WHY EXISTENTIALISM MATTERS

WHY EXISTENTIALISM MATTERS

You arrived breathing, not with a manual. No fixed script, no guaranteed purpose. Just this life and the quiet question: “What will I do with it?”

ESSENTIALISM VS EXISTENTIALISM

Essentialism says everything has a built-in essence and purpose, including humans. Existentialism flips it: humans exist first, then slowly carve their “essence” through choices, habits, commitments,

WHY WE FEEL THIS SO STRONGLY

You grow up with climate shocks, AI, unstable work, social media perfection, and endless choice. Existential questions are not abstract; they live under your anxiety: “What am I doing, and what’s the

FROM STRESS TO EXISTENTIAL DREAD

Stress says “I have too much to do.” Dread says “I do so much, but why?” That 2 a.m. heaviness is not laziness, it is your life asking for direction.

NOT JUST SAD FRENCH COFFEE SHOP TALK

People joke about moody philosophers with cigarettes. In truth, existentialism was born from war, loss, injustice, and the need to live without easy stories.

A MOVEMENT, NOT A SINGLE SYSTEM

Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir argue with each other. Existentialism is not one doctrine. It is a shared fight with freedom, meaning, and death.

EXISTENTIALISM VS NIHILISM

Nihilism shrugs “Nothing matters.” Existentialism nods “Nothing is given meaning, yes.” Then adds “So your choices matter more than you think.”

MEANING AFTER COLLAPSE

Wars and genocides broke faith in a neatly ordered universe. Yet people still had kids, worked, loved. Existentialism asks how to live when maps are burned.

THE MODERN MEANING CRISIS

You may have internet, food, a phone, yet feel hollow. Survival is not the only problem now. The new question is “What makes any of this worth it?”

PHILOSOPHY MORE THAN JUST AS SURVIVAL SKILL

Here philosophy is not for grades. It is training to choose when afraid, love without guarantees, work without selling your soul, and face death awake.

WHY IT STILL MATTERS

In a world of pandemics, algorithms, and chaos, there is no stable script. Existentialism teaches you to carry your own freedom and responsibility.

DO THIS #1 : YOUR REAL REASON

Write one line: “I am reading this because…” Fear, curiosity, confusion, all allowed. Keep that line. It is your anchor when the ideas get heavy.

ROOTS AND KEY THINKERS

KIERKEGAARD – FATHER OF EXISTENTIALISM

Kierkegaard said the big questions are not solved in labs. What matters is how a single person stands before God, death, and their own choices.

SUBJECTIVITY IS TRUTH

“Subjectivity is truth” does not kill facts. It says the deepest truth is your lived stance toward them, not just what you can prove on a whiteboard.

THREE WAYS OF LIVING

Aesthetic life chases pleasure. Ethical life keeps promises and duty. Religious life is a risky, personal faith that can clash with both comfort and rules.

LEAP OF FAITH

The Leap of Faith is trusting without solid evidence. The Knight of Faith, like Abraham, walks with doubt but still chooses. It is commitment at maximum risk.

DOSTOEVSKY : "UNDERGROUND MAN"

In Notes from the Underground, a bitter man refuses tidy models of “rational” humans. He insists on acting against his own interest just to prove he is free.

NIETZSCHE : "GOD IS DEAD"

“God is dead” means old beliefs no longer guide modern life. Nietzsche attacks slave morality and dares people to create fresh, life-affirming values.

APOLLONIAN AND DIONYSIAN

Apollo is order, clarity, planning. Dionysus is passion, instinct, wildness. A full life learns when to schedule and when to dance, not killing either side.

ÜBERMENSCH : "BEYOND THE HERD"

The Übermensch is a person who outgrows herd thinking, turns pain into strength, and writes their own values instead of living off moral leftovers.

HEIDEGGER : "THE QUESTION OF BEING"

Heidegger looks at simple life: tools, talk, death. He warns how easily we drown in routine and gossip, forgetting our life is already moving toward an end.

