"Your church is a whore"

It's been a year, but I'm back.

I'm taking my first Philosophy class ever, and I'm toying with Existentialism, specifically, Jean-Paul Sartre's lecture, "Existentialism Is a Humanism".

I like Sartre's 'no excuses' approach to personal responsibility. There's something liberating about saying, "Hey, this life is mine, and my choices shape its outcome." Sartre takes an atheistic approach in his essay, but I don't think religion (or the lack of religion) is a crucial component of the message, anyway. I think our lives are lived best when we accept responsibility for outcomes, rather than leaving things up to fate or chance. I've always had a problem with the phrase, "everything happens for a reason." No! That answer just isn't good enough! Bad things happen all the time, and we can't chalk everything up to mysticism! Using that phrase, in my opinion, is a giant cop-out. Some things are too big to leave to chance, or a higher power, or other people.

Egghhh it's almost 1:30 am and I'm obviously not asleep. Cutting this post short. \

PS, the title of this post is part of a Sartre quote, which I meant to explain, but whatever.