Despair, existential

Man s history has been characterized by a seemingly insoluble ambivalence toward altered states and intense experience. Freud said that in schizophrenia things become conscious that should remain unconscious. As Kierkegaard pointed out, however, "One cannot transcend one s self objectively. The existential realization of a unity of finite and infinite which transcends existence comes only in the moment of passion." Tolstoy had a similar view "It is possible to live only as long as life intoxicates us as soon as we sober again we see that it is all a delusion, and a stupid one " Despite their emphasis on intensity, both men conceded that "It is perfectly true that only terror to the point of despair develops a man to his utmost—though of course many succumb during... 

A major intellectual theme in the western world lately has been that there are no ways out. Seeing the irrationality and horror, the samsaric nature of much of the world about us, some philosophers have concluded that this simply is human nature and that the best we can hope to do is tolerate it in existential despair or try, without much hope, to do the best we can. indeed, a person can use such despair as a prop for the ego by priding himself on his "realism" and courage in facing such a dismal situation, while I respect these philosophies of despair for their honest recognition that there is no easy way out, I am of an optimistic nature myself and cannot accept despair as an end goal. 

When his mother and Grace plead with him not to go on a futile search for his brother, the Son replies with a powerful rhetoric of a need born of profound existential despair ... 

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