Existentialism and Conformity
Existentialism has been there around since the beginning of the mankind. But the existentialism movement emerged in mid-20th century. according to Wikipedia Existentialism is “a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of an individual person as a free responsible agent determining their own development through the act of will”. The questions they usually ask are “who am I?”, “what’s my identity”, “what’s my meaning?” etc.
In the search for the meaning of one own’s life people try standing out of the crowd, they try achieving something, which may be defined as their “purpose of life”. However, not everyone is capable of that! the suppressed anxiety of meaninglessness subconsciously pushes people to fit into and get accepted by the society to get that essential and temporary satisfaction. Or in other words, they find their purpose by getting accepted.
In a way, Social acceptance acts as a religion. Like how the religion offers you the meaning of life. Same way the society around us dictates our meaning of what we should or should not fulfill. And when its fulfilled, it gives the temporary escape from the anxiety of meaninglessness.
This is where conformity comes into play conformity by definition is Changing one’s own behavior to match that of other people.
With the rise of social media, conformity has intensified as people from all over the world can shame, and ridicule those who fail to hold beliefs or display behaviors which are considered socially acceptable.
This is why being a nonconformist is important. Although, a person who acts like a nonconformist just out of the desire to be different is still a conformist because their influence is still an external source.
True nonconformity, is the character, behavior, beliefs, and values which are chosen for personal or authentic reasons only.
Most humans are typically conformist. it’s also necessary for humans to get accepted for a peaceful life with good social bonds but, it also takes us back to a form co-dependency with the society which restricts us to show our individuality and above of all to do something different.
How can one find their real “purpose” of their life, if one always evaluates their success depending on if the community find it successful or not? This kind of success is all satisfying but only temporarily. But how do the people who are relatively very successful still find themselves going through existential crisis? This is question of philosophy. And the philosophers have not yet really got a clear answer.
Your purpose might be winning a Nobel prize, to cast in a movie, or simply win a video game or It can be none of it. It depends on you; some might turn to religion to find meaning and purpose of their lives. Some, may still be searching for it. I feel everyone at least once in their lives should go through existential crisis as it provides much insight of their own life.
