“When I consider the brief span of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and behind it, the small space that I fill, or even see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces which I know not, and which know not me, I am afraid, and wonder to see myself here rather than there; for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there, now rather than then.” – Pascal
“Rarely has the existential problem been put more simply and beautifully. In this passage we see,
- first, the profound realization of the contingency of human life which existentialists call “throwness”.
- second, we see Pascal facing unflinchingly the question of being there or more accurately “being where?”
- third, we see the realization that one cannot take refuge in some superficial explanation of time and space, which Pascal, scientist that he was could well know; and
- last, the deep shaking anxiety arising from this stark awareness of existence in such a Universe.”
Rollo May, The Discovery of Being; Writings in Existential Psychology
“Thrownesss” – delicious! What a word, what a concept. Grateful that I’m not alone, curious, asking questions like: Why am I here? What does it mean to be ME in MY body, with MY mind – today; doing what I do, in this reality? How am I not someone else? In some other time?
“Thrownness is a concept in existential philosophy… The idea is this: We can’t control where we enter the world. We don’t control the historical moment, the economic status of our parents, whether we’re born free or enslaved. All of these things just happen. Thus, we are thrown into the world.
Because of thrownness a lot of options are automatically unavailable to us. What do we do with this? ..existential philosophers.. would argue that we have to build lives for ourselves. We have to push to maximize our freedom even if the world we’re born into is inherently flawed or unfair.
What do we mean by freedom? Well, the kind of freedom existentialists talk about is not political freedom and it’s not anarchic freedom either.. existentialists mean a kind of personal philosophical commitment to living an authentic life–one in which what we do reflects who we really are. In other words, we don’t want to live lives of mindless conformity, of not questioning, of doing only what is expected of us.” – herbguggenheim.com Blog
“Thrownesss” – “What do we do with this?” “What do we mean by freedom?” I am here – this is now; a place to start. Awareness is critical to an authentic life; to be who I am, to create an existence that reflects a real me.
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Martin Heidegger used the expression Dasein to refer to the experience of “being” that’s unique to human-beings; to our awareness of “being-in-the-world.” This clever YouTube video cartoon takes a shot at what it all means.
“Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
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