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Existential crisis coexisting with your responsibilities

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Existential crisis coexisting with your responsibilities

betl
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Posted 08/12/08 - 11:51 AM: Subject: Existential crisis coexisting with your responsibilities	#1
First of all, I'm a high school student going into my senior year, and the whole college thing is creeping up on me. Back to philosophy: I'm very big into existentialism.. I believe that we're all adrift in this meaningless universe, subconsciously haunted by our lack of confirmation in anything we know (no definitive truth), and so we resort to distract ourselves with quotidian, "safe" lifestyle aspirations (college --> career --> money --> family), sensationalistic distractions (all entertainment), and we apply meaning to everything (life, our ideals, keepsakes, etc.) to distract ourselves from the ominous, subconscious prospect that our choices, our lives, ourselves, our world... don't mean anything at all. We go on because there is simply nothing else to do but to do what we [think we] know -- how to live, day to day. After encounter with existentialism, I can't help but find the rat race to college futile and naive. Studying out of obligation seems so pointless.. So I would study what I wanted to at the time (often times existentialism, absurdism, other philosophy, sociology, psychology, evolutionary psych, etc.)... stuff I wasn't getting credit for, and disregarded, say, physics, which to me seemed like a self-fulfilling prophesy established to find some sort of a pattern in a universe which may be a chaotic, purposeless phenomenon with no pattern or purpose. I can't seem to muster up the motivation to "just do it" anymore, since to me, the outcome is sort of irrelevant if it takes place in a purposeless universe. So.. Have any of you had an "existential crisis"? If so, how did you get them to coexist with your responsibilities, your schoolwork? I want to get good grades so that I can go to a college with a good philosophy department and faculty.. a school that has enough opportunities (i.e. resources) that I can follow my whim and try new things.

at
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Posted 08/14/08 - 10:40 PM:	#2
betl wrote: I can't seem to muster up the motivation to "just do it" anymore, since to me, the outcome is sort of irrelevant if it takes place in a purposeless universe. Say hello nihilism!! haha jk. For me, I just keep seeking wisdom and if I feel I'm getting wiser I know there is still further to go and that's enough to keep going. Are you god yet?

Bambi
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Posted 08/15/08 - 10:27 AM:	#3
To me existentialism gets half way there. It's problem is that it stops at the pointlessness of things, and fails to see that feelings of futility and angst are also pointless. In fact they are worse then pointless, they are downright unpleasant. I agree that all meaning, purpose, and attachment is arbitrary, so assign them to what makes you happy. It's what everyone does anyway, they just make themselves miserable because they don't realize it's what they are doing. Look into eastern philosophies, they may help. A good place to start is "The Perennial Philosophy" by Aldous Huxley.

unenlightened
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1 of 1 people found this post helpful Posted 08/15/08 - 08:06 PM:	#4
betl wrote: I can't seem to muster up the motivation ... I want to get good grades so that I can go to a college with a good philosophy department and faculty.. Sorry to disillusion you further, but this is not an existential crisis. It's an everyday conflict between ambition and laziness. I know it well. The chances are that the ambition is mainly to be lazy in comfort, in which case a career in finance is the best long-term strategy, except that making money can become addictive - but then so can philosophy. It all comes down to working out what you really really want - you might be surprised.
The observer is the observed. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

Mike H
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1 of 2 people found this post helpful Posted 08/16/08 - 09:21 PM:	#5
What do you mean by saying the universe is "meaningless"? It seems that most people who say this have a quasi-religious preconceived notion that the universe should be some epic battle between the forces of good and evil, and their lives would have meaning if only there were objectively evil things to defeat so that the good guys can live happily ever after. Alas, the "nihilists" say, we cannot know truth, there's nothing objectively good or bad, and god is dead. Life is for naught! Thats where the existentialists come to the rescue, saying we can create our own meaning. But why do they need to come to the rescue, when there is no problem to begin with? This whole issue of the "meaninglessness" of the universe is a byproduct of the Judeo-Christian mentality that is still ingrained in many of us, despite the increasing irrelevance of religion. Its a non-issue! Just find out what you want to do in life, and do it.

iamtheother
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Posted 08/16/08 - 11:07 PM:	#6
parameters wrote: After encounter with existentialism, I can't help but find the rat race to college futile and naive. Studying out of obligation seems so pointless.. So I would study what I wanted to at the time (often times existentialism, absurdism, other philosophy, sociology, psychology, evolutionary psych, etc.)... stuff I wasn't getting credit for, and disregarded, say, physics, which to me seemed like a self-fulfilling prophesy established to find some sort of a pattern in a universe which may be a chaotic, purposeless phenomenon with no pattern or purpose. Going to college (and I've been to 4) is a great experience to grow academically. Considering how highly specialized most fields are it's worthwhile to be exposed to Sartre by someone who loves Sartre, or Plato by someone who loves Plato (by love, I mean doing work on). If what you want is "whim", then good luck with that. Remember that many colleges offer "majors" that you basically create. Sometimes they call these independent studies, or personal programs, or interdisciplanary studies - whatever. It allows you to custom design exactly what you want to learn and depending on the institution - how you want to learn it. And remember: "It is only for the sake of those without hope, that hope is given to us." - Walter Benjamin

Naqoyqatsi
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Posted 08/17/08 - 07:55 AM:	#7
i agree with the guy above; this is not an existential crisis, but it is not laziness. I would say you are backing out of your own ambitions on nihilistic grounds, and existentialism is largely a path FROM nihilism. Perhaps this can be put down to intellectual inability to affirm your own existence and what it stands for?

abba
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Posted 08/17/08 - 08:13 AM:	#8
From the vantage point of my old age, I occasionally offer oracles of a person's future. Your bout with existentialism will end in 2 years and 3 months, when you will find a meaningful relationship with a girl named Marsha with brown hair, terrific boobs, and a brain beyond your past experience. Hmmm - She also "rolls" during intercourse - strange, but you seem to like it.

Kurt_Godel
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Posted 08/17/08 - 12:57 PM:	#9
abba wrote: From the vantage point of my old age, I occasionally offer oracles of a person's future. Your bout with existentialism will end in 2 years and 3 months, when you will find a meaningful relationship with a girl named Marsha with brown hair, terrific boobs, and a brain beyond your past experience. Hmmm - She also "rolls" during intercourse - strange, but you seem to like it. Problem solved. What would you say to me, o great one?

abba
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Posted 08/17/08 - 02:41 PM:	#10
OK - last time. You have an 80% chance of losing your job in the next month, but if you do, you'll get another job doing about the same thing real quick. (You should really take some advanced training to stabilize your career.) You won't meet your true love till after your 26th birthday. You're too "concerned" about sex - try to relax more.

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