Existentialism, Final Paper

Ew. I am full of dread. I want to ace my final Existentialism paper. Wanting to excel on an assignment is constraining. It is suffocating. I want to exemplify my best work as a philosopher and yet I don't know if it will be good enough. I just finished my paper. I am sort of relieved, but mostly terrified. What do you think of it?

Here it is:

The perpetual cycle through freedom and fear versus anguish are the chains that strap man to his existence. Define these terms.
Freedom is a release from the burden of obligation. It is taking a stand, deviating from the norm, and sticking to that decision. Freedom is taking responsibility —responsibility for the path chosen, the choice made, the choice not made. It is the responsibility of one’s own individual choice.
Freedom is not an inalienable right. It is not an American virtue. It is not being released from slavery, prison, or ransom. Freedom in these contexts are legal terms and social standards developed by humans to be guides. A rulebook is security. What is “socially acceptable” is binding. When in doubt, look to the actions taken by peers and colleagues. Listen to what the media says. Allow these standards to steep in, slowly turning the boiling water—a person’s potential—into murky, bland-tasting tea.
No. Allowing predisposed standards to dictate the choices one makes is to become a slave to obligation. Break these chains. Once the chains have been broken, do not deny they have been. Do not admit, either. One must proclaim the responsibility for one’s action taken. Exclaiming “I have done this! This is what I have done!” is to be free.
Freedom is to be late to class and not care. Freedom is to arrive to class on time because of the eagerness to learn. Freedom is to get up and leave in the middle of class because one knows full well that he or she does not want to learn what is being taught. Freedom is to stay for the entire duration of a class because one loves learning. Freedom is to write a poem to express oneself. Freedom is writing a poem for a class assignment and putting in the effort to make it the best poem it can be, because that person wants it to be the best poem it can be. Freedom is crying and allowing oneself to cry without holding back. Freedom is lying to a parent, getting caught and saying, “Yes, I lied to you” and taking the consequences. Freedom is paying for a sandwich at a deli because one agrees with the merit of commerce. Freedom is choosing to go to college because that is what the individual wants; not what the parent wants. Freedom is leaving college because one decides he or she should be gardening in Guatemala instead…and then goes to Guatemala and gardens.
The camel and the lion are inhibitors of freedom:
To be camel is to carry burden on one’s shoulders. This burden comes from “[loving] those who despise us, and [giving] one's hand to the phantom when it is going to frighten us” . Instead of realizing one cannot control the way another feels one, and detaching oneself from that desire to hold onto unrequited love, the camel holds on. Instead of lighting a match in a room where a phantom resides to illuminate it and leaving or telling oneself one isn’t afraid, the camel dwells in fear. Fear inhibits freedom.
The lion cannot create. It cannot see what potential it has to do, to change, to make. The lion hears the cry of the dragon, “’All the values of things glitter on me. All values have already been created, and all created values- do I represent. Verily, there shall be no 'I will' anymore.’” . In response, the lion says “No!” The lion rejects authority, rejects social standards, and rejects the obligations others place upon him. But this is no good, for now what can the lion do but sit in the desert alone, dry up, shrivel and die? This lack of inventiveness inhibits freedom.
The camel accepts his burden, acknowledges it, and lives with it—he is not in denial. But in order to be free, the camel must be proactive . The camel must take actions that he wholly believes in and accepts to do.
The lion takes one action: he says “No!” But, in order to be free, the lion must choose a path to embark on, instead of remaining stagnant in the desert. In order to be free, the lion must take a risk to leave the desert, and accept all of the consequences.
If one remains stagnant to avoid making choices and taking consequences, one is not free. Stagnation is purgatory between anguish and freedom and fear.

Anguish looks at intention in the eyes, but then turns away. Anguish is soul-sucking; it leaves its victims lifeless, listless, and wandering. Anguish is to know that jumping off a cliff will end life, and jumping. It is acknowledging the capacity to go to class, yet sleeping through class. It is having the capacity to be honest in a relationship and cheating.
Anguish is falling off Zarathustra’s rope. It is trying hard, but not hard enough. It is giving up, giving in and giving out. It is laziness. Anguish is getting punched in the face and not fighting back.
Zarathustra’s rope is man’s journey from beast to over-man. Man’s goal is to work hard, change himself, and to be willing to take chances to learn and grow. The jester comes out onto the rope and chastises man. The jester says, “’Go on, halt-foot," cried his frightful voice, "go on, lazy-bones, interloper, sallow-face!- lest I tickle thee with my heel! What dost thou here between the towers? In the tower is the place for thee, thou shouldst be locked up; to one better than thyself thou blockest the way!’" . The jester cries, “You are not good enough! You have no skill! What do you think you are doing? You do not have the capacity to do this. Give up, loser.” And then the jester pushes man off the rope. But the person responsible for falling is man. It is man who allows himself to be chastised, who listens to what the jester says. It is man who chastises himself, who doubts, who fears, and who falls. Man is his own jester. The jester is anguish.

