Existential
spirituality began with such Christian thinkers as
Søren Kierkegaard,
Rudolf
Bultmann, and Paul Tillich. This form of
spirituality springs from an
awareness of our Existential Predicament,
which we experience as existential
depression, loneliness, anxiety,
absurdity, insecurity,
splitting,
meaninglessness, and despair.
Our individual spiritual
development
may be measured by the degree
to which we acknowledge and
embrace our Existential Dilemma.
And even the denial of our
absurdity,
emptiness, and meaninglessness
may manifest a spiritual
sensitivity we sometimes prefer to escape.
Existential spirituality
begins
by naming the nameless dread,
describing our Malaise, and
our usual ways of coping with it,
and then seeking pathways to
life on the other side of despair.
I. Gaining Spiritual Sensitivity
1. Becoming open to our deeper dimensions.
2. Enhancing our subjectivity.
3. Moving beyond the objective mentality.
4. Moments of Vision—nature, history, art, inwardness.II. Our Existential Predicament, Malaise, or Dilemma
Existential anxiety (angst) distinguished from simple fear:
1. general description—intelligible fears vs. vague dread.
2. cause—intelligible problems vs. free-floating anxiety.
3. duration—temporary worries vs. persistent state-of-being.
4. scope—limited to one dimension of life vs. pervasive.
5. cure—problems we can handle vs. the insoluble Dilemma.A few other common ways of experiencing our Malaise:
existential depression, loneliness, meaninglessness.
III. Moments of Disclosure of our Existential Predicament
1. When normal securities collapse.
2. Distortions and exaggerations of our psychological problems.
3. Encounters with death.IV. Our Attempts to Manage our Malaise
1. The flight from spirit.
2. Psychological interpretations.
3. Busyness and preoccupation.
4. Authentic Existence.V. Becoming Open to Life Beyond Our Existential Predicament
1. Becoming Convinced of the Depth of our Malaise.
2. Giving Up Psychological Means of Coping.
3. Existential Surrender.James Park is an existential philosopher.
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