Definition of Existential Void

The human feeling that life is meaningless has been coined by some philosophers with the term existential emptiness. This feeling normally occurs among those who consider that human life lacks sense, because they do not believe in a superior god or in any transcendental idea that allows them to give life a meaning.

The existential void has been described as a disease of the soul, because who has this assessment of life feel a sensation helplessness, boredom and, ultimately, lives with the conviction that being alive is associated with despair and the absence of faith.

Possible causes of existential emptiness

From a philosophical point of view the existential emptiness can be explained in several ways:

- The idea that God does not exist, because it is a concept created by man. To the think that this is so, man feels alone and helpless.

-The idea that there may be a God, but the existence of him does not imply a purpose of human life and, consequently, an inner emptiness similar to that experienced when one believes that God does not exists.

- The idea that human reason and science is the only valid instrument to search for the truth. This consideration excludes any path to transcendence or spirituality, which can lead to inner emptiness.

- The idea that the human being is pure existence and has no essence. This conception makes man perceive himself without a purpose, since he has come to this world for a mere biological question.

- Not finding an idea regarding questions such as who we are or what we do in this life.

The personal consequences of existential emptiness

The different ideas or beliefs that lead to existential emptiness have consequences in the human being and, some of them, are the following:

1) lead a life in which only the present exists,

2) adopt an escapist position (escape from reality can lead to addictions, in a materialism, in a feeling of frustration or vital anguish) and

3) pose human life with an absence of supreme values ​​and, therefore, act without ideals.

What conclusion, it must be remembered that some thinkers have described the existential emptiness as a desert of the human soul. Philosophically, the existential emptiness has also been equated to the concept of nothing.

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Themes in Existential Void