Eksistentialistisk livs-guide
Jeg faldt for nylig over The existentialist’s reluctant guide to life
Som med al den slags web-baseret lommefilosofi skal den nok tages med et gran salt, men som en slags hverdagsfokuseret opkog af eksistentialisme, med lidt handy tips til hvordan man overlever livet, synes jeg faktisk at den var okay.
Nedenfor et lille udvalg af let redigerede udpluk, med mine små kommentarer:
If you manage to live life based on certain values because you’ve examined them and found them preferable under the circumstances to other less laudable or more destructive approaches, that’s no joke. Then you have forged meaning in the fires of futility and you have overcome, which is something. Or at least it’s more than nothing.
(Det er næsten det bedste vi kan håbe på: “i det mindste er det bedre end ingenting”).
Focus on tasks at hand, and take each day and the chores and duties before you as opportunities to forget the big picture. Throw yourself into work, whether it’s a dull office job, a customer-service gig that constantly reminds you people are annoying, tiring manual labor, teaching, or whatever.
(Hvis vi skal overleve hverdagen er vi nødt til jævntlig at glemme det store billede. Ellers bliver det frygteligt uoverkommeligt og formålsløst).
Existentialism demands that we ask ourselves repeatedly: Why am I acting this way? What do I truly want to do? It’s only in the perpetual asking of these questions that you can arrive at a glimmer of authenticity and, perhaps, meaning.
(Autenticitet. Svært at få fat om. Jeg undergraver i hvert fald altid mig selv og mine egne forsøg på at være “ægte”).
The key to being a fit existentialist is accepting that you cannot win. There is no winning. There is only decay and deterioration and loss. Still, you don’t give in because you’re stubborn.
(Jeg ved ikke om jeg er 100% enig i konklusionen - jeg føler mig mere doven end stædig - men oplægget er spot on).
Existentialism doesn’t solve these myriad problems, or pretend that they aren’t so bad. They are terrible, and the world is filled with gloom and the search for potential meaning can seem hopeless. But keep on questioning, doubting, and wrestling with angst and despair. It’s not a soothing response to the horrors of the world, but it is real.
(Værsgo).