Existentialism. The word itself feels alien and scholarly. A subject only to be pondered by those much more versed in philosophy than I, by those who have had a lifetime of meaningful experience and wisdom beyond their years, not by a freshman at a public university who has only left the country once and has scarcely begun to experience adult responsibilities. Yet throughout the introduction to this subject, both in class and in the reading, there seems to be a powerful emphasis on the accessibility of this philosophy independent of age. It seems that existentialism is less for those exceptional few with great insight into the human condition as it is for those who have pondered the simple questions of, “Why am I here?”, “What does it mean to be conscious?” and “What is the point of my existence?” but refuse to accept the layman explanations that seem to plague society at large.
It is with this understanding of existentialism that I will take with me moving forward. I have not suffered the existential crises that seem to characterize the greatest existentialists throughout human history, I am choosing here to omit the sudden realizations of ones own mortality or the insignificance of ones existence in the universe as I feel that every person deals with these same epiphanies at some point in their lives, although the methods of dealing with these thoughts varies vastly between persons. I will enter this subject of study with an open mind, willing to forego any previous assumptions I may have had of the world, including those natural explanations of the world that come most readily to me as a physics major and math oriented individual, in order to accept the possibilities of an absurd, dangerous, temporary, uncaring, hopeless, yet all the while breathtakingly beautiful, world.
