Standardizing the Existential Angst

Standardizing the Human Experience

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal ~ Albert Camus

Abstract:

Existential angst may be a familiar feeling to those who do not follow a standard “faith” or are without faith altogether. As humans, we want to be told we are important, we need to feel as if we have a direction and a purpose. Yet, perhaps the journey to finding meaning should have an inverse approach.

What causes existential angst?

First we need to elucidate the experience. To be traditional to the discussion, let’s take Camus’ famous essay on The Myth of Sisyphus common analogy depicting the struggle of Sisyphus condemned, as punishment, to rolling a boulder up a hill, only for it to fall again afterwards, in perpetuity.

The picture presented implies that life can often feel like an absurd¹ endeavor; our actions, behaviors, and experiences feeling inconsequential. In sum: repetitive and without purpose.

That mindset gives its own justification. “Should I be feeling this way? Of course, look at how the universe works”. This thought-process reinforces itself. A good question to pose in this situation, and in any that narrows our thought processes is “Should other people feel this way?”

One of the best ways to break out of a thought process is to apply the same rationale to others, maybe those we care about. Similarly to how we often say that one way to guide ourselves is to imagine we are giving advice to someone we are fond of; in that same situation, we must also try to see if our mindsets line up with what we might expect of others.

If you were to give advice to someone feeling aimless, what would you say? I expect many would encourage some proactivity. We may encourage that individual to seek out a path for themselves.

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote a popular book, Man’s Search for Meaning in which he detailed that we must find our own way, our own purpose.

Man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked ~ Viktor Frankl

Being areligious tends to be a strong component in people’s despair. Let’s acknowledge what is true: if one does not have a faith, then they must acknowledge that no greater power grants them any inherent purpose in life nor endow them with meaning. We are left with importance and meaning that is created by us, and by the people we care about. To echo Frankl’s advice: we can’t look for meaning in our lives, we have to forge it ourselves.

Here is an immediate counter-point “But it’s not the same, right?” Well, no; but an alternative is not an option, not if one is without faith. That is not to promote faith, nor is it to say that discrepancy justifies faith in itself.

To offer a practical approach: one way to align ourselves with a path that we are comfortable embarking on is by making choices based on what our values² are. We must show the world how we think someone ought to act, by acting ourselves.

Quoting Nietzsche is always a tricky endeavor because of the huge tendency to misquote his statements in contemporary use. I think his most famous excerpt though, frames the struggle that comes with breaking the chains of blind faith as it is intended.

God is dead. God remains dead…What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it

Is god needed for our redemption? Is god needed to give us purpose? Does a holy act (redemption) require a holy being? Can only god give humans their meaning?

In contemporary existentialism, we remove the idea of a ‘holy deed by a holy being’, as in, Nietzsche originally considered the act of moral cleansing³ as a holy one. Really, the deeds to be done are to be done by the mortal, through mortal means alone.

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1. Absurd is used here in both the colloquial sense and in the same sense Camus used, the word absurd describing the human tendency of searching, looking, striving for meaning, when there is none

2. The qualities of our character that we want to embody, these can be considered instinctive and originating from what we are taught as children and evolved with our life experiences

3. Behaviors, actions or attitudes with the goal of restoring morality in oneself