Not Just A Kanye West Song

There have been many contributors to existentialism, but in this blog post I want to focus on Heidegger and Frankl contributions to this psycho-philosophy. First, I want to briefly mention what existentialism is. It is basically focusing on how we exist and the meaning of our existence. According to Heidegger there are tow ways to live your life: authentically or not authentically. Living an authentic life is being aware and really accepting that one day you will day.  When one realizes this he or she will be motivated to really live life and make it meaningful; he or she will truly become. (Becoming means to personally grow.) An an inauthentic life is refusing to acknowledge that fact of life. Therefore they have hinder truly understanding themselves. In addition to that, most existentialist believe that their is a meaning for everything in life. That was the main thing that helped Victor Frankl get through his time in the Concentration Camp. One thing he said was, ” Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning”. In order to truly live life one must know their purpose and why they are living. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning he describes if the prisoners have a purpose to live like a children or wife to care for or a book to finish writing that only they can write then they would not commit suicide. The key to surviving and flourishing is living out that purpose.

However there is thrownness which can make it hard to exercise the freedom one has to becoming. However most existentialist believe

“What does not kill me, makes me stronger”

which was an original thought from Nietzsche. Frankl also quotes that in his book. The purpose of suffering is to make us stronger and to help others through their struggles. Christ even says that in this world we will have trouble in John 16, but there is hope. He overcame it and so can we! Being persecuted for your faith and suffering for it, is considered an honor in the New Testament.. Existentialist view on life is very sad to some people, but when one digs deeper it can be a fire that lights us up to start truly living. I like to put this under the category of New creation or Redemption.  I think mainly because the view looks at death right in the eye with no fear. I feel like once the New Heaven and Earth comes we will be the same way. We won’t fear death, because it will not exist anymore. Or it could be redemptive since death is more of what motivates one to live. It usually has a negative connotation, but it doesn’t have to.

PS Kelly Clarkson also has a song with this same theme.