Existentialism And New Age

The same people who embraced existentialism and the idea that we are victims of life later embraced the New Age and the idea that everything that happens to us is our doing.

Both were wrong.

In some cases someone really is an unwitting victim. A child who dies of famine is not responsible for what has happened to him. In case of adults – especially in America – they very much can do something to improve their condition, and “professional victims” require an attitude adjustment. However even they are limited in some ways, and some things – such as flying to Mars – they cannot do however strong or responsible they become.

The existentialist fails to practice responsibility, and the New Ager fails to practice compassion. Once again, some things we can control, and others we cannot. We are neither animals nor God. We can control some things but not others.

Both existentialists and New Agers fail to have an ethical perspective. Whether you see yourself as a victim of life or whether you blame others for everything that happens to them – or everything that you are doing to them - you will do wrong. I see no valid reason for either ideology. Once again, some things you can control and others you cannot control. By all means encourage responsibility, but do not blame people for things that are not their doing or claim to be God.

Does positive thinking create positive reality? I do not believe that it does. However positive you get, if you are burning the rainforest, the rainforest is burned. However positive you get, if you poison the air, the air is poisoned. Nor are all “negative thinkers” evil, although some are. I see no reason at all to embrace either positive thinking or negative thinking. Both create more problems than they solve. The first fails to see where things could go wrong, and the second capitulates to whatever problems are happening without doing anything to solve them. Neither is right.

If you are a teenager, existentialism is appealing because you are not in control of your life. If you are an adult, the New Age is appealing because you are. However deciding that everyone is responsible for everything that happens to them is both cruel and unethical. Once again, some things we can control, others we cannot.

I do not come in with the attitude that I can do everything. I come in with the attitude that I can do some things, some of them meaningful and important. I cannot fly to Mars. However I can deconstruct false beliefs, which I am doing with two of them now.

So I would not recommend either existentialism or the New Age. I would recommend Christianity. The Bible acknowledges that God is the maker of reality and that we have been given some powers but not others. And it provides a real ethical structure that both existentialism and New Age lack.