Easter Existentialism

'Existence precedes essence'

It's a popular concept in modern philosophical thinking-The idea that we ourselves create a meaning within our own lives which does not extend beyond those boundaries. Life is nothing except the subjective point and meaning that we give it ourselves. Once this cornerstone has been laid, it is natural that other such ideas such as truth, meaning, purpose, reality and God tend to go down the drain. How does this idea of subjectivity actually reflect the 'reality' we perceive?

C.S Lewis writes that that 'You can't go on seeing through things forever. The whole point in seeing through something is to see something through it...If you see through everything then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To see through all things is to not see'. He uses the example of a window looking out onto a garden. In other words subjectivity can only truly exist within the framework of objectivity. I wonder what the bank manager would say if i went down and tried to argue that the debt i have is all subjective, and so from my perspective there is no debt. What would a husband say to a bride who claimed when they said 'I do' it was a subjective statement? The very nature of the world we live in, is one of objectivity. This does not mean that subjectivity cannot exit, but it does mean that we cannot try to deny the existence of objective reality.

And if there is an objective reality, is it then outrageous to claim that there is an objective truth? For if objectivity exists then it is possible for ideas such as purpose, meaning, truth, reality and God to exist outside of our person. It is possible that there could be a God, who created this universe and everything in it. It is possible that there could be a right and a wrong, an ultimate truth. It is possible that we could be part of an amazing creation that reflects an amazing creator.

In the Bible, God refers to himself as 'Yahweh'. This means 'I am'. He is that he is. This is not a fluffy subjective term, this is a reality, an existence, a truth. The Bible goes onto claim that as God's creation, made with a specific purpose, we have all turned away from him, and live in a world with little purpose, and little meaning. Sound familiar? It then claims that Jesus, the Son of God came to Earth to die, as a real person so that we might find purpose again, that we might have a living real relationshp with the God that created us. It's a big claim,it's a massive claim but one i would argue is very much worth investigating.

Happy Easter!