pursuit of society, and a pursuit of spirituality. Basically, the existence precedes the awareness of self and the essence of self. Sartre embraced this concept of existence in his writings. By concentrating on the individual, Kierkegaard was laying the foundation for future existentialists. The individual was everything to Kierkegaard. He hoped to elevate the individual to a new philosophical level. The self is a series of possibilities; every decision made redefines the individual. Sartre further developed this concept. The knowledge that “I” defines the “self” results in “the dizziness of freedom” and “fear and trembling.” It is a great responsibility to create a person, yet that is exactly what each human does: creates a self. This self is independent from all other knowledge and “truths” defined by other individuals. Kierkegaard also contended that living is the art of the existentialist, while previous philosophies engaged only in thought. Philosophers were studying concepts, but not the individual behind the concepts -- that was limited to the nascent realm of psychology. Kierkegaard did not believe in universal truths, only truth as seen by one individual. Existentialism accepts that truth is subjective. Kierkegaard further stated that the highest form of subjectivity was passion. To think like an Existentialist is to contemplate the self, the Creator, and the universe with passion.Paul Tillich states strong feelings of Existentialism in the passage “The Meaning of Meaninglessness”, from The Courage to Be. Tillich feels that 20th century man has lost a meaningful world, and this man-created world of objects has pulled into itself him who created it and who now loses his bias in it. He goes on to state more about the idea of meaninglessness:“The courage of despair, the experience of meaninglessness, and the self-affirmation in spite of them are manifes...