BEAUVOIR : "FREEDOM AND OPPRESSION"

Beauvoir shows how culture and law trap women in roles. True ethics is not just private virtue, but changing systems so others can actually be free.

MANY VOICES, ONE STRUGGLE

Parables, novels, aphorisms, dense theory. These thinkers use different tools, but all wrestle with one thing: how to live honestly as a finite human.

DO THIS #2 : PICK ONE GUIDE

Choose one thinker that pulls you. Watch or read a long explanation. Save three lines that sting or comfort you. That becomes your “mentor notes” slide.

EXISTENCE, ESSENCE, FREEDOM

EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE

Tools are designed, then exist. Humans exist, then design themselves. You are not born with a fixed nature. Your repeated choices slowly sculpt who you are.

OBJECTS WITH ESSENCE, BUT YOU, WITHOUT IT

A fork is for eating, a train for transport. Their purpose is baked in. You, in contrast, arrive without such instructions. That blank space is your task.

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE

Sartre says we are “condemned to be free.” There is no higher script that absolves you. Even “I will not choose” is still a choice with real effects.

BEING-FOR-ITSELF

Objects just sit there. You are aware, able to step back and question. Your mind is not a fixed thing but a moving focus that can redraw your life story.

FACTICITY – WHAT YOU DIDN’T CHOOSE

You did not pick your family, body, childhood, or era. That is facticity. It shapes you, but it is not the full story. Freedom is how you answer those facts.

BAD FAITH

Bad faith is staying small while saying “I must.” Blaming job, culture, God, or orders. You act freely, then pretend you were only a puppet on a string.

AUTHENTICITY

Authenticity is admitting your freedom, then building a self that matches your real values, not only your parents’ wishes or your feed’s latest trend.

ANGUISH – DIZZINESS OF FREEDOM

Seeing your options without guarantees can make you dizzy. That angst is not a bug. It is the feeling of waking up from autopilot into real choice.

CHOOSING FOR YOURSELF, AND OTHERS

Sartre says each choice whispers “This is how humans can live.” You may feel small, but your actions still teach people around you what seems possible.

FREEDOM WITHOUT A SUPERVISOR

In this view, there is no manager in the sky grading every move. Your conscience, your clarity, your responsibility are what stand between you and chaos.

PERSONAL “WHY”

A strong “why” does not erase pain, but it lets you carry it differently. Your chosen purpose turns random suffering into part of a path, not just noise.

DO THIS #3 : FACTICITY VS FREEDOM

Pick one area of life. Split a page into “Given” and “My choice.” Fill both. Then choose one small action only from the “My choice” column and do it.

THE ABSURD AND A MEANINGLESS WORLD

FROM THE GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Sisyphus is a figure from Greek mythology, known as the cunning king of Corinth who was punished by the gods for his deceitfulness.

THE ABSURD

The absurd is the clash between your craving for meaning and a universe that answers with silence. You want clear reasons. Reality offers weather and time.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY : SISYPHUS AND HIS ROCK

Sisyphus pushes a rock forever; it always rolls back. Camus says this is us in routines and struggle. There may be no final meaning, yet we keep climbing.

NO AUTOMATIC MORAL ORDER

History shows kind people suffer and cruel ones win. Existentialists say justice is not baked into the cosmos. If we want it, we must build and protect it.

NIHILISM’S TRAP

Seeing that nothing is guaranteed can feel like “Nothing matters.” That moment is real. Staying there forever, doing nothing, is how you slowly die alive.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY : REVOLT, NOT ESCAPE

Camus rejects both fake comfort and giving up. His move is revolt: live fully, love deeply, create meaning, all while knowing there is no final cosmic plan.

IMAGINE SISYPHUS HAPPINESS

Camus says we must imagine Sisyphus smiling. He knows the game is absurd, yet chooses to give his full strength anyway. His dignity is his quiet victory.

WHY NOT QUITTING

Camus asks bluntly: if life has no set meaning, why continue. His answer: meaning is what keeps you from quitting. Your task is to find or build that.

