A month ago, I was learning about existentialist philosophy through reading articles from 'Philosophy Now,' Big Think, The Conversation, the Guardian, and the Paris Review.' And most recently, went through a course from 'The Great Courses Plus.'
Existentialism, like Stoicism or Pragmatism, is oriented towards personal action.
Existentialism relates to this blog about learning because the learning techniques that I've exposed myself to are all action-oriented [unlike in school where you hear everything through a lecture, expecting the person to be responsible for your learning]. These techniques are very active, not passive [unlike school] and you take full responsibility for how effective your learning is.
Here's what I learned:
I'm the only one responsible for what I learn, how much I learn, how effective a technique is for me personally [if applied to accelerated-learning and other forms of learning].
Existentialism, if lived practically and in a committed way, says, more or less, that “Each day I wake up as a blank slate.” And each day, through my actions, I can create my purpose. Each action adds up and creates personal purpose. Not the other way around. There is no higher purpose that my constant decisions are contributing to.
So, I am creating myself as an accelerated-learner through my actions [each time I act on these techniques!]. I am creating myself as the person I choose to be [whether that is an accelerated-learner, a high-income earner, an active listener, a coffee drinker, or a proficient conversationalist!]
A principle of existentialism is that we do not have an 'essence.' There is no 'Isabella' to discover, only to create. My existence comes before who I am essentially.
If you choose to adopt this philosophy, you choose to own your choices, your autonomy. The effect is overwhelming, as Jean-Paul Sartre and Søren Kierkegaard point out.
You don't give your personal power to choose to something or someone else.
The freedom to choose [ANYTHING YOU WANT!] is overwhelming.
I find it scary to know that I am responsible for my decisions.
Not many people want this personal power. They want someone else to tell them what to do. That's why there is religion, politics. That's why academia is the way it is.
That's why I fell into religion, why I chose to shape myself as an academically-excellent person who pursues good grades. And chose to feel bad that they get a C [even when I know it doesn't mean anything] and when I chose to do things that are a “sin.”
There's no use searching for answers to the meaning of life. No use adopting others meaning of life. Because only your personal actions will create your personal purpose.
The existential principle of “bad faith” also resonated with me in the sense that I've often lied to myself, subconsciously, about the agency that I indeed did have over my situations. I forgot that I could choose things.
I hope to learn more, but the best way to understand existentialism is to live it out, action by action. That's what I am doing now.