Here I am, laying on my bed. I'm typing up my first blog post for PHI 304, my existentialism class that I've only just started the day before. I wasn't sure what I was going to end up writing for it, and frankly, I'm still a little hazy, but I think it's important (due to both the realization that it's for a grade and that given the course material, self reflection is an invaluable tool to understanding) that I show in writing what my thoughts on the course are, and with that, I'll begin.
I've been interested in existential philosophy for a few years now. My aunt Heather showed me the movie "Waking Life", by Richard Linklater, which is an exploration in lucid dreaming, death, and existentialism; after watching it, I realized that this brand of philosophical thought was relatively close to my own, extremely personal ideology. I'd spent years trying to figure out how best to live my life (which, of course, I'm still working on), and to accept this as a one try, one run situation meant to me that I needed to immediately accept responsibility for my own enjoyment of life- that is, if I were to accept the absurdity of my own sentient mind, it would then follow (in my mind, at least, if not formally, yet) that I should aim to enjoy as much of my sentience as possible.
Now, as to how this reflects on the first class period in PHI 304, I'm not entirely certain. What I do know is that we spoke to each other, and I've got a sinking suspicion that by the end of the class, I'm going to have met some of the most interesting people to be found around the ASU Tempe campus. Hopefully, I can prove to myself, if not others, that I'm also one of these people; I've had a colourful life, and perhaps sharing stories about it will help to alleviate some of my depression in regards to lack of meaningful social interactions.
