Existentialism And Spiritual Exploration

Philosophy 101

A look into the Philosophy of Existentialism and how one uses it for spiritual exploration…

Introduction:

For thousands of years, humanity has searched for meaning in their lives, it is one of the strongest aspects that connects us, to our ancestors across history. Now, I want you all to think for a moment, what gives your life meaning? It could be anything such as educating others, fighting for social justice, exploring new cultures, or your religion. Whatever it is, no one could fault you for wanting your life to have meaning; a sense of meaning, is something everyones wants, or maybe even needs. As countries throughout the world are becoming increasingly secular, more and more individuals are looking towards spirituality,

It wasn’t until the early 1940s, when French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, named it existentialism (Sackmann, 2016). The theory itself has been defined as,

“Existentailism in the broader sense is a 20th century philosophy that is centred upon the analysis of existence and of the way humans find themselves existing in the world. The notion is that humans exist first and then each individual spends a lifetime changing their essence or nature” (allaboutphilosophy.org,

The phrase “spiritual but not religious” has become popular in recent American history for those who are trying to describe their religious identity (Masci, 2016). Back home in Australia, No Religion was the most popular choice in the 2016 census at 30.1%, with Catholicism behind at 22.6% (ABS, 2017). Furthermore, McCrindle , an Australian social research firm, found in 2012 that nearly a fifth of Australians identify as 'spiritual but not religious’ (Debien, 2016). As humanity changes its view on religion and society, it also changes its views on personal spiritual exploration. As a result, existential spirituality and our perception of it has developed over the years to fit our beliefs. While traditional existentialism is frequently seen as “harsh and depressing”, particularly when looking at works of Sartre and Nietzsche, the new existentialism is said to explicitly “[embrace] ones capacity for joy.” (Wachs, 2011) In saying this, this is not joy in spite of the existential truths one must confront, but because of