by Michelle Bacani



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After researching for some modern books about Existentialism, I found this book surprisingly off MTV.com.
MTV.com's shop is selling this book titled "The Book of Life: EXISTENTIALISM. The Will, The Truth, The New Wisdom of Philosophy" by Ronnie Lee:

This novel sells for $39.95 and was published recently in December 2006.

Here is the product description:
Astonishing answers to unspoken questions revealed! "In my opinions of truth, justice,
Righteousness and morality.
All I have now,
Are my words here in this book.
It is a book of life."
Through the medium of poetry, author Ronnie Lee shares his thoughts on existentialism, the Bible, and the Will. The Book of Life centers on logical reasoning to guide you, the reader, on a quest for answers to the most fundamental questions of philosophy and religion. You will walk away with a better understanding of life and the universe we live in. This stunning and deeply moving work will forever change the way you see the world around you.


Just reading that small excerpt about Lee's novel makes me interested in taking a peek at this book. It's been a while since I've read and analyzed some poetry, and I feel that this novel would help me dive back into my interests in poems. Besides, I find this as a better way to spread the meaning of Existentialism through poetry, instead of through a thick textbook filled with paragraphs and paragraphs of statements and history.
The link to buy this book off MTV.com: http://shop.mtv.com/The-Book-of-Life--Existentialism--the-Will-and-the-Truth---The-N-MTV-Home_stcVVproductId37287743VVcatId420851VVviewprod.htm

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In addition to finding this book, I also researched an Existentialist Congregation: http://www.firstexistentialist.org/
They are titled "The First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta"

A little about their History:
The First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta began in 1976 as weekly ‘Celebration of Life’ services, held each Friday in a private home under the guidance of minister and founder R. Lanier Clance (now minister emeritus). The First Existentialist Church, as it was known, incorporated later that same year, with the stated purpose to create and maintain an existential community based on existential philosophy and psychology. In 1978 the membership voted to join with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. To better reflect this relationship, it was decided the Church would operate as a federated society of Existentialists and Existentialist/Unitarian Universalists. As our membership grew, we continued Friday services at the Decatur YMCA, changing to Sunday mornings in 1978.
In 1980, the Congregation assumed ownership of the Phoenix Unitarian Universalist Fellowship property at 470 Candler Park Drive. Later that decade, the name was changed to The First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta to reflect their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Rev. Lanier Clance retired in 2001, and after an interim period the congregation installed Rev. Janna Nelson as full-time minister in September 2003. Rev. Marsha Mitchiner, who has served since 1992, continued as associate minister. In July 2005 the congregation became a fellowship with Rev. Marsha Mitchiner serving part time as our Fellowship Minister.


Rev. R. Lanier Clance
Founder and Minister Emeritus

Rev. Marsha Mitchiner
Fellowship Minister







Address:
The First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta
470 Candler Park Dr., NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
404.378.5570

Celebration of Life every Sunday at 11:00am.
Sunday Celebrations of Life

During Celebrations of Life, communal and personal events are acknowledged and celebrated, the congregation sings, listens to philosophy and takes strength in community. The Celebrations often include secular and sacred musical presentations, dance performances and speakers from the larger community and the metropolitan Atlanta political body. Notable luminaries, such as Gloria Steinem, bell hooks James F.T. Bugental Ph.D. and Cathy Cox have spoken over the years.

Monthly existentialist discussion groups provide an opportunity for deeper study of the existentialist philosophy. Readings are selected from historical and modern texts and reviewed in lively opinionated conversation.

The First Existentialist is a unique spiritual home in the Candler Park neighborhood of Atlanta for its membership, guests and a very broad community.


I chose to research this congregation because for one, I really didn't know that there was an Existentilist Congregation as large as this one that existed! I found it interesting after reading throughout their entire website, and noticed that they have a lot of speakers that speak at their Sunday celebrations. I also like how they name it "Sunday Celebrations of Life," because after all, when was the last time we ever had a day to celebrate life itself? It seems that these people tend to celebrate life EVERY Sunday, which I find is a very relaxing and fulfilling event to help others build happiness as a whole in their life.
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Existentialism is a 20th century philosophy that is centered upon the analysis of existence and of the way humans find themselves existing in the world. The concept is that humans exist first and then each individual human spends a lifetime changing their essence or nature. Existentialism is concerned with one finding themself and the meaning of their life through their own choice, personal responsibility, and free will. The belief is that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make unique personal choices based on their experiences. Existentialists believe that a person should be required to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions.

