My Take On Existentialism

[kahljorn]

From what I understand of existentialism there's an actual philosophy behind it but you might have to look farther than a dictionary definition which is basically what you supplied, "life sucks so get over it"(a typical existential understanding) or whatever you threw out. Typically we call statements like that "Scenario". After that comes the "true" philosophy part of it, the mechanics, how we deal with it and how to make the most of it. That's a really watered down explanation, on purpose. You could use that to further your understanding of any philosophy!

Fuck I never really even considered existentialists depressed, but I could see how some people could. I think you just don't like existentialism because it doesn't glorify man, nor does it glorify his ego and creations. It's very down to earth and "Real", explaining why everything in life has a natural propensity to die or get fucked up. I don't think it's so much depressing whiny shit as accepting that things in life aren't peachy, there's wars and people kill and steal from eachother. Simple fucking fact.
Life is a phenomenon, and it's constantly fighting off death. Existence itself is comprised largely of space uninhabitable by man, a vacuous existence in which you could die within a second. The natural state of existence is, of course, nothingness(strangely the feeling of most religions and mythologies). Hence the emptyness feeling of it. But it isn't about the emptyness, it's about adapting to the universe, or the emptyness, properly and FLOURISHING. Same with any philosophy, friend.

I skipped through 90% of this thread since I'm in a rush, sorry if I missed something or didn't talk enough or something.

By the way I'll be back to the boards in like a few weeks, hopefully at least one or two of you missed me.