MY ROAD TO EXISTENTIALISM 2

 RENE DESCARTES

COGITO ERGO SUM

When I was 19, my younger sister died in a car accident.  I felt something inside me “snap”.  I remember the next year being a whirl of questions unanswered, including religious and existential questions.  I remember, in my grief and anxiety, discussing with family the problem of proving that 2 plus 2 equals 4.  I clearly saw through their looks; they thought I was going insane.  (It was years later, studying philosophy, that I understood this math question to be a classic conundrum of philosophical science.  Aha! I wasn’t crazy; I was smart!)

Soon after, I signed up for a beginning class on philosophy.  But, I freaked out.  I had not healed enough from grief and other personal issues that surfaced through my sister’s demise.  I was not strong enough to contemplate the possibility of my non-existence.  So, I dropped the class.  But, before I did, during one of my anxiety attacks, I read Descartes’ and then read his classic pronouncement, “I think, therefore, I am”.  How I needed to hear that; it gave me an anchor to hold onto during existential crises that followed.

After experiencing the power of philosophy during a psychologically difficult time, now, I immerse myself in existentialism and psychoanalysis for my own satisfaction; and I reap benefits of my self-analysis (limited as it can be, being so subjective).  It helps me make much more sense of the world and “the other” as well!  And, occasionally, I still have opportunities to help others through what I have learned.

I hope you enjoy coming with me on my continued journey through existentialism, and challenging “existing” religious, psychological, and historical fallacies.

SEE POST:  MY ROAD TO EXISTENTIALISM and OBSERVATIONS ON PHILOSOPHY