Sartre's existentialism — seeing the truth, continuing to fight, finding the essence for oneself, constantly changing

There are two important beliefs in the existentialist thinking of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, "free choice" and "positive action", but Sartre has a very famous saying, "Existence is nothingness." ”

Existence is nothingness, what does it mean? A bit like an empty container that needs to be filled before it can become what? Only when something is poured into a cup can we say that it is a glass of water, a glass of wine, a cup of milk or a cup of coffee, and man's consciousness itself is empty, and only when something is filled in, can he acquire his own essence, so man does not have any predetermined essence, man's existence is originally nothing, and its essence is to be formed.

Simply put, if human existence is consciousness, and consciousness itself is nothingness, then human existence is nothingness, which leads to the proposition that "existence is nothingness".

Man is constantly looking for the essence for himself, constantly changing.

In other words, people have unlimited potential possibilities. Man wants to gain certainty through possession, but there is no way for a finite, fixed thing to fill the infinite possibilities. As human beings, we can never fill our own nothingness.

As the writer Wilde famously said, there are only two tragedies in life, one is not getting what we want, and the other is getting what we want.

So, can man succumb to emptiness and futility? Of course not.

It was in this state, Sartre said, that the dignity peculiar to human beings was born. Because existence precedes essence, then there is nothing predetermined that fixes us, binds us.

This means that we can always transcend the essence of the past, the essence of the present, and pursue the future.

In other words, what will man never be? It's what it's always going to be.

In this sense, man is free. Even man is freedom itself. Again, standing on stage, you can play any role, each role is not yourself, but because of this, your actions are free, because you are not locked in any one role.

Czech writer Milan Kundera's most famous novel is called The Unbearable Lightness of Life.

What is the lightness of life?

This lightness comes from the way of being of man, whose existence has infinite possibilities of unfolding, not limited by any essence, which is a free and light experience, but this light freedom is lonely and heavy, because you must bear all your choices alone, bear your own life alone, you are the lone witness of your own life. This can be unbearable, and as a result we experience the unbearable lightness of life, the title of the book profoundly reveals the spiritual dilemma of the emergence of generations, perhaps you have also felt it.

Another famous quote from Sartre, "The other is hell"

We have friends, relatives, lovers, friends and family, can we help us get rid of some loneliness?

Sartre believes that people always have to maintain their own subjectivity, so people must fight for subjectivity, and everyone wants to become an object when getting along with others, in order to maintain their own subjectivity and freedom.

In Sartre's view, human interaction is like this, always fighting for subjectivity, even in love.

One person goes after another person, to please and cater to the other person, to become what the other person likes, and to lose their subjectivity.

And what about the party that is being pursued? Strive to show your own charming charm and gain your own subjectivity through the dedication of the suitor.

In such a relationship, it is a bit close to the masochist and masochist statements.

Despair and hope.

Sartre shows us the spiritual dilemma that everyone has to face, but also tells us that we can always make changes, and what can we change? Let's go.

Existentialism is a philosophy of despair and a philosophy of hope.

But importantly, he is the philosophy of action!

Our most fundamental freedoms and possibilities are realized in action, and they do not belong only to the Nietzschean superman, but are rooted in the existence of each person.

Life is meaningless, man can still be strong, and if Sartre's ideas give us any inspiration, I think it is eight words: see the truth and continue to fight.

Man is a vain passion, man is destined to be lonely, but so what?

We can choose, then we can choose, and then we are responsible for the choice, there is nothing else to say.

We are all Sisyphus pushing boulders, but we know that "Sisyphus is happy" because "the struggle to reach the top is enough to flesh out the human heart".