19th and 20th centuries emerged
Nihilism and meaning of life emerged, realization of no objective meaning to our lives
Responses are existentialism and absurdism
Heaven and Hell dichotomy for Christian people God’s creation and judgement day on one end
Karma and rebirth for Hinduism and Buddhism, story of karma and endless cycle of birth and rebirth Maksha? And nirvana are liberation in these eastern systems of belief
1830s was beginning of some events marking the end of religion
Life of Jesus which eroded belief in Bible
The essence of Christianity book exposed that God is just projection of Christianity, Karl Marx basically called religion bullshit, no road to truth and freedom except through the brook of fire
Real stake in heart of religion is Darwin’s on the origin of species in 1859, God is dead and we have killed him, Nietzsche, what was holiest and most powerful has bled to death under our knives, and basically saying we’re responsible for God’s death
Vacuum in human purpose by leaning into Biblical criticism and insights of Copernicus, Newton and Darwin, religious explanations tied to human morality and meaning though so there is a vacuum in meaning
Existentialism vs absurdism
Camu? Absurdism, these terms came in mid 20th century, existentialists Heidegger and Camu, but definition is a bit nebulous (not really known) but Sartre was one of few identified as existentialists
Existentialists - essence (defining characteristics, chelos? Like essence of boat to sail preceded its existence, but this says existence precedes essence meaning there is no purpose greater than humanity)
Taoism, Tao
Chinese philosophical and spiritual tradition, Tao = way of the universe, finding peace and alignment with what’s best for you by surrendering control to the universe
Mainly just not worrying about things you can’t control, observing negative thoughts and energy
Tao is natural way of the universe, justifies meditation for clarity, pursuit of spiritual self development
Emotions are natural energies, harmonious in a sense kind of playful approach to life, the world is a dance to flow with
More surrendering than trying to escape certain aspects of reality like Buddhism, more related to individual place in world, branched off from Buddhism
Core text is Xi Jing
Both involve some sort of liberation
Merging self (mind and body) with everything else in existence attaining a new level of awareness
Flowing with natural course of things without forcing anything for a sense of well being and peace by understanding the universe
Buddhism is a _ but not accepted in western society because
We regard it as a philosophy Not accepted because not traditional god they subscribe to
Accepting people being perfect as they already are, training body and mind as one, disconnection keeps us from being able to truly be present and interpret emotions
Rational pessimism
the belief that life is inherently negative, suffering and meaninglessness because reason simply reveals the futility of life, desires ultimately lead to pain and being let down
for the rational soul happiness is impossible as desires imply a lack of something, leading either to disappointment or boredom , and rational intelligent minds recognize this cycle, thus leading to us never being happy
you can have fleeting happiness but that’s it
used in religious and secular approaches
basically talking about suffering to get something
Nietszche opposed this pessimism
