However, the fate of freedom is not only an easy good thing, but also a very harsh side. Sartre also has two famous viewpoints. First, free choice is a heavy burden. Second, "Others are hell".
why does free choice become a burden? Because the choice is bound to bring consequences, then who will be responsible for the consequences? Sartre said that no one else can bear the responsibility. You have made a choice and you have to bear the responsibility alone. And can only bear alone, can't share with others.
because as long as you make a choice, there will be a criterion behind it. Where did your standards come from? You can only establish it for yourself.
Everyone's life is full of choices, big and small, such as whether to pursue further studies or work directly after graduation, what career to choose, whether to get married or not, whether to have children ... All choices have consequences, and we live in the consequences of our own choices, which are also shaping ourselves. So we will care about the good or bad choice, no one wants to live a life of regret, and we all hope that our choice has a solid and reliable basis.
all your choices are based on yourself. There is obviously Nietzsche's influence here. Nietzsche said that man is the creator of his own value. After "God is dead", there is no objective and absolute universal standard, and man has no external standard to rely on. Dostoevsky, a great Russian writer, famously said, "If God dies, everything is allowed". Sartre said that this sentence is the starting point of existentialism. In other words, Sartre believed in value subjectivism.
you must not only make a choice, but also establish the criteria for your choice. Then you have no excuse. You can't say "because my parents asked me to do this", because it is you who take obedience to your parents as the standard; You can't say "because religion makes me do this", because it is you who take religious teachings as the standard.
no creed, no doctrine, or other people's suggestions can be your excuse. Sartre believes that these statements are just self-deception and are used to evade their responsibilities. Make an exaggerated joke. If you break up with your partner and a friend comes to comfort you, they will say "it's not your fault". But Sartre may say, this is your fault, the person you chose, the love you talked about, and the result is of course your responsibility.
what does it mean to take responsibility alone? Is to be your own legislator and take absolute responsibility for every choice you make. From "existence is nothingness", Sartre introduced the absolute freedom of human beings, and from absolute freedom, Sartre introduced absolute responsibility. This is a very heavy burden.
Milan Kundera, the most famous novel of Czech writer, is called The Unbearable Lightness of Life, which makes many people feel "unconscious". But if you understand Sartre's existentialism, it is easy to understand this title.
What is "lightness of life"? This lightness comes from the way people exist. People's existence has infinite possibilities and is not limited by any essence: it is a free and light experience. And this light freedom is lonely and heavy, because you have to bear all your choices and your own life alone, which makes people feel unbearable. As a result, we experience the unbearable lightness of life. This title profoundly reveals the spiritual dilemma of modern people, and perhaps you have felt it.
"others are hell"?
and our friends, relatives, lovers, and friends and relatives can help us get rid of some loneliness?
This brings us to another famous saying of Sartre: "Others are hell". This sentence is from a play written by Sartre, and its name is "Confinement". It's about three imprisoned ghosts waiting to go to hell, but in the process of waiting, the three ghosts keep cheating and torturing each other. Finally, they suddenly realize that they don't have to wait for hell. They are already in hell. Hell is not a knife and a mountain of fire, and they will always be with others. This is hell itself.
"Others are hell". To understand the true meaning of this sentence, we should return to Sartre's philosophy. People can freely control their own lives, which is called human subjectivity in philosophy. I am the subject, which means I have the initiative. Then the question comes, you are free, and I am free. Then when we are together, who is the subject and who has the initiative?
Sartre believes that people always want to maintain their subjectivity, so people will definitely struggle for subjectivity. Everyone wants to turn others into objects when getting along with others, so as to maintain their subjectivity and freedom.
Sartre gave an example, saying that when you are walking in the street, you will feel uncomfortable when a stranger comes face to face and looks you up and down with his eyes. Why are you uncomfortable? Sartre explained that when others look at you, he subconsciously turns you into the object of his observation. In this gaze, he is the leader, and you are just an object watched by him; If he wants to realize his subjectivity, the price is to deny your subjectivity and materialize you. Therefore, you will subconsciously avoid each other's gaze. But you can also resist. When he looks at you, you look back at him and turn him into an object with your gaze.
in Sartre's view, people's communication is like this, always fighting for subjectivity. Even in love is no exception. Sartre said that the romantic love in our imagination is a scam, and the love experience that is inseparable from each other and integrated into one is just an illusion at the beginning. Love is also full of conflicts and struggles for subjectivity. In the end, it is either abused and happy in shame, or abused and happy in guilt.
This is the common plot of love. One person pursues another person, pleases and caters to the other person, becomes what the other person likes, and loses his subjectivity. The pursued party, on the other hand, should strive to show its charming charm and gain its subjectivity through the dedication of the pursuer. In such a relationship, the more passionate the love, the closer the two sides are to masochism and sadism.
Sartre has another wonderful saying. He said what hatred is. Hatred is actually that you admit the freedom of others. Think about it, would you hate a cup or a chair? Hate can only point to people, because people have freedom, and only people can do something for you out of their own consciousness. In the actions of others as the main body, you become an object, a thing, and your subjectivity is denied. So you hate it, because you don't want to be treated as an object. In this sense, hatred means that you admit each other's subjectivity.
Sartre believes that we live in a world where others exist, and everyone is free, but it is impossible for us to realize the ideal freedom of * * *, because everyone should realize his own subjectivity. In this sense, Sartre is a pessimist. He doesn't believe in the relationship of mutual recognition, equality and respect between subjects that liberalism yearns for.
Sartre's existentialism inherits Nietzsche's ideological tradition, emphasizing that people can only create themselves, constantly shape themselves in free choice, and bear the responsibility of choice. Like Nietzsche, he denied the universal and objective standard of value judgment, but he seemed to give up Nietzsche's superman theory and emphasized that people can only choose themselves alone.
When we listen to Sartre's philosophy, we will feel a kind of despair. The starting point is nothingness, and the end point is loneliness. In this process, we have to bear heavy responsibilities. Sartre also said that his existentialism is a philosophy of despair. But Sartre said that existentialism is also a philosophy of hope. Where is the hope? In our freedom, in the infinite possibilities of human beings, we always have the potential to change, and we don't have to obey any doomed fate.
Sartre showed us the spiritual dilemma that everyone has to face, but at the same time, he also told us that we can always make changes. Change with what? Action.
Existentialism is a philosophy of despair and hope, but most importantly, it is a philosophy of action! Our most fundamental freedoms and possibilities are realized in action. They are not only Nietzschean superman, but rooted in everyone's existence.
Life is meaningless, and people can still be strong. If Sartre's thought has given us any enlightenment, I think it is eight words: see the truth clearly and continue to fight. Man is a futile passion, and he is doomed to be lonely, but so what? Since you can choose, then choose, and then take responsibility for the choice, there is nothing else to say. We are all Sisyphus pushing boulders, but we know that "Sisyphus is happy" because "the struggle to reach the top is enough to enrich people's hearts".