We begin in a silent universe. The weight of absolute freedom feels less like a gift and more like a sentence. We are here, thrust into existence without a script, tasked with the monumental burden of creating meaning from scratch in a world that offers none. This is the existential starting point: the confrontation with the Absurd. Like Sisyphus, we are condemned to push our boulder, to find purpose in a seemingly futile struggle against an indifferent cosmos.
Many, faced with this, fall into the despair of nihilism, a philosophy of resignation. But existentialism offers a different path. It is a call to rebellion. It tells us not to lament the absurdity, but to embrace it. It is in this courageous confrontation that we find our first taste of true power. We stop looking for external validation and start creating our own values. We take full responsibility for our choices, recognizing ourselves as the sole authors of our lives. This is the great empowerment of the existential path. We build ourselves, authentically and deliberately, from the ground up.
And then, something remarkable happens on this journey of self-creation.
As we act with this newfound authenticity, a subtle shift occurs. We begin to realize that the “world” we were struggling against isn’t as separate as we once thought. Are we truly interacting with people and things, or are we interacting with the images of them we have formed in our own minds? The hard boundary between the “I” and the “other” begins to blur. The feeling of being a solitary actor fades, replaced by an intimation of a deeper interconnectedness. We start to see that our actions, our thoughts, our very consciousness, are not isolated events but are woven into the fabric of existence itself. We start to feel not separate, but part of a whole.
This is the pivot point, the great and beautiful paradox.
Having built the strength to stand alone, we now find the grace to fall into something greater. The very Absurdity that we once rebelled against begins to look different. It is no longer a void, but a canvas. The apparent meaninglessness is no longer a source of angst, but a field of infinite potentiality. A devotee, after all, does not see absurdity; he sees Lila, the divine play. That chaotic, unpredictable dance of life ceases to be something to conquer and instead becomes something to adore.
The absurdity becomes our personal god.
This is the journey from Sisyphus to Shabari. Sisyphus finds his happiness in the struggle itself, a noble act of defiance. But Shabari finds her joy in an act of pure, selfless devotion. Her meaning isn’t created; it’s expressed through love. The empowerment of existentialism gives us the strength to build our own castle, but the final liberation comes from lovingly handing the keys over. It is a surrender not of weakness, but of profound strength and love. We let go of the power we gathered, not because we failed, but because we have started to realize the true meaning.
The meaning was in the absurdity itself. A pure love is born, like a lotus in the mud.
Existentialism is not a detour; it is the path that makes us strong enough for the ultimate journey. It teaches us to stand on our own two feet, so that we may learn the joy of finally kneeling in loving surrender. We move from creating our own meaning to dissolving into the meaningfulness of everything. The rebel, having found his power, finds his peace not in victory, but in adoration.
Reinvent The Self! 