WAR AND BROKEN ORDER

Camps, bombs, mass death showed a world without a safety net. Existentialism grew in that shock, asking how to stay human when horror is clearly possible.

EVERYDAY ABSURDITY

You feel the absurd in pointless emails, fake tasks, and empty content. Seeing this clearly is a first step to refusing to waste your limited hours.

SMALL ACTS OF REVOLT

Revolt is often simple: do honest work, refuse cruelty, speak truth gently, create beauty in ugly places, say “no” when everything pushes you to numb out.

DO THIS #4 : NAME YOUR ROCKS

List three things that feel like pushing a rock for nothing. For each, ask: quit, change how, or change why. Adjust at least one this month.

SELF, PRIDE, EMOTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS

SELF AS A PROJECT

You are not a statue waiting to be uncovered. You are a draft. Every yes, no, habit, and relationship edits the person you will see in the mirror later.

ROLES BUT NOT ONLY ROLES

Student, parent, designer, barista. Important roles, but not your whole being. When one breaks, it hurts, but your story is allowed to continue.

PRIDE VS CONNECTION

Too much pride turns you into a tower: high, alone, untouchable. Humility is a bridge. It admits you do not know everything and lets people reach you.

GROWTH WITHOUT ARROGANCE

Improve so life expands, not to feel superior. When self-work becomes a scoreboard, you stop growing and start secretly hoping others stay small.

FEELINGS AND THINKING

Feelings without thought drive chaos. Thought without feeling drives cruelty. Wisdom listens to emotion, then lets reason decide the next step.

DONT BORN INTO “THEY”

“They” say what is cool, normal, successful. If you never question “they,” you end up living as an average template instead of someone particular.

THEY-SELF VS RESOLUTE SELF

They-self copies trends and opinions. Resolute self says “I see the crowd, but I choose this.” That sentence is where an actual life begins.

WHOSE GOALS ARE THESE

ome dreams are yours. Some are your parents’, Some are culture’s. Sorting them is painful, but it is how you stop climbing the wrong ladder.

LOVE AS FREEDOM

Love says “I choose you while you stay free.” Possession says “Shrink so I feel safe.” One builds two people; the other slowly suffocates both.

TWO HISTORIES, ONE STORY

A relationship blends two wounds, pasts, and freedoms. It will be messy. The point is not perfect harmony, but honest repair and shared growth.

DO THIS #5 : SELF SNAPSHOT

Describe yourself only from the last 30 days: habits, tone, effort. No excuses, just behavior. Circle what you respect and star what must change.

TIME, DEATH, SUFFERING, ANGST

BEING-TOWARD-DEATH

Remembering you will die is not morbid. It is a wake-up call. Many things shrink under it. A few things suddenly become non-negotiable.

MORTALITY FILTER

Ask “If I had one year, would this still matter?” Use that answer to downgrade petty fights and upgrade the relationships and projects you are delaying.

REGRET AS COMPASS

Regret hurts because it shows what matters to you. Staying stuck in it is poison. Listening to it is how you avoid repeating the same scene again.

SUFFERING AS DEPTH

Suffering is not good by itself. Yet if you face it with honesty, it can deepen courage and empathy instead of leaving only scars and bitterness.

HOPE INSIDE PAIN

Hope is not “it will all work.” It is “I will not abandon myself here.” You keep walking, even slowly, and do not let pain be the last editor.

INNER COST OF CORRUPTION

Doing wrong may pay outside, but inside it corrodes you. Shame, numbness, self-disgust accumulate. Virtue is the ability to live in your own skin.

SIMPLE JOYS, FINITE TIME

When you know time is limited, small moments grow big: coffee, sunlight, a hug. Being fully there is one of the cleanest ways to love your life.

LIVING WITHOUT FINAL ANSWER

You may never solve “What is life’s meaning.” The work is to act decently in the fog, not freeze until a perfect answer drops from the sky.

SUFFERING AND JOY ARE LINKED

If you shut down to avoid hurt, you also dull joy. Facing your wounds can expand your range, so gratitude and laughter actually land deeper.

