Existential Examination
(Continued)

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Religiously, he felt the church promoted an “otherworldly” theology exclusively—which he felt could not help anything; and he called for the edification of life which he considered the ultimate value in existence! He felt that the love of life and truth were gone and like Martin Luther and Hegel, before him, he too would exclaim, “GOD IS DEAD!” He would later add a twist to these cutting words by saying, “God is dead and we have killed him!” What he meant here is that his modern world had eliminated virtue and thus eliminated God by placing God outside of morality and in a metaphysical realm “up there”. And then he said the church creatively posited reasoned truths out of subjective theological ideas and made them dogma—in other words theologians had taken biblical stories and used reason to prove them true when they are subjective truths or truths based on the way the individual saw them—He felt they could not be collective or universal truths. Nietzsche did not believe in a universal truth… He felt what was really needed was a more down to earth personal theology and philosophy that was morally conscious. If there were a God for Nietzsche, that God would be alive in the world working actively through people, but God was dead because humans, who have the power of choice, had chosen to place God in the heavens theologically, instead of on earth socially.

Like Kierkegaard he felt there was an over abundance of “herd behavior” in religion where people inadvertently let God die. Nietzsche felt that if you are religious, as most of the society claimed to be back then, you must have a physical, present Creator. This meant his overarching focus was that religion must be centered on THE SELF--THE INDIVIDUAL. The greatest creation on earth for Nietzsche was the human being, and thus, as I said before HUMAN LIFE and the preservation of a moral society, was his fundamental philosophy. As we heard from his words this morning: “At bottom every person knows well enough that they are a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity ever be put together a second time.” For him religion should not ask “What is to happen to me when I die?”, rather it should ask, “What kind of person am I because of my faith?” “What can I do with my life right now?” Nietzsche’s philosophy was a philosophy of virtue or character; it was not defined by rules or principles or even good behavior, rather it was guided by the belief that we must understand what we understand, from our perspective, and then act consciously according to that belief. Although all beliefs are subjective, he believed that people, at their core, had similar levels of virtue which, if each individual focused on themselves fully, we could move the society forward to righteous standards. He would say, “Virtue has its own reward.” For Nietzsche, you don’t do things for a heavenly reward but you do them for virtue’s sake. You do good—for goodness sake. He felt we spent too much time judging others while we need to be judged ourselves–that folk tried to take the splinter out of another’s eye when they had a log in their own eye.

And so, like Camus and Kierkegaard, Nietzsche felt the individual should not worry about heaven or others’ morality, rather on themselves. For these Existentialists, introspection was the best thing for society in the long run. Nietzsche’s existentialism might ask: “Have you lived up to the character you want to be?” “Are you the master of your morality or slave of your morality?” “Do you accept yourself?” “Have you made something out of your life?” “Are you letting society determine who you are?”

One other point, Nietzsche like the others, also felt the Universe was indifferent, but his idea says that it’s not the deck you are dealt, but how you play your cards! And he would say as the Greeks said well: “Become who you are!”

And so, with all that said, these very fine gentlemen teach us this morning that existentialism is essentially a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the individual experience in an indifferent, random universe; it regards human existence as unexplainable, but stresses that freedom of choice and taking responsibility for the consequences of our action is what is important. (www.answers.com ).

And that speaks to us this morning as Unitarian Universalists… Our second principle is closely related Existentialism. We do believe that all deserve A free and responsible search for truth and meaning, which means I hope that you will take this freedom to find your truth seriously as these Existentialist’s did.

I know this philosophy may appear, to some of you to be morbid, atheistic, mundane and down right negative. But if you are listening, what I’ve discussed this morning is what it means to be active in the world. It’s not a negative message it is a positive and invigorating message that asks that we “step up” in life. Existentialism asks that we think more and do more. It asks that we look at what we’ve done with our lives; it asks how do others think of you—more than that--how do you think of yourself? It gives us no concrete advice on what “participation” in life really means, but it asks us to take responsibility for our actions—that we find our path or as Nietzsche would say, “Discover in yourself who you are” and for me, in that-- is the secret to finding your purpose in life and living a bold and fearless life at that!

Existentialism tells us we have choices—It asks that we accept the world of opposites, the finitude of it all; that we accept IT or—the “Tao”—the Way—the Creative Sustaining Force for its unexplainable self. But existentialism also shows us that IT can be alive when it is alive in every one of us who follow our passions. And maybe we don’t know what ITS WILL is but clearly if we are it and it is apart of us then our WILL is ITS will, our hopes—ITS hopes, our choices—ITS choices, because we are it and it is us!

So remember, each day when you struggle to make sense of it all. Everyday when the burdens of life weigh you down and you would like to hold on to something more tangible than an indifferent Universe... Take a leap of faith with me and say that you will not give up on really trying to LIVE, instead of just existing; take a leap of faith with me and really participate passionately in life--responsibly. Take a leap of faith with me and hold on to your passion. And when you hold on to your passion, when you think and do, you are making the best out of your situation and you are holding on to THE ESSENCE OF LIFE—THE MEANING OF LIFE… You are living amidst the ambiguity. And so Hold on the “GEIST” within you... Hold on to that existential power inside of you. It may be that this ability to think and do—this ability to act; this ability to contemplate our existence is the greatest gift the Universe could give. And so, in the midst of the opposites, particularly in the midst of the pain and despair—look onward and upward and find your meaning in life and manifest your greatness. As Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Yes--“The days can be dark with storms and burdens weigh on the heart. But even though troubles wait at every turn I know you can go on. And though the journey is long, the destination is unclear; and troubles wait at every turn, I know you can go on. And so brother take my hand, sister hold on to what is good and true for you—and know without a doubt that when troubles wait at every turn, you can go on…”

Amen

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