Just finished reading this book. Now I’m not trying to pose as a pseudo-intellectual here… :-)
Works of Jean-Paul Sartre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-paul_sartre) are interesting to say the least. I had very little idea if any about Sartre before reading this book and have heard of existentialism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism) a few times around. Well after reading the book, I wouldn’t say that I’m familiar with existentialism as such. For the simple reason that appears to be no authoritative definition for the term itself and existentialists are so diverse and varied in terms of demographics as well as nature/characteristics.
In short I learnt that while existentialism is all about human individuality and freedom it also emphasizes on responsibility. “No Excuses” – quoted from the book as the 2 word summary of existentialism. You can’t excuse even your birth :-). Now, that’s what spirituality calls ‘Karma’ and you even have control over your birth by definition of Karma. I found several other similarities between existentialism and spirituality but ultimately they diverge from the common points. Even Sartre himself “converted” to Marxism and then dumped that too.
Though I was scratching my head several times during the initial pages of the book, it really was a good read and provided deep insights on beer, homosexuality and voyeurism. ;-) . Jokes apart, this book gives a simple overview of existentialism with a touch of humor and is a good read.
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