This past Saturday was the anniversary of the birth of Simone de Beauvoir, existentialist and feminist philosopher. Reading a little about her brought Sarah Bakewell to mind. Sarah is a British writer and her blog is one of those that I get snippets of on my own blog page. Sarah has written a couple of books about Michel de Montaigne, who lived in the 1500's. She has also written In "At The Existential Cafe…"
The usual explanation of existentialism is that it was a reaction to the pain, suffering and confusion in Europe at the end of World War II. Ancient people in India and China, people during the Renaissance and its aftermath, explorers and settlers coming to the New World to live and many people looking around after a war or natural disaster have rather naturally asked themselves what life is about and how one can best live.
It might be that once a human being is born, the experience and jubilation of completing that process would just persuade that person to simply rest on his laurels, having completed the miracle of growing from a fertilized egg into a full human being. Of course, resting on laurels and achievements is usually put on the back burner and the search for a breast to suckle gets the focus. Then, as the newborn matures, hormones and spirit rise up and new challenges of life are undertaken.
As we learn to grapple with the complexities of our bodies, of aging at each age, of our cultures and religions and political and military ideas and goals, every once in a while, we get a chance to step back and look at our lives and histories. Sometimes, we can focus on the fact of who we are, where we and our predecessors have been, on the surprises of existence. Each time, a new set of observers and writers looks at human existence, promises are made to grasp what we are better and more effectively than has been done before.
