Two
Philosophers of my Youth….
There are two great contemporary
philosophers that have touched me deeply in my youth. These two philosophers
have shaped and formed me…
The first is Albert Camus and Camus’ major works that have touched me are
the following: L’Etranger; the Plague; The Myth of Sisyphus; the Fall and the
Rebel.
The 2nd is Jean Paul Sartre. I
continue to enjoy and use, often, his Trilogy – The Age of Reason; Iron in the
Soul; and Reprieve… Yes, all of us
experience the “iron in the soul”. And often, we simply ask for “reprieve” akin
to a man with a death sentence while waiting for the execution… Only when we
face this iron in the soul squarely… only when we are able to gather the pieces
of our brokenness that we and are able to begin anew that we arrive at the real “age of Reason”.
Camus and Sartre filled the early
narratives of my youth in the early 70’s while I was searching for meaning and
relevance beyond the traditional faith-narratives.
Later on as
I age… I began to realize what yet another author - Daniel H. Pink, in his book “A Whole New Mind,” who writes:
“We are our stories. We compress years of
experience, thought and emotion into a few compact narratives that we convey to
others and tell to ourselves. That has always been true. But narrative has
become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when
many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our
purpose.”
Yes, we are our stories….!
Jun Mercado, OMI
December 5. 2017
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