Creation

The title of this blog means, “I choose, therefore I am.” It is, of course, a kind of a riff on Descartes. But I take it in kind of a different direction than he did. Choice has become a kind of identifying characteristic for my existence, your existence, and the existence of every rational creature on and around the planet. For the moment, I am calling this philosophy existential constructivism. Perhaps this phrase is used somewhere in classical or modern philosophy—I don’t know, and I don’t really care.

So what do I mean by this? Well, I begin with what I believe to be the foundational concept in almost all existential philosophies. We humans are brought into this world with the following two preconditions hovering around us: (1) we had no choice in the decision to bring about our existence; and (2) we are not given a confirmed set of instructions for what we are to do with our existence—we may suggest to ourselves and others that we have been given instructions in the form of “inspired” words, but I put forth that this is a false wish that some have developed in order to ease the discomfort of our solitary existence. We are set adrift on the sea of existence with no map and no landmarks to guide us, and the result is angst of varying degrees, depending on the individual. We humans grapple with this on a daily basis, whether we are aware of it or not.

Many (not most) existentialists, once they have acquired and absorbed the previous two ideas, continue on to the problem of their own roles in their existence. Specifically, they ask the question of whether their existence should continue, considering the absurdity of it all. That is, they consider the primary question of their lives to be whether they should continue to exist or not. I do not consider this valid, even though, at its core, this is a choice, and a very important one. I do not have a good reason for taking this route at this point in my philosophy, and figuring out why I think this way is a central reason for starting this blog.

No, my reaction to existential angst (which is what the above set of existentialists are experiencing) is to assert meaning in my life where none is imposed by any outside authority. Some say that any sense of meaning I try to impose on my existence is false, and evidence of the lack of meaning in the universe, and that my attempts to do so constitutes bad faith. But I say it is a human drive to develop meaning where none exists previously, and by making choices every day and thus creating our own meaning is to live full, supremely human lives—opto ergo sum. I do not assert that, by making choices, we can avoid angst (the everyday or the existential varieties), but that we can own our angst, along with every other aspect of what makes us human.

I do not expect anyone to read this, ever. I’m not even giving the URL for this blog to any friends or family. But I do suspect that someone will come across this one day, and this person may have some insight into whether what I think is valid or not. I welcome all insight and criticism.