culminated in existentialism.
Camus wrote in the prelude to his novel `The Rebel', “Until an individual rebels against the established notions of fatalism and creates his own destiny , his existence on earth will be like that of a crawling worm, likely to be trampled over any moment.“ From this perspective, existentialism is a celebration of individuality and a reminder in the words of Robert Browning's Andrea del Sarto', “Ah, but a ` man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for?“ Existentialism exhorts human beings to examine and re-examine the rigid patterns and ossified ideas of life.Existentialism is the reassessment of life and its purpose. To go against all that's viewed as sacrosanct or an established truth, is the key to existentialism. Existentialism believes that there're no facts, only interpretations. It's an open-end philosophy .
When Anais Nin wrote, “I must be a mermaid, Rango. I've no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living,“ the essence of existentialism made its presence felt. Because existentialism is delving into life and human issues like a pragmatic seer and not as an indolent, lotuseating saint or a priest. The very moment you live in, is the moment that exists for you. This is the crux of existentialism. All other things don't exist or matter.
American poet and T S Eliot's friend Ezra Pound emphatically said, “Just this moment is for you ... the past is lost and the future is unknown.“ Some readers and scholars may feel and find the echoes of the Bhagwad Gita's Karma Siddhanta and Purushartha in existentialism: Kshanam Vadanti Just this moment, nothing else. This is the philosophy of pragmatism and sagacity because it urges man to own up the responsibility of his success and failure and it precludes him from imputing his highs and lows to his fate and a fabricated god.
