Existence
Why do we exist?
For billions of years, humans have existed and evolved in this world. We have invented fire, the wheel and have also explored a small part of the universe around us. But despite all this development, one question remains unanswered, the purpose of human existence.
In order to understand this, we must begin to understand existence itself.
The Webster’s dictionary defines existence as “the act of actually being there”. However, there have been various definitions and understandings of the term “Existence”. It is mostly described as the world one is conscious of through their senses.
Then again, as Loren Eiseley once said, "We are too content with our sense organs”,” it’s no longer enough to see as a man sees — even to the ends of the universe.”
Many philosophies believe that existence is intertwined with personal identity, life after death, being and free will. Here we would like to introduce the term ‘existentialism’.
This idea was supported by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. It is the philosophy that emphasizes on individual existence, freedom, and choice. It believes in the ideology that humans are free beings and views that humans define their meaning of life, freedom, and choice, that is, we have complete authorship of our destiny. We, humans, try to make rational decisions despite living in an irrational world or are “Subjective individuals in an objective world.”
We're not just a collection of atoms — proteins and molecules — spinning like planets around the sun. But there's more to us than the sum of our biochemical functions. A full understanding of life and existence can't be found only by looking at cells and molecules.
The science here has failed to recognize those properties of life that make it fundamental to our existence. For example, imagine being in a dark room with a flashlight. We tend to believe that the only things present in the room are the visuals that could be focused on by the flashlight. This example could be used as an explanation to prove the limitations of science. The light in the example is science and the entire darkroom is the philosophy of life and existence. As the light cannot brighten up the entire room, science falls short on the explanation of the complete philosophy of human existence and its purpose.
As the purpose of existence remains unknown, existence for me would be living in the present. Neither dwelling too much on the past nor thinking too much about the future. But, one must live in the present, live it to the fullest and strive to make the world a better place.
For billions of years, humans have existed and evolved in this world. We have invented fire, the wheel and have also explored a small part of the universe around us. But despite all this development, one question remains unanswered, the purpose of human existence.
In order to understand this, we must begin to understand existence itself.
The Webster’s dictionary defines existence as “the act of actually being there”. However, there have been various definitions and understandings of the term “Existence”. It is mostly described as the world one is conscious of through their senses.
Then again, as Loren Eiseley once said, "We are too content with our sense organs”,” it’s no longer enough to see as a man sees — even to the ends of the universe.”
Many philosophies believe that existence is intertwined with personal identity, life after death, being and free will. Here we would like to introduce the term ‘existentialism’.
This idea was supported by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. It is the philosophy that emphasizes on individual existence, freedom, and choice. It believes in the ideology that humans are free beings and views that humans define their meaning of life, freedom, and choice, that is, we have complete authorship of our destiny. We, humans, try to make rational decisions despite living in an irrational world or are “Subjective individuals in an objective world.”
We're not just a collection of atoms — proteins and molecules — spinning like planets around the sun. But there's more to us than the sum of our biochemical functions. A full understanding of life and existence can't be found only by looking at cells and molecules.
The science here has failed to recognize those properties of life that make it fundamental to our existence. For example, imagine being in a dark room with a flashlight. We tend to believe that the only things present in the room are the visuals that could be focused on by the flashlight. This example could be used as an explanation to prove the limitations of science. The light in the example is science and the entire darkroom is the philosophy of life and existence. As the light cannot brighten up the entire room, science falls short on the explanation of the complete philosophy of human existence and its purpose.
As the purpose of existence remains unknown, existence for me would be living in the present. Neither dwelling too much on the past nor thinking too much about the future. But, one must live in the present, live it to the fullest and strive to make the world a better place.
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