Albert Camus - to experience more

In his "The Myth of Sisyphus," Albert Camus, the 20^th century French Existentialist, asks whether life is worth living. Although we are not discussing the meaning of life but rather the meaning of specific actions within life, nevertheless a certain element in his discussion is relevant here.

For Camus, the world as we experience it is 'absurd' - devoid of meaning and values. Theories and doctrines about God, the afterlife, morality and meaning are mere speculations. The only thing we know for sure, the only thing we can rely on, is what we experience directly.

This means that it makes no sense to make a value-judgment about my actions. What matters is not whether my action is noble or vulgar, good or bad, but that it allows me to have direct experiences of life. What counts is whether the action gives me the only thing that I know exists: life-experiences. Thus, the important thing is not 'better experiences' but 'more experiences': a larger variety of experiences which I experience fully, consciously, passionately.

In short, we can say that an action is significant if it gives me new and powerful experiences, if it allows me to experience life more fully and passionately.

ERICH FROMM - OVERCOMING OUR ISOLATION

In his book "The Art of Loving" Erich Fromm, an influential humanistic psychologist, explains that our central need is to overcome our isolation. Our self-awareness makes us aware that we are separate entities, separate from nature, separate from other human beings, and separable from our loved ones because of death or other uncontrollable circumstances.

This creates in us a tremendous anxiety, which Fromm describes as the root of all anxieties. Consequently, we are constantly trying, in a variety of ways, to overcome our separateness by connecting to others and to the world. Some of these ways are destructive: conformity with the group, for example, or fusion with a nationalistic ideology, or distorted relationships of dependence and loss of self. They are destructive because through them we lose our personal freedom and identity.

But other ways of overcoming our separateness are deeply meaningful: creativity connects us to worlds beyond ourselves; true friendship and true love connect us to other people. These are meaningful experiences to the extent that they allow us to transcend our boundaries, while at the same time to preserve - and even enhance - our integrity and personal identity. In real love we actively express our capacity to give from the center of our being, thus expressing our personal potency and our individuality.

From this perspective, meaningful experiences are those in which we overcome our separateness without losing our identity. Indeed, Fromm says that one of the most meaningful and exhilarating experiences of life is when the wall between me and another person breaks down, and we feel togetherness and union.