SUICIDE AND SUPPORT

If dark thoughts become detailed plans, this is not just “deep thinking.” Tell someone. Use hotlines, professionals, friends. Staying alive is step one.

DO THIS #6 : LETTER FROM OLD YOU

Write from your 85-year-old self: what do they beg you to stop doing, and what do they beg you to start while you still have energy and time?

ETHICS, JUSTICE, COMPASSION, POLITICS

DARK TENDENCIES, REAL CHOICE

You have real capacity for cruelty and selfishness. Ethics begins when you admit this and choose restraint and empathy instead of pretending you are pure.

NO ONE IS FREE ALONE

If your lifestyle silently depends on others having no options, your freedom is built on their prison. Existential honesty includes seeing that link.

ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY

Beauvoir says morality is ambiguous. No cosmic rulebook, yet you cannot escape deciding. The question becomes “Does this expand or crush real freedom?”

FREEDOM NEEDS ETHICS

Without a moral compass, freedom becomes excuse: “I do whatever.” Real freedom respects others as full people, not extras or tools in your story.

COMPASSION VS ALIENATION

Reaching out to others in pain does not solve your questions, but it shrinks the feeling that you are alone in the dark. Connection itself carries meaning.

RESENTMENT OR NOBILITY

Resentment chains you to old hurts. Nobility is choosing growth, clean distance, or forgiveness instead of spending years replaying the same injury.

YOUR FUNDAMENTAL PROJECT

Look at your patterns. Are you chasing comfort, admiration, control, justice, creativity, love. That long-term aim is your true project, not your slogans.

JUSTICE AS HUMAN WORK

If there is no built-in justice, then justice exists only where we make and guard it. Waiting for karma can be a polite way to avoid responsibility.

INNER AND OUTER CHANGE

Therapy without action becomes self-absorption. Activism without reflection becomes blind rage. Existential ethics asks for both inner and outer work.

DOING RIGHT WHEN UNSEEN

True character is shown when you could cheat, lie, or harm and nobody would know, yet you do not. You are living for someone bigger than your ego.

CORE THEMES RECAP

Authenticity, freedom, subjectivity, responsibility, compassion. These are not slogans. They are tools for facing fear and building a life you can own.

DO THIS #7 : ONE CONCRETE KINDNESS

Choose one struggling person. Offer one real act: listening, help, money, time. Do it quietly. Let your philosophy appear in their day, not your mouth.

WORK, PROJECTS, NIETZSCHE, RISK

JOB, WORK, CALLING

Job pays bills. Work is what you build. Calling is where your gifts meet a need. They may not match yet. The long game is nudging them closer.

PROJECTS THAT SHAPE YOU

You are not your mood; you are your pattern. The things you return to each week slowly define who you are, more than any single big decision.

ALIENATION AND SLAVE MIND

If your work feels pointless and you feel replaceable, you start thinking “I exist just to be used.” That belief quietly kills hope and ambition.

DO YOU OWN YOUR DAY

Ask “How much of today was truly mine?” If almost all of it belonged to others’ demands, your life is being rented out more than you admit.

WORK THAT NOURISHES

Some work drains and deadens. Some tires you but leaves you proud or curious. You cannot always choose, but you can slowly shift toward the second.

LIVE A LITTLE DANGEROUS

Playing safe forever is its own danger. Sometimes you must risk comfort, approval, or money for a life that actually feels like yours.

ORDER AND CHAOS

Rigid order suffocates. Constant chaos dissolves you. Wisdom is sensing when you need a calendar and when you need a blank day to explore.

LIFE-EATING DISTRACTIONS

Binge scrolling and drama feel like rest but often steal the energy you needed for real change. Rest refuels. Numbing just postpones your life.

SLAVE OF MONEY OR CREATOR OF LIFE

Money matters, especially in crisis. But if all your effort only builds cash and status, you may end up rich in numbers and poor in meaning.

