Existential This

For the fifth time in my life's arc to date, I've threaded through William Barrett's Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (Anchor Books, 1990; originally published by Doubleday in 1958). Some of Barrett's lingo could be updated, but the book still has juice -- even after reading directly many of the folks and ideas under discussion.

You want some existentialism, man? Well existential this . . . Like music, existentialism works equally well with religion, "spirituality" and non-religion. 

"To lose oneself walking down a country lane is, literally, to lose the self that is split off from nature: to enter the region of Being where subject and object no longer confront each other in murderous division." (Irrational Man, page 232).  

I think we all have an idea what "murderous division" means. If you do not, check out the headlines, visit a war zone or consider the moral equivalent. 

"Real thinking, thinking that is rooted in Being, is at once an act of thanking and remembrance. When a dear friend says, in parting, 'Think of me!' this does not mean 'Have a mental picture of me!' but: 'Let me (even in my absence) be present with you.'" 
(Irrational Man, page 235). 

Amen to that.

If you want to get your Kierkegaard on, your Sartre and Red Pepper, it behooves you to dig it out and groove to the move.

Today's Rune: Flow.