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It was a few years ago that I came to the realization that I am the creator of my universe and it is my universe alone that really matters. I did not recognize the existence of God or afterlife or anything that would tie my human mind to a submissive state any longer. I also decided that the meaninglessness of life did not have to be necessarily an unhappy thought; but on the contrary, it could free my self from all the wrong beliefs that had been accumulated during my childhood and earlier youth and were obstacles in the exciting process of gaining an extensive knowledge of myself. I clearly saw that we all have a choice: a choice to be, a choice not to be, a choice to believe in or not to believe in, a choice in finding our own ways of happiness or causing our own misery, a choice in the creation of our world, our reality. After some random research I happily realized that I was not alone in my peculiar thinking but there was a philosophy that was somehow similar to my eccentric ideas: Existentialism.



First I would like to address a few key points for the understanding of this philosophy and posterior analysis of the pieces of art. Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. Jean Paul Sartre stated that the first principle of existentialism is: “man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself”. Existence precedes essence. By this, existentialism states that man exists and in that existence man defines himself and the world in his own subjectivity, and wanders between choice, freedom, and existential anguish. Human existence is a project in which men become beings with free choice of action and thought and therefore their own view of the world is enough to become truth, because it is based on their own facts. We live in an absurd universe that is indifferent to us and for which we as individuals need to find its meaning. Our reality is subjective and created by ourselves through our actions and interpretations, not our “rational consciousness”.



I had no doubt I would choose existentialism from the topics given for this essay. In my research for the pieces of art to analyze, I mostly found literary work. Authors such as Sore Kierkegaar, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche greatly contributed to the development of existentialism as a philosophical movement that stands against systematic rational philosophy and pursues the truth inside the self. From all these important philosophers, I would like to choose Friedrich Nietzsche’s work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” for my analysis of Existentialism because I have always been fascinated by his idea of the overman.



Nietzsche’s superman is a human being that is no longer affected by "pity, suffering, tolerance of the weak, the power of the soul over the body, the belief in an afterlife, the corruption of modern values”, a man who “has organized the chaos of his passions, given style to his character, and become creative. Aware of life's terrors, he affirms life without resentment”. In these quotes, there is recognition of the life’s terrors. This is the indifference of the universe towards us, the absurdity of the world we live in and the nothingness of life. Nonetheless, after this dreadful recognition, superman stands up and looking at it with contempt “he affirms life without resentment”. How is Superman able to cope with this gloomy realization? Through change. “Superman is constantly changing and in a state of rebirth and growth”. He is born again and again. He has control over his self as he sets his own moral values and principles and he finds happiness this way. “This creation of his own values gives him joy, and in order for the Superman to cope with a changing world, the Superman must constantly change”.



Superman is a being free of religious dogma that does not believe in afterlife and therefore gives the best of himself in this, his only existence. Nietzsche strongly criticized Christian religion because he considered it as a doctrine based on punishment and disgust for life. His statement “God is Dead” shows his negative perspective on the matter. The first step to become the superman, this extraordinary being, is to deny the existence of God. Human beings are alone in an indifferent world and it is up to them to form their own moral values. This code of values is subjective because there are no absolute truths but interpretations of what our senses dictate to us.



We find that the existentialist movement can be related to a new movement in the arts called Abstract Expressionism, which favors individual choice and expression. The term “abstract” was controversial because some artists did not considered their work as being abstract but a concrete idea, at least for them. Art, they consider, should not be explained by the artist but subjectively interpreted by the viewer. This emotional response, which is unique for every piece of art, is the foundation of Abstract Expressionism. Examples of this artistic movement are Williem de Kooning’s Excavation and Mark Rothko’s Orange and Tan. These paintings have in common being highly individualistic.



Existentialism also influenced a theatrical movement called “Theater of the Absurd”, born during the 50’s. As its name implies, Theater of the Absurd evokes the displacement of human beings in the universe and the meaningless of life. This idea of absurdity takes us back to some of the principles of Existentialism: A life with no meaning and the desperate solitude of man before the cold indifference of nature. Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco are important exponents of the Theater of the Absurd. After the plot was set, their plays ended up as they were in the beginning, returning to their initial conditions, expressing the senselessness of the character’s actions.



Alberto Giacometti is a sculptor and painter born in Switzerland in 1901. He designed a stage set for a production of a Samuel Beckett play. His work is also influenced by existentialist ideas. In particular Man Walking, done in 1960, shows a solitary man walking in the midst of nothingness. After experimenting with abstraction in the 1930s, Giacometti developed his peculiar style, producing “thin, attenuated sculptures of solitary, skeletal figures and heads” which fully represents existentialist pessimism. Basically, the artist’s works are based on four themes: one person in an environment, several people encountering each other, single figures gesturing or portraits that concentrate on the head.



The tiny figures of Giacometti’s works might represent human fragility and displacement in the world. Scholar William Barrett in Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (1962) argues that “the attenuated forms of Giacometti's figures reflect the view of 20th century modernism and existentialism that modern life is increasingly devoid of meaning and empty”. The 20th century has brought incomparable changes for society. It would seem that no matter how significant these changes are, the human pursuit for happiness is still vane. All of us face the sense of meaningless of life at some point in our lives. We constantly fight these feelings. Everybody creates their own tools to cope with this cold reality. For some, religion plays a major role in relieving this existential anguish. Others more skeptical find hope in dedicating themselves to work and being productive. Regardless of the option, human beings are always trying to escape this sense of vulnerability and find their place in this world.



According to the philosophy of existentialism, existential anguish is that fear that all of us feel which is not directed at anything specific, but it's just there. No reason for it. We dread the nothingness of human existence and the meaningless of it. We are just thrown into a world with no real justification for it. We find our own meaning or mission in life but at the end, the result is the same: death awaits us and there is nothing we can do about it. This sense of powerlessness creates a mute anxiety that human beings cannot escape. Kierkegaard states that “anguish is the underlying, all-pervasive, universal condition of man's existence”



Existentialism has had a very important influence on arts during the 20th century. It is a subjective philosophical position that evokes individuality and freedom of thought and choice. Human beings decide their own fate through their decisions. Reality is created by them in a personal manner. There is no rational explanation for all things but subjective interpretations for what comes through our senses. Artistic movements such as Abstract Expressionism or Theater of the Absurd firmly embraced these ideas. However, existentialism’s influence is broad and extends itself towards other artistic realms such as music, sculpture, literature, etc. Even if it is not directly implied, all modern ideas are somehow impregnated by the existentialist thinking, especially in what is referent to individuality, subjective reality, and freedom of choice.

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And this challenging attitude! profiles that begin with " If you don't like it, fuck off" "don't piss me off". What lack of taste. What inpolite little brats. What insecure little bitches! and the threads, oh my god, the threads. I laught at your "high standars" for posting. This is only GARBAGE! and the polls, what silly polls they've gotten here. One day I tried to create a poll and Daire told me that I was stupid! PFFFF... I don't know if he is still managing the polls, but with no doubt the polls I see there are far more stupid than mine.



Today I got a message requesting 15 favors for my house! what this so called house has done for me? I couldn't care less about my house or coven or whatever it is I'm in. Please! blind me or even better delete me. I don't know how many times I've really considered deleting my profile and I still don't know why I don't do it. I think I have attached feelings to my profile.