In our current political and economical environment, it seems impossible for one not to suffer such anxieties surrounding life. For example, anxieties surrounding health, relationships and the future. These have raised fundamental issues for society and have shed light on the inability to control one’s ultimate destiny. It seems hope and happiness in our lives are diminishing, and in particular, this has resulted in less trust in societal institutions. Ultimately I hold that the existentialist position is strong, but within spirituality, we can overcome such environments of distrust and can create an empowered society.
One of the key ideas of existentialism is the idea that ‘existence precedes essence’. We are born free beings with no inherent purpose; it is our actions that define our being. For human beings, we have no essence prior to our birth for Sartre. There is no human nature a priori. Since it is the essence which designates the fundamental meaning in things, our existence is ‘absurd’ without meaning. For example, Sartre argues there is no God and no spirit to give us an essence. There is only existence and nothingness. Hence, we are born without meaning in our lives, it is up to us to create it. Our living defines our essence. Thus, for Sartre, we must take responsibility for our choices from this freedom. It is this responsibility which results in the ‘angst’ surrounding our lives and aids the conclusion that life is without meaning as we are held back by societal institutions and laws, for example. We need not go to school, in order to get a good job and then leave such achievements to our children. This is just what society dictates, we should live on a day-by-day basis of what we want to do at that moment, rather than allowing ourselves be dictated by political laws and rules, such as, ‘one walk a day’ or ‘the six people rule’. The appeal of such rules is declining and we need to resurface humanities trust in such institutions and laws.
I believe that in terms of fixing the environment of distrust in the political and economic environment, politics, in particular, needs to put forward a holistic spiritual approach to society. ‘Spirituality’ and the rise in faith and superstition need to be promoted by institutions and society, rather than being classed a ‘taboo’. Personally, I feel a sense of meaning and happiness through astrology, homoeopathy and crystals, for example. They help ease the anxiety of the foreignness of the future and lack of certainty this pandemic brings. I believe that on a wide-scale, this can ease the uncertainty in both the public and private sector. I am proposing sage being burnt around hospitals to get rid of the negative energies, the increase in crystals grids as a platform to pray for a healthy society and self-help guides including horoscopes and meditation tips. We need to make the virus more humane, with regards to daily public prayers for the dead and the spirits, rather than focusing primarily on the NHS essential workers. We need to make this virus about the past, present and future all together. I truly believe that these types of soft measures will appeal much more to the public and will reduce the individual existentialist viewpoints which can be damaging if expanded too far.
Overall, I believe my position is strong and despite it being labelled a ‘taboo’ in the public sphere what 2020 has taught us is that anything can happen and I believe that the inclusion of such spiritual practices, can aid self-love and thus, promote societal love and happiness. This inclusive nature will be how we beat the virus. A specific coherence of such stance is its widespread appeal to all groups in society.
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