Philosophically Speaking

I received a welcomed call Saturday from my cousin Dave, a schoolteacher, who lives in Florida. His father and my father were twins, not identical but fraternal twins, yet identical in many ways. Dave and I have many of our fathers' characteristics, making us alike in some ways, yet very different in others.

Our conversations always vary in topics, and David a very intelligent person has a LARGE vocabulary, much larger than his country cousin does. Therefore, when he used the word existentialism in casual conversation, when talking about Herbs & Things E-mailing’s, I went silent for a second, as my mind searched for its meaning. Thinking too, it’s not only a word I wouldn’t, no wait—couldn’t— just throw around in conversation, but his use of it resurfaced the confusion the word always causes me.

Existentialism— what exactly does it mean?

For me, it’s one of those words, that has different meanings according to what you read, whom you talk with or what philosophical essay you encounter.
Consequently— my dilemma— figuring out—is it a good thing, or a bad thing to be an existentialist

With that said, my understanding of one of the philosophical meanings, or maybe it is what I want to think it means…is…
An existentialist practicing existentialism is philosophical in their thoughts of the how’s and whys of the world and they obtain the knack of making sense out of the confusing things life and the world throws at us at times. In addition, we carry the belief we are all here for a reason and purpose.
If that’s the case I welcome being an existentialist.

However if that’s not what it means…then I am in deep…VERY deep Dodo…and not sure if it’s a place I want to be.

Let me know what you think. Do the word and its meaning…s confuse you too…?

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

http://www.answers.com/topic/existentialism

http://books.google.com/books?id=gFjA5oKG37sC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=simpilfied+meaning+of+existentialism&source=bl&ots=LfDIq_CfCp&sig=Z_A9HxB7bVUr_LgKauRVQG0wu6c&hl=en&ei=a35tSs2RGtKJtgf_6vmIDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10