I encounter the use of the word “existential” on a regular basis. I rather imagine you do too, on the op-ed page or some review or whatever. I have always been somewhat confused by the use of the word. Never sure I understood the definition. I have read my Sartre and Kafka and enjoyed both but not sure either one gave me a deeper understanding of the word. There are certain literati in the press and printed page who like to bandy it about as though it were some secret password for the truly informed. Have you been as flummoxed as me?
From all my reading I would gather that it means that things just happen sometimes and that we all do have to endure the consequences of our actions and that there is no “point” to most of what happens in this old world–a rather gloomy outlook on life to me. I do accept that things happen and often we believe the outcomes are unfair or even unjust but I personally find it hard to accept that there is no point to anything we do in our lives. Truth and moral justice are ends in themselves to me and do justify what occurs and explain many events even if only in hindsight.
Were those fellows at the Alamo really just going through an exercise with no point to their sacrifice? Please recall that the siege lasted for almost two weeks. There were opportunities for them to make an escape and many would have found success. Messages came and went during the period and reinforcements even arrived, although not nearly enough. Was the effort they made without meaning? I choose to believe that most of them made a knowing and informed decision that staying was for a greater good. The facts don’t contradict this version and that vision of their effort makes for a noble enterprise rather that merely fighting like trapped rats. It is the nobleness of spirit that does inspire and animate future generations after all. I don’t believe it was an existential event but one that lined the true heart of mankind for a better world.
Believe what you like. Read Thirteen Days to Glory by Lon Tinkle, it is by far the best history of that siege and the implications of its having occurred.
History is from the Latin, historia, which in turn is from Greek historie, which means inquiry or knowing by inquiry. Yes, inquiring minds do know their history for illuminating the “now”.
1 Comment
October 10, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Look at the larger picture. There is no point to any of this. We are like cells fighting other cells for survival. We are little living creatures living on the crust of a huge rotating ball, and by the standards of the universe it is not that huge at all. WE CREATED moral, truth and justice so that no ones feelings would get hurt. Because we are human, we think our lives are so important, but we cannot see outside ourselves. Our minds are not in understanding with that of the universe therefore we cannot understand why we act the way we do. We act on instinct still, but think we hide behind social norms. But we are animals, equal to our animal cohorts. Our best asset of survival is our ability to think. Don’t trust the structural world. WE made it. We built habitats that are suitable for humans to live in.