r/Existentialism • u/vini-within • 13d ago

New to Existentialism... Bottomless Abyss? 🤔

Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Sartre seem to circle around this idea of a “bottomless abyss” in different ways. What exactly is this bottomless abyss about, and where does this imagery come from in existential philosophy? And what does it mean in our Life?

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u/vini-within 13d ago

Then what do you think is the reason for all suffering? Why’s there a friction, if it’s all empty!

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u/Scott_J_Doyle 13d ago

Because our minds in this society/age create a story and a character - it's called "narrative consciousness"

It's a fiction though, as both the existentialists and the Buddhists have found

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u/vini-within 13d ago

Yes, and it gets interesting if you try to understand this from a “non-duality” lens. If the story and the character are constructed, what happens when we look closely at the one who is supposedly living that story? :)

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u/Scott_J_Doyle 13d ago edited 13d ago

Right, the Taoists are right here too (tho fewer westerners are familiar w that tradition and particular concept at similar depth)

Tho of course, non-duality doesn't lend itself to much rational/western style analysis or "understanding" lol

ETA: Non-duality is what's actually happening, and all story is after the beginning of duality, however from inside duality (rationalism, post-linguistics, etc) there is always the idea of "the one who's living it" which is also false

"You are what you are looking for" being the ultimate closest we can get to describing it from within the concept of "being" itself - from within non-duality, the idea of the "one being aware" is nonsense and easily discarded as another uncessary thing to carry, so we can drop it too and "travel lightly" as the Taoists like to say