This essay from Robert Solomon in the Chronicle of Higher Education (paywalled) argues against the popular perception of existentialism as a pessimistic philosophy (a perception that has long mystified me) and in favor of existentialism as full of hope and possibility. I don’t really understand how working to find your own meaning in life is supposed to be so pointless compared to believing that everything is in the hands of a deity; to me it seems just the opposite, that creating your own meaning is much more rewarding than accepting that someone else, even a deity, decided it all long ago.
Robert Solomon was a philosophy professor at the University of Texas, and he wrote, among other things, a book called Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life; what I’ve read about it sounds promising and it’s in the stack of books in my bedroom awaiting my attention. It sounds like it’s in line with my own beliefs about how the lack of conventional religion does not need to mean a lack of meaning, values, or morality. What makes the Chronicle piece a bit poignant is that Solomon died on January 2 while traveling (he was 64; his death was due partly to a congenital heart condition). I’m glad he left at least some of his thoughts behind in his books.