Existentialism – What It Is

• Human free will
• Human nature is chosen through life choices
• A person is best when struggling against their individual nature, fighting for life
• Decisions are not without stress and consequences
• There are things that are not rational
• Personal responsibility and discipline is crucial
• Society is unnatural and its traditional religious and secular rules are arbitrary
• Worldly desire is futile

To me, Existentialism seems like an interesting and do-able feature to add into one's way of life. I love the idea that every human makes a unique difference in the world due to their own choices and free will. It helps me realize that even though I am one person, I may actually be an important addition in our enormous world. I agree with Existentialism's belief that we humans are constantly searching to find out who we are in our life, and that we have our past choices and responsibilities to help us. As an independent college student, I feel that I am in that current position in my life where making choices and experiences right now will soon affect who I will be in the future. Realizing this makes me more aware of my responsibilities and decision making during school. I also agree with Existentialism's belief that a person should be required to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions. However, I think that in today's modern world, it is quite impossible to disregard the many laws, ethnic rules, and traditions that now exist. Afterall, if you do decide to choose to go against a law, you may end up in jail - Thus, taking away even more of your free will that you once started with.

I attached a song on this webpage titled Existentialism on Prom Night by Straylight Run. When I first heard this song back in high school, I always wondered what the word existentialism meant. Within its lyrics, the band sings, "Sing like you think no one's listening." After researching about Existentialism, I now understand the meaning to that line. It pretty much portrays that you have the free will to do whatever you choose to do, and that you shouldn't be afraid of whatever it is that may be blocking your way into making that choice (such as a law). Therefore, sing if you choose to sing, just don't let anyone (such as people who you think may make fun of you) stand in your way. In essence, choose like you think no one will stop you.

Below is a video I found on YouTube about a Professor talking about his views on Existentialism. I bolded phrases that I found very informative and worth pondering about:
Existentialism - Waking Life excerpt "The reason why I refuse to take existentialism as just another French fashion or historical curiosity is that I think it has something very important to offer us for the new century. I'm afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately, sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life. Existentialism is often discussed as if it's a philosophy of despair. But I think the truth is just the opposite. Sartre once interviewed said he never really felt a day of despair in his life. But one thing that comes out from reading these guys is not a sense of anguish about life so much as a real kind of exuberance of feeling on top of it. It's like your life is yours to create. I've read the postmodernists with some interest, even admiration. But when I read them, I always have this awful nagging feeling that something absolutely essential is getting left out. The more that you talk about a person as a social construction or as a confluence of forces or as fragmented or marginalized, what you do is you open up a whole new world of excuses. And when Sartre talks about responsibility, he's not talking about something abstract. He's not talking about the kind of self or soul that theologians would argue about. It's something very concrete. It's you and me talking. Making decisions. Doing things and taking the consequences. It might be true that there are six billion people in the world and counting. Nevertheless, what you do makes a difference. It makes a difference, first of all, in material terms. Makes a difference to other people and it sets an example. In short, I think the message here is that we should never simply write ourselves off and see ourselves as the victim of various forces. It's always our decision who we are."



Existentialism – What It Is NOT
A few concepts that existentialism does not support:

• wealth, pleasure, or honor make the good life
• social values and structure control the individual
• accept what is and that is enough in life
• science can and will make everything better
• people are basically good but ruined by society or external forces
• “I want my way, now!” or “It is not my fault!” mentality

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche



Existentialism originated with the nineteenth-century philosophers Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. It became prevalent in Continental philosophy, and literary writers such as Dostoyevsky also contributed to the movement.



Søren Aabye Kierkegaard








Existentialism's Impact on Society
Existentialistic ideas came out of a time in society when there was a deep sense of despair following the Great Depression and World War II. There was a spirit of optimism in society that was destroyed by World War I and its mid-century calamities. This despair has been articulated by existentialist philosophers well into the 1970s and continues on to this day as a popular way of thinking and reasoning (with the freedom to choose one’s preferred moral belief system and lifestyle).
An existentialist could either be a religious moralist, agnostic relativist, or an amoral atheist. Kierkegaard, a religious philosopher, Nietzsche, an anti-Christian, Sartre, an atheist, and Camus an atheist, are credited for their works and writings about existentialism. Sartre is noted for binging the most international attention to existentialism in the 20th century.

Each basically agrees that human life is in no way complete and fully satisfying because of suffering and losses that occur when considering the lack of perfection, power, and control one has over their life. Even though they do agree that life is not optimally satisfying, it nonetheless has meaning. Existentialism is the search and journey for true self and true personal meaning in life.
Most importantly, it is the arbitrary act that existentialism finds most objectionable-that is, when someone or society tries to impose or demand that their beliefs, values, or rules be faithfully accepted and obeyed. Existentialists believe this destroys individualism and makes a person become whatever the people in power desire thus they are dehumanized and reduced to being an object. Existentialism then stresses that a persons judgment is the determining factor for what is to be believed rather than by arbitrary religious or secular world values.

Links and Resources:

The Literary Encyclopedia - Existentialism
http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=366

What is Existentialism? - Bob Corbett
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/existentialism/whatis.html

Existentialism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/

Existentialism - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism