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Oddly enough one of the greatest places I have found to think about philosophy can be in the midst of a party. Yes I know that sounds weird. Why would I condemn myself to deep academic thought amidst the motley of distractions that are available to me on a normal Friday night?

Well as I have said in a previous blog post the best way to fully experience life is to live dangerously. And one of the easiest ways for people to do that is let go of their inhibitions. Alcohol, loud music and possible romantic encounters seems like a hot bed for heart racing experiences. But when I am in situations like these I start to think, are people choosing to live deliberately, is this just an escape from students real lives, where do our morals and ethics go when under the influence?

For me partying has become way less attractive of an activity as it way during high school. It is no longer pushing me to expand my horizons or developing who I am as a human being. In short I don’t find it dangerous. Sure alcohol can be dangerous and loud music might make me go deaf earlier and romance is always dangerous. But to what avail, college parties seem less about having my own fun and more about trying to prove to everyone that I am having the most fun. It all seems like a distraction from a life that is not meeting our standards of conscious danger.

But some how every Friday and Saturday night I find myself surrounded by the same blur of faces and loud music. And every night there is a time where I take as second to look around the room and think. I think of the great philosopher Kierkegaard who spent his nights in french bars with vagabonds, aristocrats, drunks, dancers and great minds alike. I liken my experience to him, even amongst all the distractions great thought can come. I see all aspects of choice, people in search of love, people running away from the real world, people dancing for no other reason then it makes them feel good.

A party offers so many stories, but it is tiring. I don’t understand how Kierkegaard did it. I believe he might have had it a little easier as french bars aren’t exactly the same as a college party. I think like Kierkegaard my experience could be enhanced by the group I decide to go out with. So hopefully I can continue to find others who push me intellectually and are willing to live dangerous with me. I think the question is less of to party or not to party, because it seems inevitable that I will be going out on the weekends, its more of how to party. Hopefully with more reflection and a group of friends that push me intellectually I will find my experience more enhanced.

Crowded

Thats the word that could describe many aspects of life. I feel like I always have too much to do and never enough hours in the day. I feel as though every place I go on campus there is someone else, my room has a roommate, the trails on the arboretum filled with runners, the practice rooms always filled and even a 3 am walk around campus I always seem to run into someone. Even my room feels filled with materials that I barely use everyday. So what is my solution, how can I declutter my life.

While not a philosophical idea minimalism has been a tool philosophers, CEOs and priests alike have used to better focus on their work. By limiting material objects in life people are forced to confront only their essential needs as a human. Their view is not distorted by attachment to physical objects and meaningless clutter that can take away time and energy. We see great figures move to lives of solitary living, in caves like religious figures, in wooden cabins like philosophers and artists and even the modern day business CEO will take time away from their work. But how can I do this in college?

So far my answer is to find times to escape campus and the hustle and bustle of college life. I have found great pleasure in taking drives on the weekend. The feeling of turning on the radio of my car and heading out onto the highway can only be described as euphoric. We live every minute of everyday on this campus and in happy valley, so the decision to take a break from that atmosphere for me could be related to an astronaut lifting off into a brand new world. The minimalistic atmosphere that I find in my car allows me to think clearly and relax from the persona I seem to put on everyday at college.

Another way to get away from all the distractions on campus is meditation with noise cancelling headphones. I have found that with good headphones even the busiest of spaces can become quiet or filled with relaxing music or sounds. This allows me to find a bit of respite anywhere I go, by just closing my eyes and listening to whatever I choose to play.

Philosophy and logical thinking is often an activity that is done in a solitary way, so it is important to find places that work for you. One secret spot of mine is the arboretum on campus. Barely anyone goes there and you can always find a good tree to sit under. I have written many philosophy journals and papers under the cover of the trees at Penn states arboretum. If the outdoors do not suit your fancy, Websters cafe downtown is a great place to think as you are surrounded by hundreds of books and other great thinkers. I would implore anyone who feels rushed or unlike themselves to take a second and find a place on campus that is away from it all. Minimize all the things that are distracting you and just take a second to breath and think.

One of the main pillars that holds up the philosophy of existentialism is the idea presented by Jean Paul Sartre, that existence precedes essence. This Idea has constantly been weighing heavy on my mind, forcing me to consider a new world view. To better understand this statement I had to dive into the opposite view point of essence preceding existence.

By believing essence precedes existence, you lead yourself down a logical path that ends with the question about religion. The only way for this viewpoint to work is if you consider god to be the ultimate sculpture of reality. This is because if we believe god puts everything on this earth with a meaning we don’t have to deal with the abyss that comes with complete and utter free will. Essentially people who believe that essence precedes existence are placing their hopes in a belief system where a divine intelligence has come up with a concept or pre-existing meaning for everything, from the stones that litter the ground to the humans that sit next to you in class. This would be a a belief held by almost every religion where god is the creator of our reality.

The view that in my mind is more logical in its approach, is atheistic existentialism, where existence precedes essence. The one true place where existence precedes essence is human reality. We are thrust into this world with no intrinsic purpose and no pre defined concept of who we will become. It is no other beings job to tell a man how he must live, that is a decision he must decide on his own. He must define his meaning and come to terms with who he has planned himself to become. By believing this first principle of existentialism the full responsibility for every action becomes apparent. There is no higher being to blame your woes on, just the decisions you have made to get you to where you are.

For some this is too much of a thought to handle. The complete responsibility for any action you take rest squarely on your shoulders, and that can be scary.  While this philosophy might be daunting, it is the one that offers the most freedom. It creates a reality where you have complete free will to do whatever you want. The only thing that is holding you back is your ethics and social norms.

To me the journey to believing that existence preceded essence was difficult. I come from a somewhat religious background, so to have me flip and go to quite an atheistic viewpoint was difficult. But what swayed me to the view point of Sartre was the freedom that is given to me. I would find it very difficult to live in a world where I am not fully responsible for my own actions. Logically I would struggle to deal with the tragedies that go on everyday, if people could just blame their decision on a predestined plan set forth by another. So I will continue forward in my search for meaning with the believe that my existence precedes who I have made myself to be. Allowing me to know that the decisions I make are fully my own.

To find the most fulfillment in life, one must venture into the unknown, experience the absurd and live dangerously. By leading a life that is constantly new and foreign you choose to live deliberately; not merely floating by on the whims of others and sticking with the familiar. Recently in my philosophy class we read the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, and it had a profound effect on my world view. Nietzsche challenges us to live dangerously, he says this is the secret to finding fulfillment in life. I agree with Nietzsche and his idea, I think that true fulfillment can be found in danger. Danger is all around us, just by daring to look at things from a different perspective we are experiencing danger.

By taking time to analyze the movements of ants or the orbit of stars we venture into ideas that have not come to us before and thus are in the pursuit of knowledge. This is the ultimate danger, not knowing and uncertainty can leave a man action-less, frozen with fear. But by stepping out into the dark we take a chance, to learn more and experience all the ups and downs that life can throw at us. It is so easy to live in comfort I see it everyday here at Penn State, especially in the honors college. Scholars who spend all their time in a study lounge, condemning themselves to a life of quite. But the world exists outside of our dorms and study spaces, the problems we need to fix are happening just a few steps out the door. Nietzsche is giving us a challenge, he tells us to dare to learn, dare to question and above all dare to live dangerously.

So how can we implement this into are lives, because philosophy is useless if not for the practical application of it. By staying conscious of why we make decisions, analyzing our actions and not being creatures of habit, we can live more dangerously. Take a chance, follow a different path and dance to the beat of your own drum. College is a time to discover yourself, so move forward into the unknown with conviction. Personally I take this step everyday, by challenging myself to look at things under a new lens. I don’t settle for the easiest answer, I challenge everything because there is too much absurdity to trust in anything outright. One thing I make sure to do everyday is take a moment to fully absorb my surroundings, especially while out in nature. I notice the little things like the colors of leaves the beauty of animals going about their day and the type of weather we are having. People may find it weird but ever since choosing to live deliberately I have smiled every time it started to rain here in happy valley. By choosing to live dangerously, approaching each moment as a chance to learn something knew I am finding more fulfillment and happiness in my life.

