Wet Spider Web By Spillway — Image by kenne
“I’d come to realize that all our troubles spring from our failure to use plain, clear-cut language.”
―
Archive for the ‘Jean-Paul Sartre’ Tag
Wet Spider Web Leave a comment
Dragonfly Art 2 comments
Red-veined Darter Dragonfly– Photo-Artistry by kenne
“The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life,
the clearer we should see through it.”
―
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Cactus Digital Art — Existing in Absurdity 2 comments
Cactus Digital Art — by kenne
Life, art, and logic are full of absurdities of various kinds.
We conceptualize absurdities when we
discuss square circles and circular squares.
It is art that is able to provide a mediator
between the strange and the real.
*****
“The creative act is only an incomplete and abstract moment in the production of a work.”
— Jean-Paul Sartre
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Suitcase — Grunge Art Leave a comment
Suitcase — Computer Art by kenne
Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess.
All which I abandon, all which I give,
I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away.
To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.
— Jean-Paul Sartre
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Wildflower Digital Art Leave a comment
Wildflower Digital Art (Bearded penstemon) by kenne
“There is no art except for and by others.”
— Jean-Paul Sartre
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An Object Of My Consciousness — Double Bayou BBQ Leave a comment
Double Bayou BBQ — Image by kenne
“Consciousness is consciousness of something. This means that transcendence is the constitutive structure of consciousness;
that is that consciousness emerges supported by a being which is not itself.” Jean-Paul Sartre
Related articles
- Being and Nothingness (requiredreadings.ca)
- Jean-Paul Sartre, the apostle of absurdity… (integratedcatholiclife.org)
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Capturing The Moment — Existing Because I Think 3 comments
“Watching Time Go By” — Image by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 
THE COURAGE TO BE
Let’s not join the chorus of those predicting our economic end. It is easy to succumb to the siren song of fear.
Twentieth-century existential philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, Being and Nothingness. In it, Sartre takes the position that “self” exist in a material universe (Being), but our consciousness does not exist in a state of cohabitation with the body. Consciousness provides freedom, which gives us an infinite potential for the future. However, it is our presence in time that makes us finite and ignorant. As a result, our consciousness can perceive that which is not but could be (Nothingness). Sartre believed that human existence is a condition of nothingness, which allows for conscious choices within our being.
It is this dichotomy that causes fear (existential fear or “angst” – a Kierkegaard term) since our subjective choices (in the present) represents a limit to our conscious thoughts. As a result, we (humans) tend to free our fear through activities designed to take us toward some meaningful end. This freeing can take on many forms, all of which involve immersing oneself into things in our day-to-day experience (being). We, therefore, escape this threat of non-being by immersing oneself in being, i.e., reading a book, watching TV, listening to music, etc. Doing so doesn’t create a state of being fearless, but serves as a rest area in our existential fear.
To be without fear would suggest the worse possible existence (psychological). The more we try to reduce or eliminate fear, the more we become aware of fear, a form of fear about fear. So, the proper response to fear is to stop being fearful of fear. Another well-known existentialist, Soren Kierkegaard, believed that the best way to deal with fear is to learn to face it courageously. “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” (FDR’s First Inaugural Address)
The question is, “Do we have the courage to be?” Only each individual can truly answer this question.
kenne
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