================================
Existentialism sees humans’ will and consciousness being in an inanimate world of objects. Life have no meaning unless people give it meaning. The only nature we as humans have is the nature we make for ourselves. Existentionalism defined at https://kids.kiddle.co/Existentialism
=================================
Existentialism sees humans’ will and consciousness as being in a world of objects which do not have those qualities. The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is what existentialism is all about.
An atheistic philosophy, although existentialism's founder, Søren Kierkegaard, was a deeply religious man.
Many religions and philosophies (ways of thinking about the world) say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). But people who believe in existentialism think that the world and human life have no meaning unless people give them meaning: "existence precedes [is before] essence". This means that we find ourselves existing in the world, and then we give ourselves meaning, or 'essence'... we have no choice but to choose, and that we have full responsibility for our choices.
This means that the only nature we as humans have is the nature we make for ourselves. As a result of this, existentialists think that the actions or choices that a person makes are very important. They believe that every person has to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, and what is good and bad.
Existentialism is often connected with negative emotions, such as anxiety (worrying), dread (a very strong fear), and mortality (awareness of our own death).
Existentialism is sometimes confused with nihilism. Nihilists believe that human life does not have a meaning (or a purpose) at all; existentialism says that people must choose their own purpose.
=================================
COLIN WILSON'S
NEW EXISTENTIALISM
Wilson's 'new existentialism' attempts to show how recent developments in understanding of consciousness, of 'peak experiences', aesthetic and mystical, and of language, can bring back meaningfulness, and provide twentieth and twenty-first century man with a relevant and satisfying philosophy.
================================
“Now the basic impulse behind existentialism is optimistic, very much like the impulse behind all science. Existentialism is romanticism, and romanticism is the feeling that man is not the mere creature he has always taken himself for. Romanticism began as a tremendous surge of optimism about the stature of man. Its aim – like that of science – was to raise man above the muddled feelings and impulses of his everyday humanity, and to make him a god-like observer of human existence.” -- Colin Wilson
-- Quoted in Samantha Devin's introduction to Wilson, Colin,
The New Existentialism (Outsider Cycle).
"It is a dynamic, practical philosophy, a tool to be used.
To do so, we must first recognise the intentional aspect of consciousness, namely, the fact that we ourselves create our reality, establish the breadth or otherwise of our perceptions, and design the splendour of our horizons. The path that lies ahead is utterly enthralling. As Novalis said: 'Who can tell what wonderful unions, what unanticipated new births we have yet to discover within ourselves?'"
-- Samantha Devin's introduction to Wilson, Colin. Introduction to The New Existentialism (Outsider Cycle) . Aristeia Press. Kindle Edition.
=================================
ACADEMIC EXISTENTIALISM
The philosophical belief we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives. Our individual purpose and meaning is not given to us by Gods, governments, teachers or other authorities.
Since existentialism focuses on real, material successes and actions, it can't acknowledge the presence of a god in order
to truly find meaning within a human's life.
Examples of existentialism include believing in individual choice, believing you can choose your own meaning of life, questioning the existence of god, and falling into despair
due to overwhelm at having to define your own life.
we are what we do, the sum of our actions.”
to choose how they will live.”