Existentialism and Myself

 In our in-class discussions of the short story “The Guest”, the philosophy of existentialism clearly played a central role. As a general idea, this philosophy was not one I was immediately familiar with – that is, I had heard use of the word in phrases such as “I'm feeling existential today” or “Quit acting like such an existentialist”, but I never actually understood the meaning behind it. Over the course of our discussion, I found myself first even more confused, then surprised, then strangely in agreement with the general characteristics of the ideal presented by existentialism. Still, I didn't want to simply accept this agreement without question, so I've decided to do some further research and reevaluate my opinions. This is what I've discovered:

One of the most significant names that seems to come up in this study, certainly the one that I most immediately recognized, was that of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's beliefs, while extending into a wide range of categories including nihilism and the Wille zur Macht (will to power), matched closely many of the typical ideas of existentialism I identified. Most strongly connected are his views on individualism and absurdity, suggesting that there is no single true “meaning” of life, and that each individual needs to discover their own meaning and morality.

So what does all of this mean for me? Likely as not, very little to my actual day-to-day actions. It has, however, helped me to resolve some very real questions and conundrums I felt concerning my own motivations. I can accept that not every action must have a black-or-white answer of “selfish” or “selfless”, and that neither attribute is necessarily better than the other. My life and my ideals are what I make of them, no more and no less.