The idea of mortality is a scary one. One of the greatest problems philosophers, clergy men and great thinkers alike have been trying to solve for years is, what happens to us after we die. I would like to discuss some ideas of the afterlife and give my opinion on them.

Christianity offers the idea of heaven, a place in the clouds with white pearly gates, where only the good of heart and action get into. I have some problems with religion and this path that god offers. By believing in god I would be saying I believe there is a path I have to follow, or I would always have some bias affecting my decisions. This would take away my free will, which is an idea that I cannot latch onto. The idea that all of my decisions are on a path that is not created entirely by my own doing is scary to me. Some may find comfort in the idea of destiny or fate, but for me the idea that every action I take is predetermined or controlled by some force other then my mind is a scary thought. For me I don’t know if I can believe in heaven because of my stances on religion.

Hinduism offers the idea of reincarnation, which is the concept of our soul inhabiting another living thing once we die. This idea relies on your belief in a soul, and the separation of the soul and the body into two different entities. Once you die your soul leaves your body and becomes reincarnated into other living things. I actually really like this idea, its seems very beautiful to me. Science already says that we have energy transfer after we die, the earth and its cycles continue and utilize our body to continue its processes. To me is this a beautiful afterlife and if I turn out to be wrong, and there is some sort of afterlife I would hope that it is this one.

The last belief that is held by many philosophers is the idea of nothingness. Once we die we don’t exist, we face blackness and the total and utter end to the life we were in. To most this can be extremely scary, they need to have something after death and they have been working towards a goal that can only be achieved after death. But to me nothingness isn’t all that bad. I have decided to take on “the greatest weight”- Nietzsche. A decision to pursue life as though all I will do for eternity is repeat the same exact life over and over. By accepting the greatest weight, I am making a decision to pursue life, and I understand that the decisions I make have to be my own.

Ultimately I will keep pursuing life like there is nothingness afterwards, and would be pleasantly surprised if there is something.

I consistently find myself feeling the most at home in my body when I am surrounded by the natural world. The sounds of water rushing and trees brushing against each other fulfill something in me that no other sound can. A crackling fire on a brisk fall day can alleviate any stress burdening my mind, allowing me to focus on the simple task of keeping the coals alive. And a cozy snow covered cabin can offer a reprieve from society, which is often not found in this day and age.

So why do I choose to live my life on a college campus filled by technology and the stress that comes with pursuing higher education? Well, I think the main reason might be my goals for a career. It would be quiet hard to get accepted into any law school in this world if the only things on my resume were my abilities to build shelter, keep a fire from burning out and my knack for foraging and hunting. I would be hard pressed to find any school that would take abilities such as these seriously, considering the credentials of nearly perfect grades and LSAT scores required by those hallowed halls of learning. I know that I must go to school if I want to succeed but a part of me wonders if I would find just as much fulfillment living a simple life.

You see I fear this last statement by Thoreau “when I c(o)me to die, discover that I had not lived”. I am afraid that some of the decisions I make will not truly help me experience everything life has to offer, so that when I die I am faced with the reality that I have not truly lived. I feel like this thought could scare anyone. The question of what as humans are we supposed to do has long been debated and in some ways it will probably never truly be answered. I have currently resigned myself to the task of experiencing everything life has to offer me, and this is what gives purpose to my everyday actions and decisions. I hope that this will allow me to come to a place in my life where I do not fear death/nothingness and accept it like a long awaited rest.

But regarding nature I believe that the best way for me to feel truly fulfilled as a human when my death comes, is to continue finding time to enjoy the simple beauties that the natural world can present to me. Not to commit myself to just a life of technology and organized society, but to find a balance between the natural and technological world we live in.

– Colin W Hennessy