Every human being is free, and societal constraints exist not
externally, but only in our own mindsâ€"or only so much as our minds create
such constraints. The essential freedom of the human animal can be
experienced by the sufferer as loneliness at times and even inspire terror
and horror in the heart of the free human entity, according to the
existentialists. Despite the fact that the word freedom is usually thought
of in a positive fashion in popular political parlance, to truly experience
the raw freedom that we all enjoy can be daunting. But true existentialism
requires the active acceptance of our free and unconstrained nature.
(C.Wyatt, "Existentialism: A Primer," 1996)
In general, existentialism is a philosophical movement characterized by an
emphasis on individualism, individual freedom, and subjectivity. These
three combined philosophic rubrics or emphases of the existential movements
all arise from the philosophy's stress upon human freedom, and the lack of
constraints the universe truly places upon individuals. Rather than there
being objective and universal truths, such as religious or theocratic
notions based in principles of right and wrong that one must obey
categorically a la Immanuel Kant's famousâ€"or infamousâ€"categorical
imperative, according to the existentialists one is free to set one's own
moral standardsâ€"which can seem a heavy burden to bear. But only by
accepting and enjoying this kind of freedom is a full realization of human
potential and life is possible. (C.Wyatt, "Existentialism: A Primer," 1996)
To do otherwise is to eschew one's responsibility as a human being
Because of human freedom in its raw state, when one becomes unburdened
of illusions of preexisting moral constraints, one may become frightened.
According to Ivan Soll, the existentialists concluded "that human c...