DE Weekly: Jaspers, Existenz, & the Encompassing
I have only mentioned the German-Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers a few times by way of sharing his quotes in some newsletters over the years, but I have not dedicated an entire newsletter to him and his writings yet. Today, I’ll share a bit about this man whose influence on modern psychiatry and on Existentialism should not be overlooked.
Jaspers defined philosophy not as simply something we think about or write about in order to “understand” big ideas, rather, he believed philosophy was something we undertake as an “active search.”
DE Weekly: Frost, Jaspers, & The Road Not Taken
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both”, wrote Robert Frost in his 1915 poem, “The Road Not Taken”.
These lines begin the first stanza of one of Frost’s most famous poems, one you’ve likely heard before.
DE Weekly: Ozymandias, Breaking Bad, & Illusion
The great existential question has always been “What is the meaning of life?” The consensus vote of the existentialists was, more or less, “Life has no inherent meaning.” If that’s the case, then it’s up to us to create our own meaning.
That’s all well and good. But we’re still left without a solution. So, we have to ask ourselves, What do I do if life has no meaning? Furthermore, how do I find my purpose?