You may have heard of the term ‘existentialism’ before but don’t understand its meaning. And if you’ve heard of the term then I’m betting you’ve also heard some of the negative connotations that go along with it. Maybe something along the lines of “existentialism says you shouldn’t care about anything, and that life is meaningless. Existentialists don’t try in life at all”.
If this is the case for you then read on because I am going to explain how existentialism counters these common criticisms in the eyes of the existential expert Simone Beauvoir.
Firstly, lets establish who critics of existentialism really are. To Beauvoir, these critics are not prepared to fully accept the nature of reality. Most common approaches to life, such as guidelines imposed by the bible, are only prepared to half accept the shortcomings of mankind.
Society has accepted this stark division between the perfect human, and the human ‘who is only human’. This expression accurately illustrates an important point for Beauvoir. We all know humans are flawed and yet we ignore this fact when creating our values and morals. We instead rationalize “Humans are flawed, but I will strive to be perfect still since that is the most respectable outcome for my life”. And so mankind pursues the impossible quest of turning themselves into something they can never become. The dream is kept alive by fanatical tales of heroes and perfect figures who never really existed. To Beauvoir these heroes are lucky to be recorded as such but sadly create an illusion as to what a human can become. Beauvoir asserts, “he who tries to be an angel ends up making a fool of himself. Besides, it is pointless [vain] to hope for an exceptional destiny; it is only a mirage that makes certain lives appear more enviable than others”. Don’t strive for greatness, you will just be let down. Expectations are the enemy of contentment.
We have discussed how existential haters are unwilling to identify with their flaws while also pursuing an impossible state of perfect but there is another important consideration here.
The haters are deadly afraid of their own freedom. Existentialism sets itself apart from most other schools of thought because it stares freedom in the face. In Beauvoir’s words, “For men fear responsibilities above all. They do not like taking risks, and they are so afraid of engaging their freedom that they prefer to renounce it.” For most the proposition of a life of nothingness is too much to handle. While the existentialist sees life as open book ready to be written, the average person fears writing far too much to even being. They would rather just read then take on the freedom of creation. Once we begin to strive for a version of ourselves that is within our grasp, as the existentialist does, we take on far more responsibility for our lives. The average man pursues an impossible version of themselves which takes all the pressure off achieving this goal. In this way, the existentialist is realist, rather than a pessimist.
The existentialist is not resigned to nothingness, but merely to whatever they can create out of themselves, and sure nothingness is a possibility but then again it always has been. Resign to nothingness and consider your life a failure if you must, but don’t believe you’re an existentialist for doing it! You choose, even if you’re choosing not to choose at all.
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