We have come to the end of an amazing semester and I really
do not know where the time went. It felt like just last week I entered this
class for the first, and it felt like just yesterday that my group and I gave
our presentation on Kierkegaard.
I have to say, this was one of the best classes I have ever
taken in my life. This class turned out to be everything I hoped it to be. My
first glimpse on existentialism was in the last two weeks of high school, and
it was great to end my college education with this subject again. It has
completely changed the way I view life. I went from thinking life just flat out
sucks to looking at the true potential of life.
I feel reassured that everything that I feel about life is
something that others feel the same about. Life is hard, often cruel,
unpredictable, yet… amazing!
To read what the famous Philosophers’ have said was definitely
challenging for me as the semester progressed, but I left every single class
feeling awakened! This was literally the only class I looked forward to each
week, and that says a lot for me as I am really burnt out on school. But the
complexity of the concept, the language, and the classroom teaching style made
this not just a subject, but an experience. I am grateful to have had this
milestone in my life.
Now to reflect on this week’s class. I really enjoyed how
the groups had video clips as a part of their presentation. I am a very visual
person and this helps a lot. So props to you guys!
Bad faith:
As I was reading this section I was having some difficulty
truly understanding, in plain text, what it really was. After class it made
sense; Bad faith is recognizing that the intentions of a situation and choosing
to put on a mask and be something your not. You see what it is for what it is,
and although against it or not in favor of it, still continue to carry through
with it and endure it with a smile on your face (so-to-speak).
I have been in Bad Faith way more times in life than I can
possibly imagine. To be honest, it made me feel like a really weak person,
almost ashamed in myself. I felt categorized and identified as an individual
who is almost always in bad faith. I left that class feeling pretty bad about
myself. But that’s a good thing. I am going to try to live in good faith more
often, because I understand that no person can never be in bad faith. However I
shall work towards that.
Its finding that balance between transcendence and facticity
that makes bad faith possible. If one is over emphasized over the other bad
faith occurs. For instance, if I say “I am going to be a millionaire in a year!”
I would say I am in bad faith (unless I win the lottery of course). In reality
there is a super slim possibility of that becoming true. But if I believe it
can happen with all of my passion, I am in bad faith. I am ignoring the
facticity of the whole situation.
Being for Others:
What I have to understand is that I, myself, is out in the
world. The way other people perceive and act towards me, is a part of who I am
as an individual. When I really get to thinking about it, its true. I sat there
initially in class saying “No, I am who I am not” what someone else thinks of
me does not make me who I am. But then I got to thinking. Actually, what people
think of me, in one way or another changes the way I behave outwardly. We are
responsible for the way we act outwardly and have to accept that we will be
judged based on our actions. This will ultimately become a part of who we are.
“How responsible are we for our identity?”
My response: We are only as responsible for our identity as
long as we have control over it. Because sometimes there is no way that I can
change the way a person perceives me, for all I know they could perceive me
badly just because I look a certain way, they were in a certain mood when they
saw me and didn’t like me or something. I am only responsible for the actions
that I take to influence a person’s perception of me. I just have to be the
best person I can possibly be.
“Can one derive a sense of self without other people?”
My response: I would say yes, but only under the assumption
that I have been in a society prior to being without other people. But if I have
never know other people and I was just put on earth by myself and never once
say a human being (In an extreme instance) I do not think I would have a sense
of self seeing as I form myself based on others.
“Hell is other people.”
Yes!!! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!! I completely agree. If we
think it is life that is absurd, other people make life way harder. We live day
to day (without being completely conscious of it) trying to give a positive
image of ourselves to others (whether we know them or not). It is other people
who can bring you down, make you feel stressed out, make you angry, and so on.
It is ultimately what other people think of you at the end of the day that
makes us reflect on ourselves.
But, for those people who are there for us in the hardest
times of life, the ones who pick us up, encourage us, keep us company, is that
really hell? That’s where I draw the line on that and begin to contemplate the
true meaning “Hell is other people”.