SARTRE, BEAUVOIR, etal.

I've been reading a book called At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell. It's about the philosophers Sartre, Beauvoir and their circle during and after WWII - their lives, existentialist philosophy and more than a few affairs.
     Here's a long quote by Bakewell:

Freedom for (Sartre) lay at the heart of all human experience...as a human being I have no predefinednature at all. I create that nature through what I choose to do. Of course, I may be influenced by my biology, or by aspects of my culture and personal background but none of this adds up to a complete blueprint for producing me. I am always one step ahead of myself, making myself up as I go along.

   Sartre put this principle into a slogan: Existence precedes essence....roughly it means that, having found myself thrown into the world, I go on the create my own definition (or nature, or essence)...you might think you have defined me by some label, but you are wrong, for I am always a work in progress. I create myself constantly through action, and this is so fundamental to my human condition that it is the human condition from the moment of first-consciousness to the moment when death wipes it out. I am my own freedom, no more, no less.

   I, Sherry, can see that if I alone create myself from what I do, I have a responsibility to act in such a way that I will want to be the person I'm always becoming. My actions will reveal who I am. No philosophy or religion or politics or other person can tell me what to do; I am the only one who can make my choices.

     What a responsibility! I can already feel anxiety. Will I make the right or the wrong choice? I think Sartre would say there is no right or wrong. There is only what we do which will lead to the next action and the next. 

     So Buddhist, so 21st century. Bakewell thinks it could be that existentialism will make a comeback. It seems to me that its ideas are already here.

     More about responsibility another time.