Existentialism

Letting be It is my personality to have a desire to fix things, so the concept of letting be does not come particularly easily to me. Doane & Varcoe, (2015) state that the concept of “letting be” is one of the most essential skills of relational practice in nursing. Throughout the communication I had with my friend I found myself always wanting a solution. I always wanted to try different alternative therapies to assist her in moving forward. I wanted her to open up to me so I could sew…

‘L’Étranger’ is a novel written by Albert Camus in 1942. The title of this work has an ambiguous meaning which leaves space to open interpretation; it has been translated to English as ‘The Outsider’ or ‘The Stranger’, as the French term ‘étranger’ comprises both these shades of meaning. Meursault, the multifaceted character that Camus chose as the protagonist, can be in fact regarded as an outsider, for he is completely alien to the society he lives in and to a series of social norms which at…

Keeping our Authenticity Freedom, authenticity, and the legitimacy of our memories are called to question when one tries to reconcile the complex notions brought forward by two philosophers. Sartre’s notions of authenticity and bad faith call to question the genuine motives behind our actions in the present, but what does that mean about our actions in the past? Can one recover from a past of bad faith, can one bad faith and emerge a changed person with the use of our memories in the work…

Happiness and hindsight are two pieces of the same puzzle, that is true for just about anyone as it was mentioned time and time again in Stumbling on Happiness, a book that was really great at pointing out the obvious. When reading a book that takes its title from an accident and then proceeds to remind me that everything I perceive can be one giant lie because of falsified memory and a twisted sense of protection, “[one] does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of…

The Relationship Between Three Existential Ideas from Heidegger’s Being and Time to the Life of Colleen, a Junior at Fairfield University This essay highlights Martin Heidegger’s work and his ideas of “being-with,” “inauthentic Da-sein,” and “the they.” After explaining these existential ideas, the essay demonstrates the relationship between these ideas and the academic, athletic, and social life of Colleen, a junior at Fairfield University. The paper displays how significant these aspects…

Having a unique voice is the byproduct of a creative mind. This, in and of itself, is a feat that many poets, authors and artists struggle to find on a daily basis, however, there are a select few who have imprinted their voice in history and have created works that were far ahead of their respective times. One such example is a poet by the name of Walt Whitman, whose voice travels and echoes in the American mind as casually as a song plays on the radio. Whitman’s style and inherent ability to…

1. Theory as Is Related to Presenting Problem. An Existential-Humanistic theory aligned with the CREAR-CE model approach will be used to argue to formulated the case of Sonny. In addition, a Person-Centered approach is used to initiate therapeutic rapport with Sonny. Regarding the Person-Centered approach three basic principles of the approach were followed: 1. The therapist is congruent with the client, 2. The therapist provides the client with unconditional positive regard and 3. The therapist…

In the novel “Spies”, although Frayn presents the idea of knowledge through Stefan’s estrangement from his past self, it is arguable that the paradoxical questioning of the nature of knowledge more effectively questions the meaning of knowledge. By using rhetorical questions and juxtaposing ideas, Frayn gives the reader a philosophical and contradictory idea of what knowledge is, showing a complexity that the reader would not otherwise notice. In the extract, Frayn presents the idea of…

In Richard Taylor’s article The Meaning of Life, Taylor creates a model of a meaningless life in order to undertake the larger question of ‘what is a meaningful life?’. This is done as a way of addressing the ambiguous nature of what it means to live a meaningful life, as meaning in this sense is an elusive term (Taylor, 22). By determining what a life without meaning would look like, Taylor hopes to gain a sense of what it is that allows for meaning in a life. Upon creating a model of a…

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is by no means a typical narrative. What do I mean by “not a typical narrative”? I mean that this book is full of crazy surprises that life will throw at you! I have learned quite a few life lessons throughout my time reading this novel. This novel is the best book out there to read, some might say they do not like it, only because they can relate little to much of what happens and it hits hard if it hits home. My life changed by reading “ The Perks of Being a…