Part II

Essence or Existence; which came first? In order to have essence, we must create it meaning we must have to exist first. David Banach has a similar statement, that "Existence precedes Essence." We all exist even before birth but do not know who are what we are: "It means that first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself." Even once we are born, it takes time to define who we are. I am now reaching sixteen years of my life and still have no complete idea of who I am or who I want to be. I am also almost positive that the adults that surround me are still learning who they are today and continue creating pictures on their mental television screens. This causes me to wonder. When do we find ourselves? When does our essence become a set deal? Does our essence really exist? If it doesn't then what is it? Just to explain this a little more, "Both our nature and our value come from outside of us."(David Banach). We are constantly surrounded by external things so how do we finish determining our essence?
Hope this isn't confusing :)

Homework #1

David Banach searches for what it means to be an absolute individual in "The Ethics of Absolute Freedom". I believe that we are all absolute individuals and may never know who others really are. Even family or someone who you think is your best friend. "When you think of it, each of us is alone in he world. Only we feel our pains, our pleasures, our hopes, and our fears immediately, subjectively, from the inside. Other people only see us from the outside, objectively, and as hard as we may try, we can only see them from the outside. No one else can feel what we feel, and we cannot feel what is going on inside anyone else's mind." In this section of the text, David Banach explains that we all have feelings/ emotions, but only we can feel what we feel. Not anyone else. We all categorize our feelings in the same way when we view them on the outside, but based on the inside, we are all unique. We are "absolute individuals."
When a person experiences the emotion that we label as fear, one may hesitate or run, while another may fight. One emotion that many react to differently is sadness. One may ignore it, cry or become depressed as they let it overcome them. This may not be one of my best characteristics but when I get sad or nervous, I laugh. It is my way of coping with my sadness and blocking it from getting to my head. If someone I love passes away I become very sad but try to stay strong for myself and others. In order to do this I laugh to keep from crying but on the inside where no one else can see, I slowly break down from the inside out. Nervousness also triggers my laughing. When friends trip and fall, I am concerned for them but I laugh to ease the tension of embarrassment. I just try to make sure to laugh with them and not at them. Of course this doesn’t only apply for my friends, when I trip and fall or crash in gymnastics I always laugh at my self as well.
This is what makes me an absolute individual. No one else can fully explain why I do the things I do, just as I cannot explain other’s actions. This is why the speech given by David Banach can stimulate fear and act as a pacifier. It may comfort us to know that we are all different and have aspects about us that we can keep to our self. It may also cause fear to know that you never really know what a person sees. Whether its in room you are in, or who you are as a person.