silence shared in words
presents
I Am an Existentialist
I don’t have any biography. And whatever is thought to be biography is utterly meaningless.
On what date I was born, in what country I was born does not matter.
What matters is what I am now, right here.
I don’t have any biography.
And whatever
is thought to be biography
is utterly meaningless.
On what date I was born,
in what country I was born
does not matter.
What matters is what I am now, right here.
I want you to remember my standpoint.
I am an existentialist.
And I say to you
that life
is neither meaningful nor meaningless.
The question is irrelevant.
Life is just
an opportunity,
an opening.
It depends what you make of it
It depends on you
what meaning,
what color,
what song,
what poetry,
what dance you give to it.
Life is a creative
challenge.
And it is good that it hasn't any fixed meaning,
otherwise there would be no challenge.
Then it would be just a ready-made thing:
you are born and
the meaning of life is given to you and you carry it your whole life; this is the meaning of your life.
No,
existence is
far
more profound
than any meaning.
Existence is just
a challenge to creativity.
It allows you
all the space that you need
and you think it is empty?
Just
try to use the right words,
because words have a certain context.
"Empty"
is a sad word;
it seems something is missing;
something that should have been is not there.
But why call it empty?
Why in the first place expect that something should be there waiting for you?
Who are you?
Give it the right name.
It is one of the
basic
arts
of living
to call things by their right name,
the right word,
to make the right gesture...
because
even a slightly wrong word
brings wrong
associations.
Now, "empty"...
the very sound of the word
reminds you
of something
futile.
No, I give it
a different meaning:
it is spaciousness,
uncluttered with anything.
Existence is so spacious
that it allows you absolute freedom
to be
whatsoever you want to be,
whatsoever
you have the capacity to be.
It allows you
unhindered space
to grow
and to blossom.
It does not impose anything on you.
God
imposes things on you.
He wants you to be
a certain
kind of man,
having a certain kind of personality,
morality,
ethics,
etiquette.
He wants to
put you
into a cage.
And you think to be caged
is to have found meaning?
To be caged
is to be dead.
Nietzsche is far truer when he says,
"God is dead
and I proclaim to humanity
that now man is free."
He is saying two things: "God is dead"
– that is the least important part of his statement,
which has angered all the religions of the world.
The most important part is the second part:
"Hence.
man is free."
Just
think a little bit
about it.
God
is equivalent to slavery.
No God
is equivalent to freedom.
And freedom
is bound to be spacious
don't call it empty.
. Yes, it is empty of any hindrance.
It is empty of any structure.
It is empty of any guidance.
It does not force you
to move in a certain direction, to be someone.
No, life gives you
all the space you need,
perhaps more space than you need.
Space out,
rather than bothering
about why life is empty.
It is good
this spaciousness
without boundaries,
with no guidelines,
with no map.
You can move
like a cloud
in the sky:
untethered,
unforced.
Wherever the wind
takes you,
wherever you reach,
that is the goal.
Ordinarily we have been taught
that there should be a goal
and then you start reaching towards it;
if you reach
then
you have succeeded.
But really
you have missed
immense opportunities.
In going for this particular goal
you have lost.
immensely
the whole richness of life.