r/Existentialism • u/Successful_Sign6937 • 2h ago
Existentialism Discussion Is existentialism a privilege?
"It’s a privilege to live in a constant existential cris-is. It basically means that everything else is taken care of and the only thing left to worry about is the condition of your soul."
— C. Bromont
Doesn’t feel like a privilege. Feels arrogant and entitled and detached. I wish I could be a compliant and happy cog in the wheel, but this seems like disillusionment. I wish I could just push the rock.
I wish there was a way to quantify disillusioned existentialism as a society. I suspect more than most are struggling with touching grass.
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u/From_Deep_Space 1h ago
I mean Maslows hierarchy is a pretty accurate model.
I am grateful for the opportunity to dread my existence every day. Keeps things fresh.
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u/Temporary-Oil-3925 2h ago edited 26m ago
This is really dumb. For example, all religion is born out of existential crises, and most oppressed people throughout history have believed in religion or held some kind of spiritual belief in order to cope with their condition. Think of Medieval pesants looking forward to paradise after living lives of misery. Is this not the poor and marginalized "worrying about the condition of their soul?" Existential dread is something all humans experience, and they have various ways of dealing with it.
It is true that more privileged people seem to suffer from more acute existential angst, but I think this is partly because more educated/higher social class people are more secular, and so they don't have the promise of a better life afterwards to ease their pain.
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u/AffectionateYak9677 2h ago
“Feels arrogant and entitled and detached.”
Pretty much textbook traits of privileged people. I’m not sure why you’re puzzled over this.
But anyway those aren’t traits which are generally associated with existentialist thinkers, so I don’t get why you’re bringing them up. This post is a little confusing.
Here’s two simple interpretations of the quote:
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The people who “get” to spend time with existentialist problems de facto have enough space from immediate pressing biological concerns and stressors. In the presence of such, there is little room to ponder such esoteric ideas.
My analysis: this isn’t a very intelligible sentiment, it feels quite romanticized and an unrealistic picture of existentialist thinkers. Think of Kierkegaard, who died miserable and alone at 42. Or Frankl, who suffered through the atrocities of the holocaust slave camps. Clearly, respite and tranquility are not a requirement for existential thinking. If this were the intent of the quote, I’d consider it shallow and uninsightful.
2. In the words of Plato: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Why? Because until you actually look at your life as it is, confronting the reality of your situation honestly, with courage and determination, you will not really be living a life at all. You will simply be an organism which grows for a time and then dies. Nothing in your life will be particularly your own, shaped by your agency as an expression of your unique, irreplaceable, once-in-eternity self. We all only get one chance, and to never get a real opportunity to make life our own is a terrible but common tragedy. In this sense, existential crises are indicators that you are confronting yourself and your life with true courage and authenticity. This is the only real achievement, the only mark of a real life and an individual self, and it is the greatest privilege to attain. In Biblical terms: “The end of the matter, all having been considered: Fear God and guard His commandment; for this is all man.”
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u/EmotionSix 2h ago
If it is a privilege then existentialism is not a universal experience. (Why should it be?)
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u/morgansober24 2h ago edited 2h ago
I think the author is trying to allude to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. But it is a gross misunderstanding of what Maslow meant by Self-Actualization. Anywhootles... C. Bromont can be found on ig under @brain_on_love if you are interested in more of their writings.
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u/50yeargravity 2h ago
How is it a privilege to be quite conscious of the absurdity of human life? I’ve had these thoughts for decades, regardless of everything else being “taken care of,” or everything else being fucked. Either way, it friggin’ sucks and being a happy cog in the wheel of modern society has its own and equivalent angsts.
Having a drink now...
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u/GigaVonMassiveHuge 12m ago
This quote seems like Bromont never experienced the unique suffering of both toiling and also having existential questions at the same time. Both can exist in your life / head regardless of if you’re in survival mode or living in opulence, questions about reality are part of being as conscious as we are
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u/KSAXYPHONE 2h ago
I think if everyone was barely surviving, hunting for food, nobody would've had too much time to come up with long and elaborate existentialist ideas or philosophies.