I was having a conversation with my dad today about depression and what drives people to the brink of insanity, and it got me thinking about the different realms of religion and science, that we use to justify and maintain status quo within our lives. This in turn got me to thinking along the lines of existential psychology..
In Existential psychology one garners the concept of who they are based on on the concepts of "here and now". Every moment allows a person the choice to be whomever and whatever they desire. a Key feature to this type of thinking is that it doesn't take into account our past lives, childhood or karma that we have built upon. Another factor that has no major bearing is genetic inheritance. More importance is given to how the individual is able to interpret and cope with what is presented at any given instant. by rejecting biology as being the foremost blueprint to our lives, conscious choice and responsibility become the central doctrine, with unconsciousness having very little game play. In this way, by rejecting sex (procreation) and death as fundamental motivation forces . the cause for peoples existence is explained through the realms of existential anxiety( negative) and existential freedom( positive).
From a negative standpoint people fear meaninglessness. A fear of non existence manifests itself into a fear of danger death sickness etc. A basic Fear for being alive. so in essence it is not a fear of pain or loss but a fear of the end of all possibilities FOR pain and loss. NO overall purpose in life equates to no ultimate justification for being.
On the positive side the crux behind self actualization or self discovery is the inherent ability to seek out possibilities to try ways of being that suit ones own goals ideals and life circumstances. This allows for a continuous need; independent of a fear for meaninglessness/death. To be able to become more then a whole at any given instance.
All of this is reflected through curiosity, extroversion and self introspection. being able to basically "broaden ones horizons". By creating stagnation( the failure to continually "become") we create a harmful impediment to our mental health. We we lose the ability to work towards a goal, allow joyful experience s and strive towards betterment- we lose ourselves. people are anxious about meaninglessness because they know thy have the freedom to make their life mean whatever they want it to mean, which includes the freedom to make it meaningless. People are also anxious about existence because they know they have the freedom to end it as well. Hence the concepts of existential anxiety and freedom becoming closely intertwined paradoxical worlds within our psyche.
"If all consciousness is subject to essential laws in a manner similar to that in which spatial reality is subject to mathematical views, the these essentials laws will be of the most fertile significance investigating the facts of the conscious life of humans and brute animals..."----Husserl
"Immanent and transcendental experience are nevertheless connected in a remarkable way, by change in attitude we can pass from one to the other. " ----Husserl
Comments (1)
when did this existential despair set in our psychology? is the ultimate goal of technology to control our own life span, allowing us to chose how we shall spend our time alive? this leads to suicide because once we have fulfilled our promises to ourselves we can then terminate. Are technology and existentialism unique to agricultural societies? this conversation has no end, only one idea after another. it's intellectual masturbation. at some point we must look beyond ourselves (our fear of our own death) and consider the grander story of life and the experience of living on Earth.