LIFE: Existentialism

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s saying ‘Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood’ is indeed a representation of one of the most important schools of thought operating in the twentieth century, which helped shape much of modern thought, and how people conducted their lives: existentialism. Existentialists believe in the importance of individual, subjective experiences: they believe that only through acting upon individual choices could a person arrive at the significant truths of this life.

Therefore, it allowed people to break out of the mould of convention and orthodox practices; it allowed them the room to deduce what meaning they chose out of the world around them, and engulfed them in a terrifying freedom, to interpret, live and experience life to its core, as they each saw fit respectively, which helped them to realize and make sense of the inexplicable workings of this world. This idea is presented in I Ching as “The sage, who is living outside the routine of the world, contemplates his own character, not as an isolated ego manifestation, but in relation to the laws of life.”

©2010-2013 Minister Claretta Taylor Pam, Global Ecumenical Ministries Inc. and Universal Life Church Monastery of Massachusetts. All Rights Reserved