HUMANITY OVERCOMING ITSELF

Every time someone turns pain into strength instead of cruelty, humanity grows up a little. You are part of that slow evolution, not a spectator.

HAPPINESS AS PROCESS

At week’s end, count hours that felt truly yours. Even two protected hours are a start. Guard them, then expand them as your next existential project.

TECH, MEDIA, ART, MODERN LIFE

DIGITAL EXISTENTIALISM

Now identity, envy, meaning, and loneliness all run through phones. Notifications have become tiny knocks from the world asking “Are you enough yet?”

ALGORITHMS AS TEACHERS

Your feed repeats certain stories until they feel normal. It teaches you who to fear, desire, mock, or admire. Freedom starts by noticing that training.

ATTENTION AS CURRENCY

Every swipe is a small payment of life. Where your attention goes, your hours follow. Protect it like money, because you never get refunds on time spent.

CLIMATE ANXIETY

When the planet’s future feels fragile, long-term dreams get blurry. The question becomes “How do I live well today, and still care for a shaky tomorrow?”

PANDEMIC MIRROR

Lockdowns forced people into rooms with their thoughts. Death counts rose. Many saw clearly for the first time which parts of their old life they never want back.

EXISTENTIAL THERAPY

Some therapy helps you confront freedom, death, isolation, and meaninglessness directly, then build a life that fits you instead of just numbing symptoms.

AI AND “WHAT IS HUMAN”

As AI produces text, images, and code, your edge shifts to what it cannot own: responsibility, presence, conscience, and the courage to act.

MEANING BEYOND JOBS

If many roles vanish, you still need a reason to get up. Meaning cannot depend only on job titles. It will have to lean more on values and service.

ART AS FREEDOM

Making art is declaring “This is how the world feels from here.” No guarantee anyone cares. You do it anyway. That is free, stubborn meaning-making.

DO THIS #8 : ONE HONEST PIECE

This week, make one thing that reflects your real mood: a note, beat, sketch, layout. No polish, no show. Just proof you can shape, not only scroll.

PRACTICES, COURAGE, DAILY LIFE

TO BE COURAGEOUS

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is walking into the day as yourself, shaky voice and all, instead of hiding behind roles, jokes, or silence.

ACT FULLY, RELEASE RESULTS

You control preparation and honesty, never full outcomes. Do your part like it matters, then let go. Clinging to results only multiplies suffering.

EMPTINESS AS SPACE

When life feels empty, that gap is also free space. You can stuff it with numbing, or slowly build new projects, friendships, and skills inside it.

PRACTICES OVER EPIPHANIES

Big realizations feel good, but it is boring habits that change you: journaling, walks, honest talks, craft time, small risks. Repeated enough, they bend your life.

DAILY WAKE-UP QUESTION

Once a day, ask “Am I drifting or choosing right now?” If drifting, pick one tiny action that reflects who you want to be, then do just that.

REAL TALK, NOT JUST NOISE

Keep a few people with whom you can talk about fear, death, faith, regret, and joy. Those talks prevent your inner life from shrinking to memes and tasks.

DESIGN YOUR LIFE STACK

Pick three values. For each, design one weekly action. Put them in your calendar like meetings. If it is not scheduled, it usually does not exist.

QUIET NOBILITY

Real class is in small choices: keeping promises, owning mistakes, refusing gossip. You will never go viral for these, but they build a solid spine.

ETERNAL RECURRENCE TEST

If you had to live this exact day on repeat forever, would you say yes. If not, what one thing would have to change for you to consider it a maybe?

HAPPINESS AS STEERING

You will drift again and again. The goal is not perfect alignment, but faster noticing and gentler correction, like steering a ship, not building a statue.

ANATOMY OF A GOOD WEEK

A strong week has some silence, real work, kindness, learning, play, and one hard truth faced. If you miss one, add a little bit next week.

FINAL : DO THIS #10 : FROM INSIGHT TO STRUCTURE

Pick three slides that hit you. For each, design one habit. Then log them as a WorkFlow or routine so they live in your days, not just your screenshots.

THE END