A man is bound to his choices. His existence is based upon the decisions he makes. A man’s existence is validated by his interaction with other individuals . A man does not exist without affecting other people. When a man makes a choice, he makes a choice for all men. When man takes action, he is saying that all men have the capacity to take this same action. By cheating on a test, man says that all men can cheat on tests. By making love, man says that all men can make love. (“Men” stands for men and women). By driving over a child crossing the road on the street, man says that he can get run over. When children steal candy from a convenience store, they are saying that people can steal from the shops they’ll own when they grow older. By swimming naked in the ocean, other people can swim naked in the ocean. By peeing in the pool, other people can pee into the pool. By dying of hunger, other people can die of hunger. By drowning, other people can drown. By dropping out of Hartwick to go backpacking through Europe, other people can drop out of Hartwick to go backpacking through Europe.
This responsibility is a heavy burden, similar to the burden the camel holds on his back. But it is responsibility which governs morals and values . The laws of morals and values are not what God decides what is wrong and what is right. It is not what is written down in the Koran or Torah or Bible. It is not what your mother tells you you should do. It is not what your father, grandparent, uncle, teacher, friend, lover, governor, senator, president, boss, or child tells you what you should do. It is what you chose to do . And by accepting that responsibility, you are free.
It does not matter if what is being said is the right thing to do or who is saying it in the end, because ultimately you are going to make a decision, whether that choice is to remain stagnant or to go out and embrace the brutality of the world. It is up to you to decide how to enjoy life. It is your freedom to do so.
If a young woman decides that she wants to dedicate herself to becoming a writer and leaves her job to travel the world in order to have experiences to inspire her writing, and accepts the responsibility of poor pay, rough living conditions, the disapproval of her parents and colleagues, and fully engages herself in her work, then she is free.

Fear is the heavy shield which the knight has no strength to support and therefore keeps him stagnant from completing his task of rescuing the damsel from distress. Fear is concern for the exterior, the weather, the elements, the actions other people have the capacity to do. Fear is the inhibition from jumping off a cliff due to the apprehension of death. Fear is not driving to work in a snowstorm to avoid a potential accident. Fear is the refusal to ask an attractive person out on a date due to possible rejection.
The young woman who seeks adventure and experience for the sake of her writing but stays home, goes to college, gets a job she does not enjoy, settles down, marries, and has a family because it is easier, has more security, and pays more, is fearful. But this woman is responsible for her cowardice . It is her fault she does not go after the adventure she seeks. Say she cannot afford, monetarily, to travel. It is her responsibility to be resourceful and save the money she needs to get to Paris, India, or wherever she is going. She does not need a first class seat to get from one place to the next. If she is determined enough, she could hop a train, a boat, or a car. If she is determined enough, she could swim. (Or, more realistically, perhaps build her own boat…)
If the young woman does not go on the adventure she craves because she fears the living conditions she may encounter, she is responsible for not living the adventure she seeks. Instead, she could save up enough money to live in safe and luxurious housing, or stay at friends’ houses who live in the places she may travel, or rent her own flat, or, simply, grim up and deal with sleeping on the floor, in a tent or in a hostel.
If the young woman bases her decision to abstain from the adventure she yearns for on the opinion or “advice” of her parents, friends, partner, or colleagues, this woman does not want to write and travel enough. It is not the people in the young woman’s life who dictate what the young woman does. It is her choice to listen to what they have to say. It is her decision whether or not to act upon the suggestions they make. “It is not what a woman of your social standing is supposed to do” is a social restraint. Break these chains! “I need you here at home with me” is a situation that is up to her to evaluate. Regardless of whether the young woman views this statement to be true or not, it is still up to her to decide if she should stay or go. “What do you think you’re doing? It is dangerous! You could be killed!”—the young woman will go if she is willing to take this risk. “There is no money in doing this” is an ignorant statement. If the woman works hard and makes herself knowledgeable enough, she can turn her adventure into an enterprise. The decision is hers and hers only!
Freedom, fear, and anguish are all burdensome. Fear and anguish are burdensome because of the struggle they manifest. Freedom is burdensome because of the responsibility it requires. However, this responsibility is liberating. Sartre explains, “Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life” . Man is free in that he chooses who he is. He chooses who he is by what he does. If man is stagnant, he is defined by his stagnation. If man is bold, he is defined by his boldness. His existence is his action; to exist is to take action. Man is free because man can do anything.






Works Cited
Sartre, Jean-Paul. "The Humanism of Existentialism" Club Maintenant. Paris. 29 October, 1945.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Trans. Thomas Common. Great Britain: The
Darwien Press of Edinburgh, 1916. Print