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| CRAIG, OWNER/MANAGER OF B-SHARP |
The basic
tenet of existentialism is that life has absolutely no meaning. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes
individual existence, freedom and choice. Existentialism is the view we define
our own meanings in life, attempting to make rational decisions despite
existing in an irrational universe.
Hmmm …
I get that
life might not have much meaning. I
mean, really, we could just simply be mammal minions who by chance are
positioned atop the food chain with our sole purpose being to continue the
species.
I do not get
that life might not have value. If we
really believed life had no value, then all existentialists would be
suicidal.
Yikes … maybe we are. I will clarify. If we really believed life had no value, then
all existentialists would succeed in an individually tailored suicide. This notion is too morbid even for my
standards, but I digress.
The
definition of meaning: what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action.
The
definition of value: the regard that something is held to
deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
The
connotation of meaning: the technical
descriptor of something.
The
connotation of value: the
emotional worth of something.
I shall endeavour to offer my existential spin on the value of my life and my practice. I shall offer these thoughts only from my
present perspective, as a 67-year-old with an established career, as a
67-year-old with his kids grown and gone to homes of their own.
My continual
joke is that in my next lifetime I will not have kids. (A life with kids is a life of compromise and accountability.) To qualify this remark, I must emphasize that
I love my children and that my children have certainly enhanced my life. This of remark of mine is oft followed by
that in my next lifetime I will not marry. (A life with a romantic partner is a life of compromise and accountability.)
And to qualify this remark, I must, too, mention that I love my wife and
that my wife has most certainly enhanced my life.
These remarks
I find extremely humorous (if I don’t say so myself). First off, as an existentialist, I know that
I’ll not get a next lifetime. As an existentialist I know that I’ve only a
one-way ticket for just one ride.
Secondly, I
am also a firm believer in projective psychology. Ironically then, I am hoping, I guess, for
another lifetime, perhaps to redeem myself?
From my failings in my present lifetime?
The skinny
of this is simple, simple. People with
curly hair desire straight hair and people with straight hair secretly want
curly hair; people with kids imagine their lives (positively) without kids, and
people without kids imagine their lives (positively) with kids. This is the human condition: To
desire what we don’t have.
As a 67-year
old I know that to date I’ve accomplished nothing, at least nothing that is
beyond the ordinary. I shall articulate
this with an example or two. People with
faith believe in God. And believers in
God know that He can create life and that He can grant everlasting life.
Hmmm … any
living thing, it seems, can create life.
Creating life, continuing the species is a talent and function of all
life forms. (Any dummy can create life –
being the biological father of three, I’m living proof of that.) However, those fraught with faith who are
willing to gives tithes in church, are unlikely to buy into my sexual argument.
It is the
ability to grant everlasting life that sends existentialists down a different
road from the believers. Existentialists
believe that when you’re dead, you’re dead.
In high school Physics classes, we learned that energy is a constant and
because so, never leaves the universe.
With little stretch, this notion of energy aligns with the Hindi concept
of reincarnation. And with a little more
stretch, anyone creating life, anyone having offspring, has created an
everlasting life of sorts (if you can accept energy as being synonymous with
life.)
Reincarnation, the major tenet of Hinduism,
is when the soul, which is seen as eternal and part of a spiritual realm,
returns to the physical realm in a new body. Reincarnation is a cycle that goes forever. And so, even to the existentialist, even the
dead offer a residual energy to help develop another living thing, be it plant
or animal, fungi or bacteria. For me
this comparison of physics with reincarnation makes for an easy fit, and a
philosophical one at that.
Just because
I am an existentialist does not mean that I toss caution to the wind. Carl Jung
understood archetypes as universal, archaic patterns and images that
derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of
instinct. As an existentialist I believe that for the most part, we humans
really just want to get along with one another.
And to get along with one another most of us agree to certain sets of
rules and norms that have been accepted and modified throughout the ages of our
documented time on the earth.
I’m a Carl Jung fan mainly because of his literary interpretations of
dreams. My first degree was in English
Literature and the style of Jung’s writings have always academically appealed
to me. In my Psychology graduate
studies, his notions of archetypes, too, like his notions of dreams, resonated
with me.
I value my being a parent and a
husband. Even as a 67-year old, both
roles still provide me with many very attached emotional adventures.
My value of my career is based
upon my love of literature and my love of psychology. (To me, English Literature and Psychology are
the very same subjects, both being explanations of the nature of humans. Though one purports to be mainly fiction,
whereas the other purports to be mainly non-fiction, to me they are one and the
same.) I love stories and I love
listening to people tell their stories.
As a hypnotherapist, I could not have imagined a better pay-station in
life.
My value of my hobbies
(obsessions) is based upon my creativity and my love to connect with
others. My passion for busking is my
most perfect example. I love to strum
guitar in a public space, and I love that people are willing to toss coin into
my guitar case in appreciation for my tunes.
These past few years I’ve come to love portrait busking. There is sort of sophisticated joy drawing
people’s faces on the street. Comparing
guitar busking to portrait busking, strumming is ho-hum; whereas, drawing is
high brow (puns intended).
I think that the faithful and the faithless have at least one common goal
– pleasure. Factoid: I believe we are all archetypal
pleasure-mongers, always seeking the path offering the most pleasure with the
least amount of pain.
My existential lyric on life:
Each of us is delivered a cappella. We arrive au naturel with only a song in our
lungs. As we age we gather our
instruments and accoutrements.
To close, I’ll compare Existential dread (that anxiety
related to the belief that life has no meaning other than what people choose)
to Evangelical enthusiasm (that intense and eager enjoyment
teaching the Christian gospel). It is a
matter of accepting the present reality compared to the dreaming of a better
beyond.
To what end would you
rather discover Jesus rather than discover yourself …
To be, or not to be,
that is the question.
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| FOLK NIGHT AT BUSHWAKKER (L-R TRENT, NATHAN, SELF) |
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