EXISTENTIAL
= EXISTENCE + ESSENCE … Hence, existentialism concerns the essence of being
alive. Some examples of existential
questions:
What is the meaning of life? How should I live my life? Should I work or should I play? Should I go or should I stay? Should I kill myself or
have another cup of coffee?
(This last question ... some existential humor ... I guess you had to be there:)
(This last question ... some existential humor ... I guess you had to be there:)
And some
more: Are you bored with your job? Are
you bored with your social status? Are
you bored, in general, with your life?
Most of us
go through our vanilla days/daze simply existing. We go to work and we come home and we deliver
to ourselves anodyne moments by watching television, drinking beer, and eating
chips. Sometimes we actually socialize,
joining our closest friends, by moving the same activities to a more sociable
setting, to another anodyne space, the pub.
Some of us
really do lead accursed lives, designing our lives to be soooo routine. And soooo, why
do we routinze ourselves into cages, without exploration or challenges or new
ideas. Why do we choose, instead, to prefer
being non-stiction prisoners caged in our own designs.
Being a
prisoner in a cage is being devoid of the myriad experiences life has to offer.
Despite all
my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage (Smashing Pumpkins song –Bullet With
Butterfly Wings) expresses this universal archetype of powerlessness and frustration.
Our choice
(free will) seems limited to caging ourselves emotionally and behaviorally and
living every day same ol’ same ol.’
Saying thus
and living thus, a day will come when we realize the surface meaning of our
lives is stripped away and presented with tragedy or a separation. When someone we love leaves or something
interrupts our daily routine, our normal identity is challenged. When this occurs we experience EXISTENTIAL
DREAD, that negative feeling arising from the experience of having the freedom
and responsibility of being human. (EXISTENTIAL DREAD ... Do you enjoy this phrase as much as I do?)
In
any crisis, we as the protagonists in our lives, will one day realize that it
is we, alone, who must choose and enact the answers to our own questions.
When we are in precarious or difficult dilemmas, suddenly, we find ourselves confronted with a shocking revelation (epiphany): That the uncertainty of what lies ahead with the necessity of making a choice and having the responsibility of making that choice that create what is called as Existential Dread. Existential Dread comes from the responsibility of choice.
Existential
dread is that feeling of hanging on a cliff.
Most of us have mastered this procrastination of sorts into a science for fine art. Should I or
should I not (jump). A fortunate few
of us do let go and …
As a
provocateur-projective psychologist, let me ask you:
What is your
dream? Are you living
it? What is
keeping you back?
Each of us has an inner critic. Don’t try to reason with it. Our inner obstructionist keeps us from our
dreams (Diane
Dreher, Psychology Today, February 03, 2017).
There is
within each of us a desire to move forward searching for adventure and fun, and
yet we are always putting on the brakes in order to disfavor ourselves. We are never ready … We are never worthy …
Never do most of us live our dreams.
Be bored or search
for adventure, this is a matter of choice; abandoning boredom is not easy.
Factoid:
It’s always easier not
to (fill in the blank for any imagined activity)!
IN ORDER TO
LIVE FREE AND HAPPILY, YOU MUST SACRIFICE BOREDOM. IT IS NOT ALWAYS AN EASY SACRIFICE. (RICHARD
BACH)
Marching in
my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week:
 |
| SELF: BUSKING AT VALUE VILLAGE ZERO DEGREES YESTERDAY |
 |
| COLBY WILLIAMS (MY BEST FRIEND) JUST SIGNED AN NHL CONTRACT WITH THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS |
No comments:
Post a Comment