Jamica Romaine B.

Ambion
HUB22

Dr. Jing Reyes

August 12, 2014
Man and his life

I must do whatever I can to increase my own freedom. Freedom means doing what I
want to do. To hell with other people. What is good is that which furthers my interests. This is a
philosophy that is also called atheistic existentialism. It is a very individualistic way of looking at
man/woman. Jean Paul Sartre is an existentialist whose philosophy in life is this, he believes that
life has no ultimate meaning, that each person living in this world is alone and separated from all
other people. He believes that there is no God because the individual itself is the master of
his/her own life that he/she makes his/her own life and future. Furthermore, man is a living being
that is thrown into this world and he must find a way for him to survive and make his/her own
fate. In the article, Jean Paul Sartre emphasizes the existence of man and the reality of life. He
says that existentialisms first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the
full responsibility of his existence rest on him. It means that he is not only responsible for
himself but for everyone else. He also included the definition if anguish and despair. In anguish,
he defines that we must make some choices knowing that its consequences will have effect on
others. On the other hand, despair means that We limit ourselves to a reliance on that which is
within our power, our capability to influence. There are other things very important to us over
which we have no control. Here, we can see the concept of Meron o Wala that is discussed in
the first meeting of our midterm class. The doctrine that is presented by Jean- Paul Sartre which
says, Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfils himself; he is
therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life. Is the very
opposite of John Donnes famous writing No man is an island which everybodys clinging at.
In John Donne, there is God and each man cannot survive by himself alone in this world without
the help of others. God is the one who is our ultimate goal in life because is the Alpha and
Omega. With regards to this article that I have read for this reflection paper, this article that is
presented by Jean Paul Sartre aims to help, contribute and give information about the benefit of
humanism. Its up to us to judge and critique to whom shall we believe and cling at whether to
Jean- Paul Sartre or John Donne. As long as in everything that well do, we should always keep
in our minds the right of responsibility that we should do and that we should always look
forward to the positive outlook of life.

Jamica Romaine B. Ambion

HUB22

Dr. Jing Reyes

August 20, 2014

Human experiences vs Demands of the World

In the movie Gladiator, It talks about the society and in the society it involves politics. At
present majority of the people when they hear the word politics they can easily associate it with
corruption. We can see in the movie that Rome is corrupt in the time when Marcus Aurelius is
still alive because there was a war between German barbarians and Rome. Before Marcus
Aurelius dies he gave Maximus, the great soldier, the power to become the next Emperor of
Rome. Because Marcus Aurelius is already dying and he wants to bring back the Senate and have
the Republic so that corruption in Rome would end. And Maximus possess a character within
himself which is morally upright. But even if Marcus Aurelius dies, corruption still persisted
because of the evil will of Comodus. He ordered to execute Maximus and his family because he
envies him for his father favors him to be the emperor that his own very son. In relation to the
article, it says that we make our own choices and these choices thats why we choose this is to
achieve happiness but there is something that limits our own choices. We can see in the article it
emphasizes that life here on earth has two sons which are happiness and absurdity and that man
in his nature, experiences these. Like in the movie where Maximus experiences lots of sufferings
i.e. he was being nearly executed many times by Comodus, he was brought to many battles and
was sold and became a servant to be trained in that battles and his companions or faithful servant
and his family get killed. He is like Sisyphus who, in favour of the gods, gave him punishment
for him to suffer even if he did not do something wrong, that he is a threat in the world. In spite
of their sorrowful experiences in life, they still find their own happiness, joy and freedom by not
complaining in the things that the world demands. They still do their responsibilities and uphold
their hopes. In conclusion, all of us are like Sisyphus and Maximus who have the same
experiences in life that are experiences the feeling of absurdity that is the product of the demands
of the world. But if we follow the character they possess, i.e. holding our hope, we could
experience happiness at the end. The feeling that we became free from a chain. And that chain as
I said earlier is the demands of the world. And that demands is pain. And pain just like what
Augustus Waters said in the movie The Fault in Our Stars, demands to be felt.