On the Reality of the Existentialist Lifestyle

[MrDibble]

@Liberal

Thanks, I needed that. It does become onerous when you’re one against nine, and despite whatever care and attention you pay to answering each one first thing in the morning, you’re dismissed as everything from a crybaby to a liar. I think I may never get involved in another philosophical in Great Debates. I’m just too old for it.

Aah, thehellwithit. If you don’t have the decency to take this crap to the proper forum, I will.

[MrDibble]

Well, after that - let me get back to the OP’s questions:

Is it possible to actually live a truly existentialist (or, to up the ante, nihilist) lifestyle?

Yes, it is - and I wouldn’t equate the two choices, or even say they are on a continuum like you’re suggesting. Living according to the ideals proposed by Sartre is intentional living - not nihilistic at all. Just because you are free to create your own meaning doesn’t mean there is no meaning - far from it.

I live an existential life by being responsible for my choices, by being open to experience, by trusting my own judgment - being open to my own feelings, by living as much in the present as I can, by being as creative as I can, by valuing my contact with both other people and the world around me. I espouse anarcho-syndicalist politics because they seem most in keeping with my worldview. I choose charities that generally serve to raise people up and allow them to do things for themselves.

Is it even worth it, or am I just as trapped in my lack of direction as I once was in the black and white world of Christianity?

“Lack of direction” =/= “existentialism”, IMO. Directionlessness is what you have before you create your own meaning. Not to make too much of this - but angst is pretty normal. It’s what you do after the angst that makes you an existentialist. Why lie awake and fearful? What do you fear? That you’ve made the wrong choices? But how absurd - what makes them wrong?

And we have not yet even mentioned the other part of existentialism – personal responsibility. What does responsibility mean in this context? That we are responsible for our own actions, our own happiness?

Yes - and (and lots of people forget this one) that we are, ultimately, not responsible for anyone else’s. The burden of others’ expectations is all in their own heads.

Is there any way in which this notion might backfire on us?

We can try and take responsibility for things that aren’t really our fault. That’s a common one.

Furthermore, can existentialism be compared to religion?

It is comparable to religion in that both are belief systems, yes, but there isn’t really any dogma to follow in existentialism, so to me it doesn’t have the flavour of a religion, even an atheist one like Buddhism.